A&M-Commerce, Multiple Texas Universities Form Library Coalition

Texas A&M University-Commerce recently joined forces with 26 other universities in Texas to form the Texas Library Coalition for United Action (TLCUA) to increase access to faculty publications and sustainability of journal subscriptions. TLCUA organized to identify options for changing current models and relationships between academic institutions and publishers.

The coalition's goals are to improve access to scholarship, facilitate greater control over faculty content, and reimagine pricing models that are sustainable for strained library budgets in higher education.

TLCUA began its work through conversations with academic publisher Elsevier. Collectively, institutions in the coalition have more than 397,000 students and 25,000 faculty. Their Elsevier subscriptions represent a significant investment estimated at more than $20 million. The coalition represents one of the largest, most diverse negotiation groups of its kind in the United States.