Subject: bundling journals From: "John Baez" Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 12:54:44 -0700 (PDT) I think Neil Strickland asked about the practice of "bundling" journals. This is basically a trap: you get a good deal at first, but then they start raising the price and make it impossible to drop journals one at a time, so your bargaining power is lost. Universities are beginning to revolt against this practice. In 2003, Cornell University bravely dropped their subscription to 930 Elsevier journals: http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/12.11.03/CUL_Elsevier.html Four North Carolina universities joined the revolt: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/2630220210.html and the University of California has also been battling Elsevier on this point. For other actions universities have taken, try this: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/lists.htm#actions Best, jb