Stephanie J. Spratt, presenter Ready to ask for a reduction in the annual increase of an e-resource product but unclear on how to make your case? Want to try some innovative strategies to avoid spending more than your budget? Want to reduce the amount of heavy renewal work falling right at fiscal close? Attend this presentation to learn techniques on all of that and more! The speaker will use commonly collected data to show how to combine and visualize metrics to help make a library’s case for requesting reductions in pricing, adjusting service fees, and asking for changes to subscription periods to balance out the renewal workload. Attendees will learn which data to analyze and combine as it relates to pricing negotiations along with the steps involved to make that data come alive in Excel graphs and charts. Alternate data visualization products will also be discussed. The data visualization techniques, not outcomes, will be the focus of this presentation with the goal of attendees taking back which techniques might be worthwhile endeavors at their own institutions. Attendees will also learn about negotiation strategies and internal and external considerations when preparing to negotiate. Growing an awareness of negotiation techniques and factors in play both inside and outside the library will help librarians make their cases for equitable pricing and models for library resources. The data visualization techniques shown in this presentation will serve as a stepping-off point for any librarian who wishes to use honesty, directness, and real-world scenarios to negotiate pricing for content and other library expenditures.

1. Datavi$
Negotiate Resource Pricing Using Data Visualization
Stephanie J. Spratt
sspratt@missouriwestern.edu
Missouri Western State University
NASIG 2017

2. Agenda and Goal
1. Stress the importance of, while de-stressing the process of, negotiation
2. Recommend data to gather
3. Describe possible findings from library data analysis
4. Match those findings to negotiation strategies
5. Share examples of data visualization methods
Goal:
For each attendee to take away new learning that, when put to use, results in a
successful negotiation on the price of a library resource.

3. Why so wordy?
Ben Fry’s 7 stages of visualizing data:
Acquire Parse Filter Mine Represent Refine Interact

4. Why so wordy?
Ben Fry’s 7 stages of visualizing data:
Acquire Parse Filter Mine Represent Refine Interact

5. Why so wordy?
Ben Fry’s 7 stages of visualizing data (modified):
Purpose Acquire Parse Filter Mine Represent Refine Interact

6. Negotiation Guidelines

7. Useful Data to Collect
• Significant events for the library or institution
• Annual library budget (commonly split by format)
• Resource costs
• Resource usage
• Total spending by vendor
• Unique holdings by product
• Count of service requests to vendor

8. Calculations from Collected Data
• Resource inflation by product
• Cost-per-use (CPU)
• Percent of total spending by vendor
• Average pay-per-view article fees
• Benefits of resources
• Cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
• Return on investment (ROI)

9. Begin Your Story
Timetoast.com provides a free timeline
builder that is simple to use.
Example library timeline

10. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase

11. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
If you can avoid cancelling, tell the
vendor at what price you can
afford to renew.

12. Budget Woes
$-
$500,000.00
$1,000,000.00
$1,500,000.00
FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017
Library Budget by Format
Books Serials

13. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average

14. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
Request that vendor bring price
down to something closer to an
average price.

15. Cost of Comparable Products
$- $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 $30,000 $35,000 $40,000 $45,000 $50,000
Product A
Product B
Product C
Product D
Annual Cost
FY2017 FY2016

16. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average

17. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
Request that vendor reduce the
percentage increase to a baseline
amount.

18. Inflation of Comparable Products
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
Inflation 2013 Inflation 2014 Inflation 2015 Inflation 2016 Inflation 2017
Annual Inflation
Product A Product B Product C Product D

19. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
4. CPU is steadily rising
5. Usage is dropping

20. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
4. CPU is steadily rising
5. Usage is dropping Request that vendor reduce the
percentage increase for the year
while library increases marketing
of the product.

