Library Services

Barriers to Licensing Electronic Journals, Books, or Databases

The University of California's California Digital Library details Challenges to Licensing from Some Publishers (http://www.cdlib.org/news/challenges.html) that have been encountered as UC sought to license journals collectively for all campuses. The most significant reasons for inability to license journals are disadvantageous or unsustainable subscription pricing models and unacceptable licensor restrictions on where, how, to whom, and how long the journal may be made available.

With some pricing models, the number of campus FTE and the nature of the campus can place an individual campus in elevated subscription price tiers that are out of relation to the actual journal audience. If you are concerned about a particular journal identified as presenting barriers to licensing, please contact the Librarian Subject Specialist in your field.