1. Saving time & money
in the short(!) run…
…using Pubget Paperstats auto-harvested aggregated
usage statistics to rapidly & responsibly trim a big deal
Jason S Price, PhD
Science Collections Librarian
Claremont Colleges Library

2. Use case…
Big Publisher wants the invoice ok’ed
within the week (no prior notice!), but you
want/need to use your cancellation clause
to mitigate the rising costs of their big deal
Collection team meeting is tommorrow &
the faculty board meets later in the week
Can it be done (responsibly)? Yes, it can!
blackenterprise.com 12/2010 n.c.

3. Responsible cancellation:
• Addresses exceptions
• Uses multiple years of usage data
• Takes into account title changes
• Allows for informed input from colleagues
• Leaves room for subjectivity in decision making

4. By the numbers:
1) Upload pricing data
Jessica Feis
2) Download 3 yrs COUNTER usage w/price
3) Adjust PPU by usage period
4) Consolidate usage from changed titles
5) Propose cancellations with data
6 (Evaluate ROI)

5. Upload pricing data
10min issn,cost x 268 titles (from xl quote)
1234-5678,$1200
2345-678x,$300
…
80min Complications:
• Missing ISSNs (20)
• Divide costs for packages (18)
• eISSNs instead of pISSNs (!)
(easy MS access query on web title list)
=90min to complete uploaded pricelist

8. 2) Download 3 yrs COUNTER usage w/price
issn title months full_text pdf html 2012 Price
0008-4948 Journal 1 12 19 16 3 $2,648
0022-202X Journal 2 12 14 14 0 $454
0035-9017 Journal 5 20 34 34 0 $2,644
0080-6765 Journal 6 20 0 0 0 $276
0267-5498 Journal 8 20 62 33 29 $252
0148-0812 Journal 9 24 32 20 12 $910
0343-5520 Journal 11 24 5 5 0 $233
0934-3148 Journal 12 24 47 24 23 $298
0960-7447 Journal 13 24 62 48 14 $141
0966-0941 Journal 14 36 165 127 38 $1,724
1054-2353 Journal 15 36 25 17 8 $206
Aggregation across years

9. Flashback to a 2007 nightmare:
Which titles should we cancel?
Every title
NEED
Unique Title Combined Subscribed
identifier represented
Data Title List
every year
with price
48 Titles
2003 JR1 2003 JR1 2003 JR1
479 rows 465 titles 545 titles Select Query
85
2004 JR1 2004 JR1 2004 JR1
485 titles 545 titles 2003-2006 48 Subs
552 rows
# of FT VIEWS Titles
2005 JR1 2005 JR1 60 2005 JR1 545 Titles with 3-yr
671 rows 530 titles 545 titles Use &
15
Price
2006 JR1 2006 JR1 2006 JR1
799 rows 545 titles 545 titles
Find Unmatched
Query
Remove
Add titles
Duplicated 497
cascading
ACTION
Titles (backfile Un-Subs
backward to Select Query
entries, sub- Titles
allow to join stats
titles, with 3-yr
complete 3yr from all years
incomplete Use
use query
splits, backfill
ISSNs)

10. 2) Download 3 yrs COUNTER usage w/price
issn title months full_text pdf html 2012 Price
0008-4948 Journal 1 12 19 16 3 $2,648
0022-202X Journal 2 12 14 14 0 $454
0035-9017 Journal 5 20 34 34 0 $2,644
0080-6765 Journal 6 20 0 0 0 $276
0267-5498 Journal 8 20 62 33 29 $252
0148-0812 Journal 9 24 32 20 12 $910
0343-5520 Journal 11 24 5 5 0 $233
0934-3148 Journal 12 24 47 24 23 $298
0960-7447 Journal 13 24 62 48 14 $141
0966-0941 Journal 14 36 165 127 38 $1,724
1054-2353 Journal 15 36 25 17 8 $206
Automatically harvested (really)…

11. 3) Adjust Cost per use by usage period
issn title months full_text pdf html 2012 Price PPU
0008-4948 Journal 1 12 19 16 3 $2,648 $139.37
0022-202X Journal 2 12 14 14 0 $454 $32.45
0035-9017 Journal 5 20 34 34 0 $2,644 $129.60
0080-6765 Journal 6 20 0 0 0 $276 #DIV/0!
0267-5498 Journal 8 20 62 33 29 $252 $6.78
0148-0812 Journal 9 24 32 20 12 $910 $56.87
0343-5520 Journal 11 24 5 5 0 $233 $93.26
0934-3148 Journal 12 24 47 24 23 $298 $12.69
0960-7447 Journal 13 24 62 48 14 $141 $4.54
0966-0941 Journal 14 36 165 127 38 $1,724 $31.34
1054-2353 Journal 15 36 25 17 8 $206 $24.76

12. 4) Consolidate changed titles
90m Nothing automatic here, unfortunately
• Titles with less than 36 months of usage may have former titles
that may need to be consolidated
• Had to sleuth out stealth packages and the like, but then…

13. 5) An accurate list
to support informed decisions
Print ISSN Title months full_text pdf html 2012 Price PPU Cancel?
1369-1473 Journal 1 36 6 2 4 1,039.91 $519.95 x
1086-9379 Journal 2 36 8 8 0 1,323.00 $496.13
0022-1937 Journal 3 36 1 1 0 143.39 $430.16
1932-5223 Journal 4 36 89 76 13 9,108.72 $307.04
0022-0655 Journal 5 36 16 11 5 1,218.14 $228.40
0307-4412 Journal 6 36 9 9 0 606.38 $202.13
0305-1838 Journal 7 36 11 5 6 707.56 $192.97
1369-7412 Journal 8 36 15 6 9 956.81 $191.36
0007-1129 Journal 9 24 5 5 0 473.55 $189.42
1040-0397 Journal 10 36 73 57 16 4,565.97 $187.64 x
1546-6086 Journal 11 36 22 18 4 1,268.10 $172.92
1066-8527 Journal 12 36 10 5 5 536.96 $161.09
0044-0124 Journal 13 36 24 24 0 1,285.15 $160.64
0031-0239 Journal 14 36 13 10 3 694.18 $160.19
1538-7933 Journal 15 36 19 9 10 1,013.72 $160.06 x

14. Return on investment:
Investment:
• 4 Hours Prep time + Discussion (sunk costs)
• Annual fee for Paperstats
Return:
• Responsible cancellation of 3 journals - $6600
Cancellations from 1 package in 1 year cover the
cost of a paperstats subscription in perpetuity!!!

15. Bonus slide #1 Reality check

16. Bonus slide #1 Reality check