Publisher deals and cancellations

["M Ros Doig" <M.R.Doig@derby.ac.uk>]

Dear all

'We will have to maintain a minimum subscription value of 1997 holdings x
2003 prices. '

Janny reminds me about another bugbear of these kind of publisher deals -
when are we going to be allowed to cancel subscriptions?  In order to
maintain electronic access to a full collection often you're not allowed
to cancel anything you started with as paper. Ok maybe for a couple of
years but not indefinitely surely........ What I'd like to know - who is
it that sits in an office somewhere and dreams up all these
incomprehensible pricing schemes? They seem quite detached from reality at
times!!

We haven't reached any conclusions as yet about the Elsevier/Academic
situation - it's a tricky one, isn't it? Best Wishes to you all.

Ros Doig
Serials & Inter-lending Librarian
University of Derby
Learning Centre
Tel. +44 1332 591204 
Fax. +44 1332 622773
Email M.R.Doig@Derby .ac.uk

>>> jklai@hkucc.hku.hk 08/19/02 09:47am >>>

Dear colleagues,

Our library has begun our negotiation with Elsevier regarding our Academic
Press/IDEAL titles for 2003. Elsevier has insisted to continue to use the
AP Base Price formula in our existing APPEAL license for the new contract.
That means we will have to maintain a minimum subscription value of 1997
holdings x 2003 prices. We find this quite unacceptable, because we've
heard that, for many libraries, the cost of the IDEAL package has been
decoupled from the historical print subscription list, and also because
the new pricing doesn't include access to unsubscribe AP titles and we
will have to pay for the so called 'freedom collection'.

We would very much appreciate it you could share with us your experience.

Sincerely,
Janny Lai
Collection Development
University of Hong Kong Libraries
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
(852) 2859-7005
jklai@hkucc.hku.hk