Proposal for sharing information on licensing "deals"

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

A proposal made at last fall's Charleston Conference calling for
contributing to a database through which libraries can share price and
licensing details is discussed in an op ed in this month's D-Lib.

"Fair Publisher Pricing, Confidentiality Clauses and a Proposal to Even
the Economic Playing Field"

D-Lib Magazine
February 2004
Volume 10 Number 2

The article by Phil Davis is available at:

<http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february04/davis/02davis.html> 

Having been offered several "deals" at $100,000 or more and then learning
consortial pricing was in the 60K range, I know it is really important to
know what terms/pricing etc. other libraries are experiencing.

We can't go to vendors very often for comparative pricing information in
this arena, so I consider this proposal a critical piece of the whole
puzzle libraries are dealing with.

Unequal information, as we all know from hard experience, means the
potential for unequal pricing.

Chuck Hamaker
Associate University Librarian Collections and Technical Services
Atkins Library
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Charlotte, NC 28223
phone 704 687-2825