Libraries reject 'raw deal' on e-journals (UK)

Major research libraries have told the two largest journal publishers that they will not renew their "big deals" with them if they do not make significant real-terms price reductions. Research Libraries UK, which includes the Russell Group university libraries, as well as the UK's national libraries and Trinity College Library Dublin, have told Elsevier and Wiley-Blackwell that they will not renew their current deals when they expire at the end of this year unless the concession is made. Big deals involve libraries paying a blanket fee for electronic access to a publisher's entire journal catalogue. They were initially welcomed by librarians when they were first introduced a decade ago - THE