RE: Journal/Publisher 2010 price freeze info on MLA website

["Joseph Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

It is not every day that Fred Friend, David Prosser and I are in 
agreement.

>From that common ground, however, we would likely move in very 
different directions.  I would propose that in a world where the 
economy tends to have people and institutions act in their own 
self-interest, universities would themselves act in their own 
interests.  This would mean, for example, that universities would 
recognize that they create more intellectual property than 
anyone--much, much more than all the commercial entities.  As 
creators, they would seek to protect and exploit IP, but instead 
they are tending toward liberalizing IP rights.  This is like 
having Exxon embrace the science of global warming or the NRA 
adopt the precepts of Gandhi.

I articulated this idea in "The Wisdom of Oz:  The Role of the 
University Press in Scholarly Communications" a few years ago: 
http://bit.ly/2bdeQY.

Joe Esposito

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of David Prosser
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 3:11 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: RE: Journal/Publisher 2010 price freeze info on MLA website

Joe articulates my fear in the current price round.  A number of 
small and society publishers have responded positively to ICOLC's 
call for price restraint, but it is not at all clear to me that 
we have market mechanisms that will reward those showing 
restraint.  My concern is that this could result in reduced 
revenues for those publishers that have shown themselves most 
responsive to the problems of library budgets.

David Prosser
Director, SPARC Europe

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Joseph Esposito
Sent: 04 August 2009 00:07
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: RE: Journal/Publisher 2010 price freeze info on MLA website

I believe the point Nawin is making is that freezing or lowering 
prices is not in a publisher's interest unless the product is of 
marginal value, in which case a high price may indeed result in a 
cancellation.  The obvious point to be made here is that this is 
an editorial game (the best products win)and other aspects of a 
publisher's trading practices (low pricing, good customer 
service, flexible usage terms, nice people)are rarely rewarded 
(except, to repeat, for marginal publications).  In fact, it may 
be in the interests of a publisher of the higher quality 
publications to raise prices even in desperate economic times, as 
such a publisher is protected by the armor of outstanding 
editorial content and can stand by and watch as the weaker 
editorial products get cancelled, despite the generous trading 
practices of those unfortunate publishers. If I have 
misunderstood Nawin's question (which I took to be rhetorical), 
please correct me.

I don't like the implications of this reasoning any more than 
anyone else; it's a lot like cheering on the Second Law of 
Thermodynammics; so I beg you not to shoot the messenger.  But 
this is the way the economy works, and matters are not improved 
by encouraging "good behavior" only to punish the most noble in 
the end.

Joe Esposito

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Rais, Shirley (LLU)
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 6:08 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: RE: Journal/Publisher 2010 price freeze info on MLA website

Nawin:

I would still base cuts primarily on usage and value to our 
collection & mission, but if I had to make choices between 
marginal titles, those without price increases would get an edge 
towards retention.  The price freezes will help me save titles 
overall, not just the titles with frozen prices.  By marginal I 
mean titles with usage on the low end of the spectrum that 
support smaller programs on campus.  The price freezes may 
actually help me add some titles!

Shirley Rais, MLS  -  Chair, Serials & Electronic Resources Dept.
Library Liaison to the School of Public Health LOMA LINDA UNIVERSITY |
University Libraries Loma Linda, California 92350 srais@llu.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu On Behalf Of Nawin Gupta
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 4:58 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: RE: Journal/Publisher 2010 price freeze info on MLA website

It is gratifying to see that a number of publishers are foregoing 
price increases for the upcoming year.  Anecdotal evidence to 
date is that many of the libraries, if not most, are expecting 
budget cuts of around 10% or more. Sadly, despite the noble 
gestures of some, chances are that librarians would still need to 
cut some subscriptions.

If I may ask a question of librarians on this list:

Would a journal that did not increase its subscription price 
likely to be spared in your decision to cut?  Or, are the 
decisions likely to be based primarily on a journal's usage and 
its importance to the library "customers" and collection?

Nawin Gupta
www.nawingupta.com