AUSTIN Texas Library Coalition for United Action has announced that it has concluded negotiations with Elsevier, and all TLCUA members, including University of Texas Permian Basin, have signed or are finalizing new agreements for subscription journal access.
In 2019, 44 public and private university campuses across Texas joined together to form TLCUA to think creatively about access to faculty publications and the sustainability of journal subscriptions. TLCUA has negotiated with Elsevier, the world’s largest publisher of scientific journals, including The Lancet and Cell and over 2,500 other journals covering topics in medicine, biology, psychology, engineering, business and more. The TLCUA effort aligns with other libraries across academia that have sought to evolve the relationship between libraries and publishers and find new ways to thrive together, a news release said.
All TLCUA members will receive a discount on journal subscriptions–some as high as 30%–while still maintaining significant amounts of access to journals and combined, will realize a savings of over $4.75M annually. Beyond initial cost savings, Elsevier agreed to a maximum annual increase of 2% over the course of the license agreement, with some years as low as 0%, which is significantly lower than industry standard.
TLCUA and Elsevier have agreed to partner on a pilot project to revert ownership of journal articles back to original authors—and not just those at TLCUA-member institutions. Currently, authors transfer copyright of their work in exchange for that work being published. This pilot will provide for rights to go back to authors after a period of time that will be collaboratively determined with Elsevier. A subset of Elsevier journals will be chosen to study the impact of the copyright reversion pilot for authors and its applicability more broadly to STEM (scientific, technical, engineering and medical) publishers, the release said.
Further, all TLCUA-member authors who choose to publish their work under an open access license will have access to discounted author publication charges. TLCUA also negotiated a license template that removed non-disclosure terms, restrictions on sharing usage data, and 44-year-old limitations on interlibrary loans to expand library collaboration and improve how libraries can share information on journal usage.
“Our collaborative effort with partner institutions across Texas has resulted in a step forward towards shifting a relationship to a more mutually-beneficial model,” Vice Provost and Director of the University of Texas Libraries Lorraine Haricombe said in the release. “By addressing cost challenges and opening content to larger audiences, we will all benefit from the multiplier effect it will have on inclusive and equitable access to new knowledge creation and innovation.”
Initial workshops to define the parameters of the pilot project will begin soon. TLCUA has begun exploring their next negotiation priorities and other projects that can benefit from state-wide collaboration.
