Price discrimination for academic subscriptions (discussion)

[Phil Davis <pmd8@cornell.edu>]

Price discrimination for academic subscriptions

Price discrimination, whereby customers pay different prices for the same
product based on their willingness to pay, has been accepted in the
academic journal market.  Institutional subscriptions can cost many times
more than personal subscriptions.  Some publishers have made finer
distinctions, distinguishing students from professionals, and academic
institutions from corporate ones.  The academic institution market can be
further divided into the American Carnegie classification, or graded based
on its size (FTE).  For the most part, these further classifications have
been accepted without major rebellion.  Some librarians complain that
whatever method is used, there will still be a problem mapping the
category to a true willingness to pay.  For example, a large
multidisciplinary institution may complain that the FTE model charges them
too much for a resource in the life sciences, while a small medical
institution may feel that it is getting a really good deal.

I would like to submit for discussion is that these classifications are
really just estimates of real (or potential) use.  In other words, we can
map *willingness to pay* to *utility*.  Utility can therefore be reduced
to something that can be counted, like *number of downloads*.

I realize that I am opening a lot open for discussion: 1) the ability to
accurately measure a download and whether it can represent a use, 2)  
whether librarians would be willing to be charged (at least in part) for
their institutions use, 3) whether this model runs in opposition to the
librarianstenant to encourage, not discourage use, 4) whether it is *fair*
to charge different prices when the marginal cost of delivering another
electronic article is virtually zero, or 5) whether this model is
inevitable and something that librarians will just have to accept (Luke,
it is your destiny).

Respectfully submitted for a Friday discussion,
Phil Davis
.

Philip Davis, Life Sciences Bibliographer
Mann Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-7192 ;  (607) 255-0318 fax
pmd8@cornell.edu
http://people.cornell.edu/pages/pmd8/