Why is SPARC needed?
The high and fast-rising cost of journals has had a devastating effect on the flow of scientific communication, the research community, and library collections. The situation is especially dire for journals in the scientific, technical and medical (STM) fields. SPARC was created to offer a constructive response to this issue. It works to find common ground among libraries, publishers and scientists who share the goal of making scientific communication responsive to the goals of science. Data gathered by the Association of Research Libraries shows that libraries are spending more and getting less. This study showed that serials spending was 152 percent higher in 1998 than a dozen years earlier — yet there has been a seven percent decline in the number of titles libraries are getting for their money. Journals in the sciences rated the highest average journal cost. The strain of rising journal prices is compounded by the availability of new media — such as Web editions of existing journal
