Getting the most out of Pay-Per-View: A feasibility study and discussion of the mediated and unmediated options

Abstract

The increasing costs of science, technology, and medical journals, combined with decreasing or stagnant budgets, have forced libraries to take a hard look at current journal subscriptions. Even when budgets remain stable or increase, they may not keep pace with the escalating costs of subscriptions from various publishers. In the face of potential journal cancellations, some libraries are turning to pay-per-view (PPV) as an alternative method of providing access to material demanded by patrons. This paper discusses PPV options in general and, in particular, a feasibility study carried out at Florida Institute of Technology, in which the library purchased Wiley tokens and used them in both a mediated and unmediated fashion over the course of a year.