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RE: NEJM

Extend this scenario beyond NEJM, though. Sure, NEJM would make more off
of individual subscriptions, but how about all those publishers of
Journals in EbscoHost and other aggregators? How many individual
electronic subscriptions can any one undergrad afford? I suspect that for
many publishers of journals in the aggregators, libraries are a source of
revenue that they would not otherwise have under 'personal subscription'
scenarios. In this case, we (libraries) are paying, and paying a pretty
penny, for "what they want to sell."

Paul Burry
Information Services Support Specialist
Information Resources & Digital Library
Technical University of British Columbia
paul.burry@techbc.ca
p: 604-586-6019
f:  604-586-6025


 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Rick Anderson [mailto:rickand@unr.edu] 
Sent:	Tuesday, October 02, 2001 4:03 PM
To:	liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject:	RE: NEJM

> Now this one's a real money saver for libraries. . . cancel all those
> expensive contracts with Ebsco, Proquest etc., and just tell patrons they
> should subscribe individually to the electronic journals of their choice!!
> Do we want to start down this road?? If publishers want to "act rationally
> and maximize revenue" let's go this route and see if they can match the
> revenues they get now from libraries!!

I think many journal publishers would love to see us do this.  They've
never been thrilled by the idea of several thousand people getting the use
of a single subscription.  Imagine if my library gave up its single
subcription to NEJM and the number of individual faculty subscriptions
doubled as a result -- the MMS would be thrilled, of course, and should
be.  Actually, it wouldn't need to double; it would only need to increase
by two for the publisher to realize a net gain.

This is the essence of the tension between libraries and publishers.  We
want to give away what they want to sell.

-------------
Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
The University Libraries
University of Nevada, Reno        "Beware the cynic as well as
1664 No. Virginia St.                    the huckster."
Reno, NV  89557                         -- Ted Marchese
PH  (775) 784-6500 x273
FX  (775) 784-1328
rickand@unr.edu