Bundled Content and the Big Deals
Publishers have responded to the pressure on library budgets by developing
packages of content that aim to increase the amount of content that a library
can buy for a small increase. These so-called “big deals” have dramatically
reduced article download costs. The common model of calculating the cost
of a big deal has typically been an add-on cost or “top up” to the library’s
current subscription holdings. As the years go by, the concept of a suite of
print holdings will become increasingly obsolete as the industry is beginning
to move to new ways to calculate a fair price for content. These might include
some or all of the following options and may be taken up by individual
institutions or be negotiated through consortia: