Playing with Fire – Why Publishers Leave the Big Deal

Sven Fund Charleston, November 6, 2015

Big Deal - Big Issues for Smaller Publishers

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§  Attracting third party content from learned societies and smaller publishers is an oftentimes inexpensive way for large publishers to grow big deal offers – and lock in a higher share of the library budget

§  25%-35% of all content large publishers distribute is not owned by them

§  There is a natural end to the big deal, and it seems we are

approaching it: Lower organic growth rates for large publishers

Big Deal – What Publishers Need to Watch

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§  While the big publishers are the big winners of the big deal, the picture is mixed for societies and small publishers, they

§  lose transparency about their customers

§  lose authority over product pricing

§  mutate into an extended work bench of those taking them into the big deal

§  The big deal changes product calculation – from product to portfolio

Big Deal – What Libraries need to Watch

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§  Sustainability for libraries: Oftentimes unclear contracts on legacy rights and access rights

§  For how long has the big deal publisher secured 3rd party content?

§  Is there an exit clause for 3rd party content?

§  How will perpetual access rights be handled for 3rd party content?

§  Ask big deal publisher to break down the complete package into units by content provider

§  Make adherence to TRANSFER 3.0 a part of licensing agreements

§  Engage in direct conversations with 3rd party content providers

The Big Deal – Alternative Scenarios

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§  Open Access initiatives

§  Aggregation of content outside of large publishers‘ big deals with simple business models

§  Standardization

§  Libraries’ willingness and ability to deal with more than just a few publishers

Thank you for your attention

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Sven Fund Managing Director sven.fund@fullstopp.com www.fullstopp.com