Elsevier Products at LSUHSC-NO

Joining a growing number of universities and government entities who find themselves at odds with Elsevier’s pricing or policies, LSU has recently announced that it will terminate its “big deal” with Elsevier at the end of the year. Understandably, some are asking how this will affect LSUHSC-NO.

LSU’s action is no cause for alarm on our own campus. Our collections are not directly connected with those of LSU. And we recently entered a deal with Elsevier for the Freedom Collection, adding several hundred relevant journals to our collection and many more that may appeal to the “long tail” users of our community. Our Elsevier agreement is one of our most cost-effective and, because of a three-year controlled-cost agreement, likely to stay that way for a while.

We feel solidarity with the librarians at LSU and the University of California.  We recognize that the rising costs of biomedical literature access far outstrips the costs of inflation. And we acknowledge that the current system in which those who produce the literature must also pay to use it is greatly flawed. These are concerns LSUHSC-NO faculty may wish to address on multiple fronts such as tenure and promotion and scholarly communication processes before we find ourselves in crises mode.