This profile series seeks to support libraries that may consider unbundling from a journal package (or cancelling altogether) by sharing the increasing depth of experience that institutions have in pursuing this path. Each brief profile describes the context surrounding each library’s decision to leave a big deal and the preparation that went into this decision, how each institution ensured continuing access to materials and the campus response, as well as next steps and advice.
Since the launch of SPARC’s Negotiations Community of Practice, unbundling from big deal journal packages has been a consistent theme. This work has been done across many different types of institutions and in service of different goals. Some libraries unbundled in order to better align their spend with their values. Some have taken these steps out of necessity due to rising costs. Some have been driven by a mix of both, and others have made the preparations to unbundle to strengthen their negotiating position while making the decision to stay in a deal for now.
We will add new profiles to this resource on an ongoing basis and seek to document as representative a sample as possible across the breadth of the SPARC membership.
- Bucknell University (unbundled from Elsevier in 2022)
- MIT Libraries (out of contract with Elsevier since 2020)
- UConn Library (unbundling from all big deals on a rolling basis, starting in 2020)
- Université de Montréal (unbundled from multiple deals in 2014 & 2015, resubscribed at a significantly lower price)
These profiles are meant to complement our related resources, including SPARC’s Big Deal Cancellation Tracker and Contracts Library, as well as working group-produced resources such as Data Analysis for Negotiation, Recommendations for Providing Alternative Access After a Big Deal Cancellation, Strategies for Effectively Engaging Stakeholders in Negotiations, and Open Investment Statements and Principles. We appreciate the significant contributions by SPARC members and working group participants that have made possible both this profile series and SPARC’s wider set of resources supporting unbundling and negotiations.