Hmmmm… Should our library purchase a subscription to Elsevier ScienceDirect or a cabin on a lake?

Libraries are increasingly replacing their print reference collections (think World Book Encyclopedia and individual subscriptions to peer-reviewed magazines like JAMA), with more easily searchable electronic databases that patrons can use 24/7 from wherever they can scrape together a computer with a reliable web connection. These databases provide direct, searchable, online access to current and past issues of thousands of journals, ebooks, and online open access publications in one place. I use them all the time to retrieve assigned class readings or sources for various grad school papers. But the cost for that convenience is becoming increasingly steep.

Bah. How much can one database really cost?

While hunting for price information on general interest encyclopedia databases for a class project last semester, I came across this somewhat light-hearted post from the Charles L. Tutt Library at Colorado College comparing the price of its electronic database subscriptions to luxury goods such as lake houses, speedboats, and yachts.

According to the Charles L. Tutt library, Elsevier ScienceDirect, which provides searchable access to more than 18 million articles and chapters; 2650 peer-reviewed journals; 41,500 ebooks; 3,065 open access publications; and 1.4 million open access articles, is available for roughly the amount you would expect to spend on a vacation cabin with a lake view.

Another popular database, the Wiley Online Library, is available for roughly the same price you’d expect to pay for a brand new, fully equipped Cadillac Escalade.

Chart from the Charles L. Tutt library, tracking the rising costs over time for its electronic database collection. (Source: Charles L. Tutt Library, 2023).

Libraries regularly join consortia to pool their resources and negotiate a better price for these reference databases. Still, according to Tutt Library, the rising costs of electronic database subscriptions are projected to consume the vast majority of its multi-million dollar annual library budget within the next 20 years.

This doesn’t just affect academic libraries. One of my friends works at a private K-8 school library in Nevada, which needs a serious update collection- and space-wise. Fortunately, it has an excellent budget. Or at least, I thought it did, until I learned that two-thirds of that budget was earmarked for an annual subscription to the EBSCO database, severely limiting the funds available to my friend to update the outdated and tattered print collection, and reimagine the space to be just as welcoming to students in Grades 6 through 8 as it is for the kindergartners. Understanding when and how her students actually use the library and its resources (both print and electronic) is a crucial first step in my friend’s long-term plan to update her school library.

References & Related Links

Charles L. Tutt Library. (2023, October 18). Electronic Resources: Cost$. SJSU Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library home page