Some important libraries have turned down the Big Deals. I think they
must have a
lot of experience of patron-driven demand.

What you are talking about is the expensive way for serial access. The
cheaper way is
interlibrary loans and in Europe we have Subito for that. And that's
reason why the industry
brought them to court. The competion was to cheap and effective for the
market.
My favorite library in Europe is the medicial library in Münster that
turned down the Big
Deal from Elsevier and instead just prefered the ones used, about 400
titles. And when
the cost for free copies was higher than the cost for the journal they
switched. The biggest
problem I would say was that the most important, the last, always was
delayed, because
copies were made from the paper issue of the journal that always were
distributed slower
than the electronic copy. And the last issue is of crucial importance in
STM.

I'm not usually a friend of patron-driven acquistion because we don't
buy things that interests
just one patron we have to care for all. But in the case of Big Deals
I'm very impressed by
the German libraries that have turned down the Big Deals. The bottom
line is of course
money. If you can't afford "everything" you look for the second best and
that is what the
patrons wants.

Jan

Steven Harris wrote:
> We've been doing lots of patron-driven acquisitions for books and ebooks. Lately, I've been mulling over this concept for serials. I know there are lots of vendors that offer a purchase on demand service: patrons have access to what they need and the library pays on an article by article basis, by the drink, as they say.
>
> My mini survey: what patron-driven models are available for serial access?  Are you using a by the drink model or anything different? I'd love to hear about it. Thanks.
>
> Steven R. Harris
> Director of Collections & Acquisitions
>   Services
> University of New Mexico Libraries
> 505.277.2586
> http://collections2point0.wordpress.com ( http://collections2point0.wordpress.com/ )
> http://www.retaggr.com/Card/srharris19
>
>

--
De åsikter som framförs här är mina personliga
och inte ett uttryck för Göteborgs universitets-
biblioteks hållning

Opinions expressed here are my own and not
those of the Gothenburg University Library

Jan Szczepanski
Förste bibliotekarie
Goteborgs universitetsbibliotek
Box 222
SE 405 30 Goteborg, SWEDEN
Tel: +46 31 7861164 Fax: +46 31 163797
E-mail: Jan.Szczepanski@ub.gu.se