[IRTalk] Scholarly Communication and the Dilemma of Collective Action: Why Academic Journals Cost Too Much

[Hilton Gibson]

*​Why has the rise of the Internet – which drastically reduces the cost of
distributing information ‐‐ *
*coincided with drastic increases in the prices that academic libraries pay
for access to scholarly journals? *
This study argues that libraries are trapped in a collective action dilemma
as defined by economist
Mancur Olson in The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory
of Groups. To truly reduce
their costs, librarians would have to build a shared online collection of
scholarly resources jointly
managed by the academic community as a whole, but individual academic
institutions lack the private
incentives necessary to invest in a shared collection.

Thus, the management of online scholarly journals has been largely
outsourced to publishers who have developed monopoly powers that allow them
to increase subscription prices faster than the rate of inflation. Many
librarians consider the Open Access Movement the best response to increased
subscription costs, but the current strategies employed to achieve Open
Access also are undermined by collective action dilemmas. In conclusion,
some alternative strategies are proposed. ​

http://crl.acrl.org/content/early/2016/06/02/crl16-897.full.pdf
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