Re: Are banner ads acceptable on licesnsed databases?

["MARGARET LANDESMAN" <mlandesm@library.utah.edu>]

Re. David's mention of library links to book dealers, a similarly 
interesting question is raised by the model 'ebrary' is proposing. As 
I understand it, Ebrary will charge 15 cents a page to the end user 
when they print.  Or 25 cents to download.  Up till then it's free.  And 
if a library provides a link, it gets a cut.

So, for example, if rather than scanning stuff for reserve ourselves, 
we went through them, we would link to their copies of the 
books/articles/etc.  It would cost the student 15 cents a page and the 
library would get a small cut.

Assuming they actually succeed in getting enough content to make 
this interesting, I am not sure it is hugely different from what we do 
now.  We charge students to photocopy and are quite fond of the 
revenue we derive.  But it feels different.

It somehow feels less problematic though to think about putting, say, 
our manuscript collections on ebrary and charging the rest of you 
15 cents a page to use them,

Margaret Landesman

_____
From:           	David Goodman <dgoodman@Princeton.EDU>
To:             	liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject:        	Re: Are banner ads acceptable on licesnsed databases?
Send reply to:  	liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Date sent:      	Sun, 13 Aug 2000 07:40:47 EDT

My personal opinion is that these are tolerable for free databases, but not if
any charge is made for the material. At the very least, I would insist on a
contractual limit on size, frequency, location, and presentation (no blinking
or animation). 
 
For journals, etc., where the ads are an intrinsic part of the items then I
would feel  otherwise, and would prefer that they be included, just as I
include them in binding paper copies.

An interesting related case is the acceptability of putting links to book
dealers in the online catalog. I can see how the users might find them
useful; I believe some such dealers offer the library a small percentage
of the purchases made. I cannot decide if this is a fatal compromise of
our integrity, or an inevitable coming to terms with reality.

David Goodman
Biology Librarian, and
Co-Chair, Electronic Journals Task Force
Princeton University Library
dgoodman@princeton.edu         http://www.princeton.edu/~biolib/
phone: 609-258-3235            fax: 609-258-2627
 
____
GenAnnual@aol.com wrote:

> Colleagues,
> 
> I need your opinion. An online database vendor has asked me if librarians
> would accept or object to their placing banner ads, visible to library
> patrons, on licensed databases hosted by their company?
> 
> What would be your reaction? Not care; accepting; would cancel the
> subscription or?  I take it that they feel they could charge lower fees if
> they had the additional revenue from the ads.
> 
> What's your feeling?

Margaret Landesman
Head, Collection Development
Marriott Library
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0860
phone: (801) 581-7741
fax: (801) 585-3464
e-mail: mlandesm@library.utah.edu