Re: journal pricing

["Rollo Turner" <rollo.turner@onet.co.uk>]

I am not sure I have seen the posting by Christine Taft but on the
assumption that she called for the earlier release of prices then I can
say that I support this sentiment. But it should be noted that prices are
set by the publishers, not by subscription agents. The ASA has sought to
publicise the importance of pricing journals by August 31 so that agents
have a chance to load all the prices and prepare better and more timely
information for libraries as a result. Many individual members of the ASA
have also made strenuous efforts to persuade publishers to price as early
as possible and in general we have had some success I think.

I am not just passing the buck to publishers here, because having been one
myself for many years I also know how difficult it is to price half way
through one year for subscriptions for the next. What we are seeking is an
acceptable compromise where the large majority of prices are published
before the end of August, but I think we all have to recognise that this
is never going to be 100% so it does make sense to allow for some
increases to be announced after your agents invoices have been sent. Many
agents will advise on this and some go to a very great deal of trouble to
try and predict price rises for the forthcoming year. The ASA links to
these published predictions on our Website (www.subscription-agents.org).

Rollo Turner
Secretary General
Association of Subscription Agents and Intermediaries
Tel +44 (0)1494 534778
www.subscription-agents.org
Email rollo.turner@onet.co.uk

----- Original Message -----
From: "Melanie C Long" <Melanie.C.Long@grc.nasa.gov>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 2:00 AM
Subject: RE: journal pricing

> A good suggestion was posted by Christine Ernst Taft of Linda Hall
> Library, in reply (I believe) to a post by Mr. Rollo Turner of the ASA.
> The suggestion is in regards to when journal prices become available.
> Because we (NASA Glenn Research Center) have to put our subscription
> vendor contract out for bid each year for the following calendar year, we
> begin reviewing our subscriptions in early April. The new contract has to
> be in place before the end of the fiscal year, which is September 30. So
> because journal prices are never available that early, we have to
> incorporate an "expected" yearly percentage increase in our journal budget
> planning, based on what increases have occured in previous years. I wonder
> how many other libraries do this?
>
> As I write this, Mr. Turner has not yet replied to the suggestion by Ms.
> Taft about whether it might be possible for journal prices to be made
> available earlier in the year, so that late payments for subscription
> renewals are not so prevalent.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Melanie Long, Technical Information Supervisor
> melanie.c.long@grc.nasa.gov