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Re: Consortia pricing
In reply to several messages concerning JSTOR's reluctance to agree to consortial pricing for their product, an observation. Most vendors who offer consortial pricing are for-profit vendors. Clearly their price is marked up to assure them a profit. Their offer of consortial pricing may reduce their profits somewhat, but they probably see it as a trade-off for lower administrative costs or because they gain greater market share and possibly make sales to sectors of the market who would not use their product otherwise. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization, and their purpose is not to make a profit, so I assume they have already set their pricing at a point where there is very little margin over costs. What excess funding is created, I assume goes to develop infrastructure to better serve us, and to carry out the important task of digitizing the back runs of serials held in our libraries. I would not like to see them lower their prices, and put their endeavor in danger, or slow down the process of conversion of our paper holdings. JSTOR has a board which I trust guides their pricing policy to assure they accomplish their goals without extracting any unneeded dollars from the library community. I served on the OCLC Board of Trustees, and as a member of that group, I always kept these principles in mind. Too often we forget that not-for-profits serving the library community do not play by the same rules as our for-profit vendors. We need to think differently of them. Vanderbilt was a charter member of JSTOR as well. I have no knowledge of the specific finances of JSTOR, but I trust its management and board to strike a balance between the health of JSTOR and the well being of the library community it serves. Paul M. Gherman University Librarian 611B General Library 419 21st Avenue South Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 37240 Office: (615) 322-7120 Fax: (615) 343-8279 gherman@library.vanderbilt.edu
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