Getting started

After completing the following steps, email us at participation@portico.org or call +1-734-887-7001 to start your participation.

1. Determine your Library Materials Expenditure (LME) in U.S. dollars

Annual Archive Support payments are based on total library materials expenditures (LME) as defined by the Association of Research Libraries.

Your LME is derived from the following expenditures (print and electronic):

  • Monographs: total number of volumes purchased; include monographs in series and in continuation.
  • Current serials: total number of subscriptions, not titles. Include duplicate subscriptions and, to extent possible, all government document serials even if housed in a separate collection.
  • Other library materials: total number of backfiles of serials, charts and maps, audiovisual materials, and manuscripts.
  • Miscellaneous expenditures: total number of other materials expenditures for services and items such as bibliographic utilities, literature searching, security devices, memberships for the purposes of publications, etc.

2. Determine your fees for e-journals and e-books based on your LME. Note that there is no library participation fee for digitized historical collections.

If your institution participates in a consortium, please contact us at participation@portico.org to learn about additional savings which may be available to you.

E-journals

Total LME Annual Archive Support
<$150,000 $1,000
$150,000-250,000 $1,591
$250-500,000 $3,289
$500-750,000 $4,456
$750,000-1 million $5,729
$1-2 million $7,108
$2-3 million $8,275
$3-4 million $9,442
$4-5 million $10,609
$5-7 million $12,200
$7-9 million $13,792
$9-11 million $15,171
$11-13 million $16,126
$13-15 million $17,080
$15-20 million $18,566
$20-25 million $20,157
$25-30 million $25,462

E-books

Total LME Annual Archive Support
<$150,000 $350
$150,000-250,000 $478
$250-500,000 $987
$500-750,000 $1,337
$750,000-1 million $1,719
$1-2 million $2,132
$2-3 million $2,482
$3-4 million $2,833
$4-5 million $3,183
$5-7 million $3,661
$7-9 million $4,138
$9-11 million $4,552
$11-13 million $4,838
$13-15 million $5,124
$15-20 million $5,570
$20-25 million $6,047
$25-30 million $7,638

3. Review the Portico library archive license

Portico library archive license agreement

4. Contact us

After completing these steps, please email us at participation@portico.org or give us a call at +1-734-887-7001 to start your participation.