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Retrospective usage data analysis evaluates downscaling "Big Deal" journal packages across a library consortium, highlighting feasibility of maintaining value with smaller subscriptions.
The topics of library consortia and “Big Deal” e-journal packages have received substantial attention in the library literature, but discussion that addresses the intersection of these topics in relation to the vagaries of data-driven group decision making has been somewhat scanty. This study employs multiple years’ worth of e-journal download data from a library consortium to revisit and extend an earlier study by Gatten and Sanville that looked into whether library consortia can break up comprehensive Big Deal subscriptions into smaller packages without substantially reducing the value delivered to their members.
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Tyler et al. (2026) studied this question.
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