RE: Libraries Urge Justice Departmen to Block Cinven and Candover Purchase of BertelsmannSpringer

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> Who "owns" journals is important, because of the evidence, which
> is long and deep that the largest publishers charge the highest
> premiums for their content.

OK, I think I see what you're saying: history shows that the bigger the
publisher, the higher the price, so the replacement of several small
publishers by one big one is a bad thing because it will drive up prices,
regardless of whether there's any true "competition" going on.  To the
degree that the historical pattern you're talking about is simply a direct
function of publisher size, that argument makes sense.  I think the cause
and effect dynamic may be more complex than that, but I'm not really
equipped to argue either way, so I'll just sit back and listen as the
discussion continues...

-------------
Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
The University Libraries            "Perfect clarity is the
University of Nevada, Reno           ultimate style. A sentence
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PH  (775) 784-6500 x273                 -- David Quammen
FX  (775) 784-1328                    (paraphrasing Russell)
rickand@unr.edu