Collection Development in the Era of Big Deals

Drawing on an original methodology using citations, downloads, and survey data, this paper analyzes journal usage patterns across 28 Canadian universities. Results show that levels vary disciplines different academic platforms varied in their importance to institutions, with for-profit generally exhibiting lower usage. These results suggest economic inefficiencies exist “big deal” subscriptions for universities, as most journals such bundles are seldom or never used. We recommend universities coordinate resource sharing negotiate strategies expenditures based shared interests trends.