Re: Who is the subscriber

["Beth Jacoby" <bjacoby@hshsl.umaryland.edu>]

My library has not been able to afford to subscribe to either
ScienceDirect or Academic IDEAL.  We would like to get both, but I think
it unfair to base pricing on subscriptions sent to departmental libraries
on campus.  When I looked into pricing for IDEAL and found out that this
was being done, I expressed my disbelief to the sales rep.  Unlike library
subscriptions which are available to everyone on campus, departmental
subscriptions are available to only a handful of faculty.  The library
(and its budget) is being penalized for the existence of non-library
subscriptions on campus.

Publishers need to know that this is not an acceptable pricing 
method.

Beth Jacoby
Head of Acquisitions/Serials
Health Sciences and Human Services Library
University of Maryland
601 W. Lombard St.
Baltimore, MD  21201-1512
Phone: 410-706-8856    
Fax: 410-706-8860

____________

David Crawford wrote:

> I would be interested in views from the list concerning the practice of
> some publishers (we are currently talking to Elsevier) who look at all
> subscriptions sent to an institution and base licenses on ALL these
> titles.  As a University library system we can, with difficulty and our
> fingers crossed, guarantee not to cancel the print titles which WE
> subscribe to but have no way to do the same for titles bought by
> "independent" departmental, research institute or hospital libraries. They
> can, and do, cancel titles as grants end or research projects finish.
> 
> How are others dealing with this?  
> 
> DAVID CRAWFORD
> 
> David S. Crawford
> Health Sciences Librarian and
> Serials Co-ordinator
> McGill University
> Montreal,  CANADA
> 
>     Voice:  (514) 398 4475  ext. 09115
>     Fax:    (514) 398 3890
> 
>      http://www.health.library.mcgill.ca