This 106-page report examines the scholarly journal licensing and acquisition practices of academic and special libraries, highlighting trends in journal subscriptions, publishers' pricing policies, and library spending on both print and online access journals. Based on a survey of 47 libraries from the United States and abroad, the report details library budgets for scholarly journals over the past two years as well as projections through 2013 while exploring the library's relationship and satisfaction with various subscription agents, including Ebsco, Harrasowitz, and Swets, among others. How has the open access movement affected journal prices and how willing have libraries been to embrace it? How many subscriptions have libraries cancelled over the past year and how many new ones have they added? What role do consortia play in journal purchasing and how do they affect journal acquisition policies?
The sample represents a broad range of institutions, with academic libraries from all levels of higher education including community colleges, 4-year colleges, and research universities. Data is broken out by country, type of library, and 2011-12 spending on journals.