RE: Cambridge Journals Online

[W Holder <holder@library.utoronto.ca>]

Sorry Margaret. I was simply acting out of frustration not evaluation of
the CUP journals on any other basis. We would love to provide access to
all the CUP titles if we could solve the username/password roadblock. When
I started to read the original message that I reponded to I thought the
announcement was going to be that just like Wiley Interscience, CUP was
announcing that they were no longer requiring individual sign-in.

See you soon,

Warren Holder
Electronic Information Resources Co-ordinator
University Of Toronto Libraries
Toronto, Ontario  CANADA

telephone : (416) 978-2286
          fax  : (416) 978-7653
       e-mail : Holder@library.utoronto.ca

-----Original Message-----
From:	MARGARET LANDESMAN [SMTP:mlandesm@library.utah.edu]
Sent:	Monday, January 31, 2000 7:16 PM
To:	liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject:	Re: Cambridge Journals Online

We looked at Cambridge to see if we agree with Warren that we have nothing
to thank them for.  They publish 157 journals - we looked at a sample of
61.  The average price was $287.52, ranging from two annuals at $69 and
$80 apiece to Journal of Physiology - 29 issues per year for $2298 - and
Journal of Fluid Mechanics with 24 issues for $1560.

We happen also to have recently updated our list of MCB journals and their
prices - we looked at all 124 MCB titles and found the average price per
journal in 2000 is at $2,650, up $278 per journal.

When we consider renewals for 2001, we will certainly keep in mind that
Cambridge is providing us with journals which cost per annum about the
amount of one year;s "inflation" in an MCB title and whose most expensive
journals are less expensive than the "average" MCB title.

It seems to me reasonable to speculate that such a publisher , though
floundering in dealing with the networked environment, might nonetheless
be a better long term investment for libraries.

Not with regard to this particular discussion, but in general, it seems to
me odd that when a journal charges $100 for "electronic access," we
frequently object.  But if the electronic access is "free" and the price
goes up $100, we think that is ok.

Margaret Landesman