Two’s company, three’s a crowd: Publishers, Agents and Libraries

1. Two’s company, three’s a crowd: Publishers, Agents and Libraries Thursday 17th March 2016 Paul Harwood The University Press Redux Conference

2. Agents - From 1990 - 2000: Industry consolidation • High volume, low margin business • Smaller players unable or unwilling to make investments • Culminated in Swets acquiring Blackwell in 1999

3. 1995: Tendering for Agency services begins in the UK Agents as surrogates for publishers in the ‘serials crisis’ Within 2 years, all university libraries in the UK were paying under list price for their journals “In 1995, SUPC recognized the need to put this framework agreement on to a moreformal footing and thus embarked upon a regional tendering exercise, in accordance with European Purchasing Directives. The contract was ultimately awarded to two agents, with member libraries free to choose which of the two they wished to support. Although a serials tender is unlikely to produce huge cost reductions, because of the tight margins under which subscription agents operate, the SUPC libraries did achieve some single-figure percentage savings, which member libraries found extremely useful.” (Jill Taylor Roe)

4. Disintermediation? Online journals + Big Deals + Consortia = potential disintermediation for agents

5. One scenario...... ....but there are not that many fish left swimming..........

6. Or another...... 0

7. Many libraries opted to mitigate risk by splitting their subscriptions portfolio, between agents and between agents and publisher direct Gentle pressure from some publishers for libraries to move to direct supply Library decisions based on Price – commoditisation of the agent service Perception – Agent v Publisher Other factors – financial strength, experience, quality of service, value-add services Far greater financial scrutiny Role of procurement significant - overshadows librarians Some went completely direct…… What did libraries do when Swets collapsed?

8. “Going it Alone” – BBSRC Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council 7 site UK consortium Direct supply 2015 – previously Swets Decision procurement driven (prepayment loss) Staff turnover – experienced personnel not replaced Bespoke invoicing for epackages (Swets) Spend with Swets @ £425k Going it alone: BBSRC

9. “Going it Alone” – BBSRC Outcome – “complete nightmare” Setting up direct supply 3 months full time work for 2 people Establish contact and arrange invoicing with 80 publishers - US publishers demanded payment by US cheque only - BBSRC Director’s credit card used to make payment in 2 instances! - Incorrect information on subscription history/basic account details - Lack of publisher response/understanding – access loss - Publishers could not replicate the invoicing requirement for packages - Individual invoice cost estimated at @ £50 per invoice Going it alone: BBSRC

10. What is happening to academic Libraries? Library budgets declining/static - don’t keep up with inflation of wages/materials Move to outsourcing where feasible and cost-effective Libraries as study spaces rather than content repositories, although others are vying for that space too! Move away from ”traditional” print oriented library services Shift in focus to user-based services Agents’ customer service becomes an ‘extension’ of the in-house team What is happening in academic libraries?

11. Quantifying the value of the agent: Where the costs are

12. Summary & Cost Comparison: processing payments plus claims and related support • Total, additional FTE support, based on data obtained, is an average of 2.5 FTEs (1.9 FTE: processing payments; 0.6 FTE: claims and other support) • Overall benefit is an estimated £61,947 per annum * Uses lowest mid-point salary grade provided by libraries plus 20% overhead

13. GobiAPI(Real Time Acquisitions) Order Duplication Control GobiSmart Order Held API Order Released Alma POL

14. Renewal Integration - ALMA Renew API (Single Subscription)– Update PO Line status, subscription period and price Renew API (Package) - Change PO Line status, update subscription period and price AND update titles with KBART API from EBSCO Change Format API – Close current order in ALMA and create new order with new format and relevant titles if needed Close Order API – Cancelled/non-renewed titles with EBSCO will be closed in the PO in ALMA

15. Renewal Integration EBSCO KBART API Provide package title list updates using KBART II standard Updated access and entitlements for electronic content Replace need to upload files and activate and deactivate titles in ALMA Designed for use with any ILS Vendor

16. Value of Renewal Integration - Substantial time-savings for overall renewal process Eliminate rekeying of renewal data in ILS Automatically Update ILS Purchase Orders Accurate Subscription Terms Up-to-date Price at PO Level

17. Time Saved Per TaskRenewal Integration with ALMA Time is calculated in minutes Based on information received from Washington University (February 19, 2016)

18. Agents and Publishers What’s going on there? The ‘order taker’/’order maker’ debate Strategic need to get closer to customer, by passing agent An appropriate level of commission Agents’ role in a Gold OA world Financial viability of agents: what are publishers saying and doing?

19. 3 Factors most likely to influence the fortunes of agents Consolidation in the scholarly publishing sector: How far will it go? How Open Access plays out and the prevailing model(s) The nature and extent of further change in academic libraries and the role of librarians

20. How can agents help themselves? Diversify Get deeper into the workflows of libraries Get deeper into the workflows of publishers Work harder at demonstrating the added-value and cost effectiveness to both parties

21. Thank you for your attention Questions? pharwood@ebsco.com