As your new Dean of the Library, I have an interesting crisis to herald my arrival.

I understand that preliminary details of the Wiley subscription cancellation decision have been shared on the Senate list. As you may know, the Library subscribes to over 1,300 academic journals published by John Wiley through a “big deal” package agreement negotiated by the Chancellor’s Office, a package subscribed to by nearly all CSU campuses. After extensive negotiations over several months, in mid-December the CSU reluctantly decided against renewing the contract with Wiley due to the unmanageable proposed cost increase of 10-12% (depending on the campus). SSU’s access to the Wiley package will end on January 31, 2015.

Academic Affairs colleagues,

After multiple attempts to negotiate an acceptable package and pricing with Wiley for the journals it publishes, the CSU Chancellor’s Office was unable to secure a systemwide deal that was acceptable and affordable. Like other CSU libraries, San Francisco State has participated in the package negotiated by the Chancellor’s Office at a significant discount and with access to many more titles than we could afford through individual or package subscriptions as an individual campus.

The CSU Libraries have cancelled our systemwide subscription to the online journals published by Wiley because Wiley asked for an annual price increase of 12%. For more information on the CSU decision, see: http://libraries.calstate.edu/equitable-access-public-stewardship-and-access-to-scholarly-information/

As you may know, the Library subscribes to over 1,300 academic journals published by John Wiley through a “big deal” package agreement negotiated by the Chancellor’s Office for many CSU campuses.  After extensive negotiations over several months, the CSU reluctantly decided against renewing the contract with Wiley due to the unmanageable proposed cost increase of 10-12%.  Our access to this package will end on January 31^, 2015.