Re: Wellcome Trust report

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@worldnet.att.net>]

Fred:

There are literally thousands of publishers of various stripes that would
give their right arms to drop print, but their customers won't let them.
Believe me, print is a pain in the neck; it's almost as much trouble as
negotiating with 25-year-old tattooed and body-pierced developers.  The
problem with eliminating print is, as Sally says, that it's a binary game:
all or nothing.  The fixed costs of print don't get reduced one penny when
one customer opts for electronics.  And think of the relatively poor
success of the electronic-only journals (compared to journals that also
have the print option, that is).  This is not a case of publishers ramming
something down the throat of librarians but of a marketplace that has not
yet got religion.

Yrs in spirit.

Joe Esposito

----- Original Message ----- 
From: ""FrederickFriend"" <ucylfjf@ucl.ac.uk>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 4:55 PM
Subject: Re: Wellcome Trust report

> I suspect that if libraries were to be given the option of dropping print
> in return for a 25% reduction in price, many would go for that option.
> That size of reduction in price would more than cover the VAT, which
> anyway is only a UK problem. Globally, savings on subscription prices of
> that order of magnitude would make a significant contribution towards
> financing a secure archive. Libraries have not been offered that option
> and therefore there has not been the financial incentive to move away from
> print. And if some subscribers want to retain print, surely they and not
> all subscribers should bear the cost of print?
>
> Fred