21. Factors Affecting Resource Use
Library
Vendor
Patron
Institution • Platform usability
• Content
• Product loyalty
• Enrollment numbers
• Curricular focus
• Marketing efforts
• Publications
• Marketing efforts
• Findability

22. CPU of Comparable Products
$-
$2.00
$4.00
$6.00
$8.00
$10.00
CPU 2013 CPU 2014 CPU 2015 CPU 2016 CPU 2017
Cost-per-use over Time
Product A
Product B
Product C
Product D

23. Exclusive Content Comparison
Tableau Public is
free and great
for quickly
visualizing large
data sets

24. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
4. CPU is steadily rising
5. Usage is dropping
6. Total spending for a vendor is higher than average

25. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
4. CPU is steadily rising
5. Usage is dropping
6. Total spending for a vendor is higher than average
Request that vendor provide a
volume discount across all of its
products for the year.

26. Total Expenditures
41%
Fiscal Year 2017
Spending by Vendor –
All Resources
Vendor A Vendor B Vendor C Vendor D Vendor E All Others

27. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
4. CPU is steadily rising
5. Usage is dropping
6. Total spending for a vendor is higher than average
7. CBA is steadily declining
8. ROI is steadily declining

28. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
4. CPU is steadily rising
5. Usage is dropping
6. Total spending for a vendor is higher than average
7. CBA is steadily declining
8. ROI is steadily declining
Request that vendor reduce the
price to approach a baseline
CBA/ROI while library increases
marketing.

29. ROI of Comparable Products
-2.00
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
FY2015 FY2016 FY2017
Return on Investment by Year
Product A
Product B
Product C

30. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
4. CPU is steadily rising
5. Usage is dropping
6. Total spending for a vendor is higher than average
7. CBA is steadily declining
8. ROI is steadily declining
9. Service needs are declining

31. Common Scenarios
1. Library budget decreases, while resource prices increase
2. Cost of resource is higher than average
3. Inflation rate is rising and/or higher than average
4. CPU is steadily rising
5. Usage is dropping
6. Total spending for a vendor is higher than average
7. CBA is steadily declining
8. ROI is steadily declining
9. Service needs are declining
Request that vendor lower the
service fee.

32. Service Needs Declining
0
10
20
30
40
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Service Requests by Year and Format
Email
Phone
In person

33. Additional Strategies to Try
• Reduce or lengthen the typical 12-month subscription period
• Changes the amount you owe for one fiscal year
• May extend the inflation rate beyond 12 months
• Request a temporary waiver of hosting fees
• Consolidate consortial partnerships

34. Wrapping Up
• Anticipate counter-offers
• Inflation rate higher than your proposal
• Multi-year commitments
• Purchase or lease additional resources from the vendor
• Know your deal breakers
• Do not be afraid to cancel if you have exhausted other options
• Avoid hard negotiation with the same vendor year after year
• Secure support from your administration
• Document the process and outcome

35. Tools Used
• EBSCO Holdings Management
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Power Point
• Tableau Public
• TimeToast.com

36. References
Bosch, S. & Henderson, K. (2017). New world, same model. Library Journal, 142(7),
40-45.
Brigham, T. J. (2016). Feast for the eyes: An introduction to data visualization.
Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 35(2), 215-223. doi:
10.1080/02763869.2016.1152146
Brown, A. (2012). Assertive negotiation for librarians [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved
from http://molib.org/2014archive/conference/2012/presentations/
assertivenegotiation.pdf

37. References (cont.)
Dygert, C. & Barrett, H. (2016). Building your licensing and negotiation skills toolkit.
The Serials Librarian, 70(1-4), 333-342. doi: 10.1080/0361526X.2016.1157008
Fry, B. (2007). The seven stages of visualizing data. In Visualizing data (chapter 1).
Retrieved from https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/visualizing-
data/9780596514556/ch01.html
Peet, L., Schwartz, M., & Enis, M. (2017). Conference catch-up: The 2017 ACRL and
ER&L conferences covered trends ranging from diversity to emerging technology.
Library Journal, 142(8), 34-36.