This profile series seeks to support libraries that are considering leaving big deal journal packages and other major proprietary products by sharing the increasing depth of experience that institutions have in pursuing this path. Currently, these profiles cover big deal journal packages and citation database products and may be expanded in the future.
Each profile describes the context surrounding each library’s decision, the preparation involved, how each institution ensured that it continued to meet campus needs, as well as next steps and advice.
Since the launch of SPARC’s Negotiations Community of Practice, leaving big deal journal packages has been a consistent theme, with interest continuing to grow as libraries face increasing budget pressures. More institutions are now also scrutinizing other major proprietary products, such as citation databases, and leaving these for non-commercial, community-owned alternatives. SPARC’s Exit Interview Series covers this growing trend across types of publisher and research products and will be regularly updated.
Exit Interviews: Leaving Big Deal Journal Packages
- Bucknell University (unbundled from Elsevier in 2022)
- Colorado State University (unbundled from Elsevier in 2024)
- East Carolina University (unbundled from Elsevier in 2020)
- Emory University (unbundled from Wiley in 2024 & Elsevier in 2025)
- Florida State University (unbundled from Elsevier in 2018)
- Iowa State University (unbundled from Wiley in 2018 & Elsevier in 2019)
- 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)
- University of Vermont (unbundled from Elsevier in 2020)
Exit Interviews: Leaving Commercial Citation Databases
- Sorbonne University (cancelled Web of Science in 2024; unbundled multiple deals including Springer, Nature, IEEE, and Royal Society of Chemistry)
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. SPARC also gratefully acknowledges the support of Arcadia which enabled this work.
This resource was previously referred to as SPARC Unbundling Profiles.