LISNews: Librarian News

R Hadden Writes : Librarians and researchers have come together to protest high prices for journals at the website, \"Create Change\" at: The ARL

CREATE CHANGE is sponsored by the Association of Research libraries, the Association of College and Research Libraries (a division of the American Library Association), and SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). Funding for this project has been provided by the three organizations and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. While journal publishers claim the high prices reflect higher costs, the librarians claim the publishers have increased their prices to protect their profits. The site includes a list of the 100 highest priced journals, including the $16,000.00 a year subscription to Brain Research and several $3,000.00 per year physics journals. At one point they say: \" For example, while world production of published scholarly research has doubled since 1986, the average North American research library\'s journal subscriptions have actually declined by 6.5%. Monographic acquisitions have declined by 26%, and other kinds of acquisitions have tumbled as well. Smaller university and college libraries have experienced similar declines... A system that has served scholars well for decades is now crumbling...\" The Create Change site includes generic letters on how to resign from editorial boards, refusing to review papers, or simply protesting the high prices of journals today.