"The Sky Will Not Fall"

Library Journal's LJ Academic Newswire today reports on the passing of the NIH mandate bill. Most of the comments are summed up, oddly enough, in the UK blog from the Research Information Network.
I don't think the big STM publisher's predictions of doom and gloom will come to pass. At worst, they will need to adjust their business practices to account for the drop in use of articles after the twelve-month window. As they charge for database search use as well, costs are unlikely to decrease, though small libraries, societies and companies will probably continue to cut access to that 12-month window as they are priced out of the market. However, as this is a continuing trend, it will be difficult to blame it solely on the NIH mandate--though I'm sure corporate shills will try. This new mandate is a needed balance to the ridiculous rate for-profit publishers' journal costs have been increasing over the past twenty years, a move in favor of the public and government greatly needed to counter the tyranny of these corporations. The quote in LJ Academic Newswire from SPARC Executive Director Heather Joseph sums it up best, "The sky will not fall."