RE: Barnes and Noble

[Julie Blake <julie.blake@jhu.edu>]

David,

Yup, we use them a lot. They're probably our second biggest US=20
vendor.

They do tend to be cheaper, and have free shipping, and they tend=20
to ship most things within 24 hours anyway so we use them as much=20
as possible for rush items - no service charges! The university=20
in general has a deal with them, not just the library, so I don't=20
know if this gives us different benefits. A few quirks.

1. "You always receive 10% off on top of the lowest online price"
- almost always. They told us this is for anything=20
"professional" or "scholarly" - so it doesn't always hold for=20
really popular stuff, but mostly. Works on non-print also;=20
ordered Avatar yesterday. No discounts or no free shipping off=20
of individual used book sellers.

2. The tax-exempt ordering is not quite as easy to set up as they=20
say. We've had to fax in a copy of our tax certificate for every=20
new account that we set up, even when it's based on the same=20
account number. But once they've got it, it's very easy to use.=20
They did have one spell where things didn't work right and we got=20
charged tax, but they credited.

3. The PO ordering is great, except they do expect payment more=20
quickly than the average academic bureaucracy moves. ;) We've put=20
their invoices at the top of the pile to move through and haven't=20
had any more problems. Before that, we'd get messages about how=20
we "couldn't order any more since we overspent our credit."

4. If you want to receive items as quickly as possible, you'll=20
want to group like shipment times together. In other words, don't=20
order 24-hour things on the same order as a pre-pub, or your=20
24-hour things will be waiting for the prepub! Not a big deal,=20
but we learned that the hard way. The free shipping is only for=20
the basic shipping, but that's still within a few days for the=20
most part.

You could try the AcqNet listserv for more opinions, or holler if=20
you want more info.

Julie

Julie C. Blake
Acquisitions Coordinator
Milton S. Eisenhower Library
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD=A0 21218
julie.blake@jhu.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of David Thibodeau
Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2010 10:57 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Barnes and Noble

Hello Group,

This is probably not the appropriate listserve for this but here=20
goes:  Does anyone have any experience with Barnes and Noble=20
Library Services?

Although we cannot get e-books or set up standing orders through=20
this service, after doing some spot checking they seem cheaper=20
that our current service.  Any assistance would be appreciated.

Library Services Benefits:

--  You always receive 10% off on top of the lowest online
price
--  Free Shipping on orders of $25 or more
--  The largest in-stock inventory of any online
bookseller (great for rush orders!)
--  Ability to search up to 25 ISBNs at one time
--  Deferred Billing Accounts (also called Purchase Order
Accounts) are available
--  Library-only promotions
--  A dedicated library services manager to answer your
questions
--  Easy tax-exempt ordering - just follow the instructions in=20
the order path when you place your first order

Notes about the program:
--  Library Services discount will automatically appear at
checkout
--  Personal purchases are permitted, too!

Thanks,
David
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