Academic journal pricing and the demand of libraries

The prices of for-profit academic journals have increased rapidly over the past decade (Barbara Albee and Brenda Dingley, 2001). There remains substantial debate as to the ex-planation for these increases. Among those put forward are the increased concentration of the journal industry (see e.g., McCabe, 2002) and the relatively recent effort by major publishers to bundle print and electronic journals (Aaron S. Edlin and Rubinfeld, 2004). While both expla-nations are undoubtedly important, what is missing is the significant role of the primary customers of journal publishers-the academic libraries. As agents of college and university faculties, libraries serve the interests of thei