Comments about Nature

[David Goodman <dgoodman@Princeton.EDU>]

There are some key phrases in the reaction from Nature in the Mar 1 LJ
Academic Newswire that I think noteworthy (For reference, their reaction
is reprinted at the bottom.)

"Unexpected reaction" Our response is hardly unexpected: Hundreds of
librarians have been telling the Nature sales representatives this for
months, and they have undoubtedly informed their management.

"extensive market research ... among 48,000. The response from the
subscribers was..."  Note that she gives no figures for the percentage of
subscribers who answered that way, or the other responses they may have
received. The likely situation is that some personal subscribers will
certainly cancel, but hardly all of them. I suspect that at the
institutions where faculty have large grants, almost all of them will
continue, and that in less well-funded places a larger number will. To
price on the basis that they will all drop out immediately is certainly
pessimistic. They do not seem to realize, how widely all the parts of
their publication is read.

"no personal subscriber who used the library copy for the news section" If
this is true, then they clearly have no reason to eliminate it from the
library online version either

"substantial number"  They have the figures, and if they are not more
precise than that there is presumably a reason.  I personally expect some
small medically-oriented or heavily scitech-oriented schools to sign, but
I do not think more than about 10% of the larger research universities
will.

"constantly discussing" If this wording appeared in the minutes of a
committee here, I would interpret this to mean that there is no agreement
whatsoever.

"no immediate plans"  That is not the same as "no plans." Their plans will
be determined by their sales. If they make very few institutional sales in
the next month they may change plans very quickly. The sales will be
determined by whether we all hold firm. We must hold firm because of the
unfairness to the students. $99 for a personal subscription is a lot for a
graduate student. And the undergraduates? The way Nature sees the academic
world, a few months doesn't matter to them.

"tailored to meet library needs" Perhaps they think that "library needs"
still just means "print." Other publications are prepared to follow
Nature's example, and some are making tentative steps of various sorts in
that direction. It is very desirable that a publication have personal
subscribers, but Nature's policy seems well tailored to destroy the public
function of the library, and restrict the prompt availability of
scientific information to those who can individually afford it.

---------------------------- LJ Academic Newswire (Mar.1, 2001)

 LIBRARY COMMUNITY'S REACTION TO SITE LICENSE TAKES NATURE BY SURPRISE
 ... 
 NATURE Marketing Director Della Sar told the LJ ACADEMIC
 NEWSWIRE that the "unexpected reaction" of the library
 community seemed to defy market research done by the
 publisher. "During 1999 and 2000 we carried out extensive
 market research amongst our 48,000-plus personal
 subscribers," says Sar. "The response from the subscribers
 was, that [since] all of them have online access to all
 content at no additional charge, and certainly well ahead
 of receipt of their paper copies in most cases, they
 primarily use their library copies for archival research.
 In fact there was almost no personal subscriber who said
 they used the library copy for the news section." Asked if
 this unexpected reaction might cause the publisher to amend
 its current embargo policy, Sar said no. "We are naturally
 constantly discussing our license terms," she
 noted, "but...have no immediate plans [to amend the
 policy]. Sar noted that the current model was tailored to
 meet library needs by offering access, albeit restricted by
 the embargoes, 24 hours seven days a week, campus-wide.

-- 
David Goodman
Biology Librarian
and Co-chair, Electronic Journals Task force
Princeton University Library
Princeton, NJ 08544-0001
phone: 609-258-3235
fax: 609-258-2627
e-mail: dgoodman@princeton.edu