Re: Elsevier no longer signing consortial agreements for ScienceDirect

[David Goodman <dgoodman@Princeton.EDU>]

Dear Mr. Dietz,

Since it seems Elsevier account managers sometimes "mis communicate" and
are subject to "confusion", many librarians do not totally rely on
information we receive from them.  It is often much more advisable to get
authoritative information in a public forum from one of the people at
Elsevier who know what is going on, rather than rely on private
conversations.

Please note that the account manager for our particular account has
without exception given us accurate and helpful assistance, and I have the
highest praise for her knowledge and effort. But others' experience has
apparently varied. It would help us all if you continued to announce your
policies in detail in public, did not attempt to conceal information which
is not in fact confidential but merely the standard terms, and explain
things in a way that is less subject to misinterpretation.  That your
company has achieved less than total success in this general area should
be obvious from the comments here and on reedelsevier.


David Goodman
Biology Librarian 
Princeton University Library
Princeton, NJ 08544-0001
phone: 609-258-3235
fax: 609-258-2627
e-mail: dgoodman@princeton.edu


"Dietz, Roland (ELS)" wrote:
> 
> Dear Ms. Farkas and other readers of this list,
> 
> Clearly this was an unfortunate mis communication from our side. As I said
> earlier, we are fully committed to working with any of our customers,
> consortial or not to give access to information to as broad an audience as
> possible. That is our overall driving force as publishers.
> 
> On the consotrial side it is also clear that while the general ideas are
> usually simple and clear, the actual putting together of an arrangement
> can be challenging due to many factors on either side of the discussion.
> This may have been the cause for confusion on the side of our account
> manager.
> 
> And, in fact, that is a good reason for us to prefer to have these
> conversations in person and address any issues and concerns in function of
> the situation specifics as quickly as possible.
> 
> Roland D.J. Dietz
> Managing Director, Global Sales and Marketing
> Elsevier Science
> 655, Avenue of the Americas
> New York, NY -10010-5107
> tel 212-633-3945