For the complete article, see=20 http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2007/02/14_open_access.shtml
For Berkeley's library, 'serials crisis' means shrinking access to= information When the 10 UC libraries joined the Public=20 Library of Science as an institutional member in=20 2004, Beverlee French, systemwide director for=20 shared digital collections, called the move an=20 effort at "directing some of our scarce dollars=20 away from overpriced journals and toward innovation." With budgets flat and scholarly-journal prices=20 rising far faster than inflation, however, what's=20 known as the "serials crisis" remains a pressing=20 problem here at Berkeley and at universities and=20 research institutions throughout the nation.=20 Chuck Eckman, associate University Librarian and=20 director of collections at Berkeley, warns that=20 without increases to its budget, the campus=20 library faces a shortfall of roughly $1.4 million=20 in 2008 =AD with a commensurate reduction in=20 journal, book, and digital-resource acquisitions=20 =AD and a still-larger deficit in 2009. "There's normal inflation and excessive=20 inflation," Eckman says, referring to=20 skyrocketing prices for serial journals.=20 According to the Association for Research=20 Libraries, serials costs jumped 226 percent=20 between 1986 and 2000, a period when the Consumer=20 Price Index rose by 57 percent. [clip] Comments? WT
