The Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, Inc. (SPIE) has announced a 10 percent rollback in pricing for institutional subscriptions to the SPIE Digital Library for 2010. The move is the result of a year-long study involving in-depth interviews with academic, government, and corporate librarians and researchers in North America, Europe, and Asia, and supports the Society's commitment to enabling the broadest possible dissemination of information to the worldwide optics and photonics research community.
The price reduction applies to current and new subscriptions to the full SPIE Digital Library, which includes Proceedings of SPIE and all SPIE journals, as well as topical segment subscriptions. Subscribers who sign a three-year contract by September 30, 2009, can lock in the price rollback through 2012. Looking beyond 2010, SPIE plans to continue to seek ways to moderate price increases and potentially continue rollbacks as its subscriber base grows. The reduction does not apply to consortia arrangements, for which customised discounts already are applied, to print editions of proceedings or journals, or to independent subscriptions to single SPIE journals. However, 2010 prices for consortia will be frozen at 2009 rates.
Along with the price rollback, SPIE is introducing new pricing options aimed at enabling access for institutions with smaller research budgets and larger institutions with limited engineering programmes.
SPIE continues to enhance the Digital Library with new types of content as well. SPIE eBooks will be available as an option to libraries beginning in August 2009. The society plans to launch two new journals in 2009, SPIE Reviews and Photonics for Energy and the Environment.
