An interesting article

I've been watching this topic ever since I first saw the blog post. I think the issues surrounding the cost of scholarly journals are really interesting. Is some of the things I've read it seems that the profit margins for publishers are really, really big. I know they are in a business to make money, but there is making money and there is price gouging. It seems that no one can really know just how much publishers charge because they have different pricing models for the same products.

In addition to the cost of journals, this blog post brings up another interesting point. The librarian decides to cancel their subscription to ACS journals. But here is the catch, the ACS puts their seal of approval on their chemistry program. Without the ACS journals it is nearly impossible to have all the things the ACS says you need to be a good program. So ACS is in a position to both put their seal of approval on your program, and in order to get their seal you have to buy their journals. For which there is essentially no competition. And they can charge whatever they want for it. In the case of SUNY Potsdam, the cost of ACS journals ALONE is 10% of the entire university's library budget.

http://www.attemptingelegance.com/?p=1765