Report: “University of Calgary Axes Hundreds of Journal Subscriptions as ‘Big 5’ Publishers Jack Up Prices”

From the CBC:

Students and faculty were shocked and frustrated to learn U of C has cancelled subscriptions to hundreds of online journals in a bid to save $1.5 million, but blame publishers for what one called “a totally unsustainable publishing model in academic work.”
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The U of C’s list of cancelled journals (.xls) now exceeds 1,600 titles and the library expects to save $1.5 million in subscription fees this year.
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Professor Tamara Shepherd and her colleagues at the University of Calgary’s Department of Communication, Media and Film are frustrated.
“First of all, there was a bit of a shock, outrage response that we all had to our top journals in our fields being cut, which are journals we use all the time and are absolutely essential for doing our jobs,” Shepherd said.
“It’s easy to place blame on the library for cutting them, but really the problem lies with the publishers, because there’s a totally unsustainable publishing model in academic work.”

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