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Re: EJournal Aggregation 

I feel compelled to take issue with a portion of the following:

On Sat, 15 Mar 1997 amedelson@topnet.net wrote:

> I believe it is a given that publishers are an independent, highly
> individualistic lot. . . .

Certainly no argument there, but--

> . . .Standardization in licencing will probably not happen
> in our professional lifetime. That is dreaming, really. Expecting
> publishers to jump onto the bandwagon with aggregators is equally
> delusional. Librarians do not have the economic clout to pressure this to
> happen, especially since libraries are cutting back on subscriptions. 

> From my understanding of the economics of journal publishing, libraries
cutting back on subscriptions should *increase* their clout.  Institutions
are charged higher rates largely because of the inelasticity of library
demand.  If libraries become more sensitive to price changes,
institutional demand becomes more elastic, and publishers have reduced
freedom to raise subscription rates. 

The actual impact of the models discussed on this listserv on the
economics of scholarly publishing is obviously unsettled.  But I question
the assertion that libraries don't have the economic clout to influence
the models. 


Steve Black
Reference, Serials and Instruction Librarian
Neil Hellman Library
The College of Saint Rose
Albany, NY  12203                                  "Cogito eggo sum"
blacks@rosnet.strose.edu                     (I think, therefore I waffle)


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