> Harvard’s annual cost for journals from these providers now approaches $3.75M. In 2010, the comparable amount accounted for more than 20% of all periodical subscription costs and just under 10% of all collection costs for everything the Library acquires.
I've been to a couple of schools where the costs of journals makes many valuable resources and new research simply inaccessible. Other universities pale in comparison to Harvard's regular financial figures and of course their longstanding reputation, and yet their influence could go a long way in helping all the other guys catch up. If closed-access journals are hurting Harvard's library, imagine what it's like for a ~500 student engineering school that's already strapped for cash on all other fronts.
I've been to a couple of schools where the costs of journals makes many valuable resources and new research simply inaccessible. Other universities pale in comparison to Harvard's regular financial figures and of course their longstanding reputation, and yet their influence could go a long way in helping all the other guys catch up. If closed-access journals are hurting Harvard's library, imagine what it's like for a ~500 student engineering school that's already strapped for cash on all other fronts.