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Elsevier ScienceDirect Update

SUNY is in the midst of negotiating a new five year, system wide contract with Elsevier for access to ScienceDirect. Our current license expires in December 2019.

A working group of the SUNY Libraries Consortium (SLC) is currently in negotiations with Elsevier over the terms of renewal for ScienceDirect, a platform of high-quality materials critical for teaching, learning and research. The SUNY-wide subscription to ScienceDirect expires on December 31, 2019.

Access costs for ScienceDirect material are exorbitantly high, reaching over $9 million last year ($45 million over the life of the contract) and consuming 25% of SUNY’s overall expenditure on journals. Following months of activity and several negotiating sessions, Elsevier has not offered SUNY a fair and reasonable renewal price.

The SLC working group will be reaching out to Elsevier to conduct another round of negotiations. With support from the SUNY University Faculty Senate (see Resolution), SUNY is prepared to follow the lead of the University of California and other European universities and decline renewal should Elsevier not lower their costs significantly. In preparation, the SLC is currently working on alternative means of access to the scholarly works needed through resource sharing and inter-library-loan.

Updates will be forthcoming as we move closer to the contract expiration date.