ABSTRACT
During the past twenty years publishers of scientific journals have held Academic Libraries captive. The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) reports that throughout the past decade the unit cost of a serial title has increased by 175% and ARL libraries have spent 124% more to purchase 7% fewer titles. At the same time, library budgets have decreased and the amount of published scientific information has increased exponentially. The results are serial cancellations, less book money, less funding for the Humanities and Social Sciences, resource sharing, and the formation of library consortial groups. However, the serial crisis has also led to the creation of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). SPARC is a project of ARL and its member libraries; academic societies, university presses and other organizations that are interested in controlling the costs and improving the access to scholarly information. Libraries may finally have an alternative to high-priced scientific information.
