Re: journal pricing

["Anthony Watkinson" <anthony.watkinson@btopenworld.com>]

Rollo can confirm or otherwise but as far as I know all major publishers
make their prices available before the end of August and one of the
largest companies does so before the end of July.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rollo Turner" <rollo.turner@onet.co.uk>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 4:24 AM
Subject: Re: journal pricing

> 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