College students likely spend hundreds of thousands of dollars extra per year on buying rights for digital versions of readings to which they have free access.
Some college and university libraries have been attempting to rein in the duplicative charges, which stem from journal articles and other assigned readings that students are told to buy for class even though the material is freely available to them through library holdings.
Stanford University, for instance, found that more than $100,000 was being spent, mostly by students, on course materials that could be found in the 1,200 databases the university spends millions of dollars to make available.
This is because faculty and students are often unaware of what is already available.
Read more:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/07/university-libraries-look-reduce-licensing-costs#ixzz2bJ8YHpOF Inside Higher Ed