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RE: Science Online 

Just this week we have run into a similar situation with Cell Press.
They will offer site licenses to institutions but I suspect the price of
the site license will make it difficult for libraries to obtain.  They
clearly are interested in protecting their individual subscriptions and
are offering access to online versions free with all individual
subscriptions to the print journals.  We are presently waiting for a
price quote for a site license for their 4 journals.

********


Our journals, Cell, Molecular Cell, Immunity, and Neuron, are different
from most of the journals for which you are obtaining site licenses. At
the majority of institutions we have substantial numbers of individual
subscribers and in this situation the most common model for site licensing
electronic journals - setting a price based upon some percentage of the
print subscription - does not work. 

The price of journal subscriptions tends to be inversely proportional to
the size of their audience - journals costing many thousands of dollars
have a relatively narrow readership. The consequence of this relationship
between price and usage is that Cell Press, with high numbers of
individual subscribers for all its journals, is able to offer the print
journals at a low price, both to individuals and to institutions. In
effect, institutions benefit from the journals having a large number of
individual subscribers. 

Institutional access to electronic journals presents a different model
from print subscriptions. With a print subscription, only one reader can
access the information at a time and from one location, whereas the
electronic journal allows simultaneous access from many readers from
multiple locations. A site license to Cell Press+ electronic journals
allows you to offer your institution+s scientists a premium service -
desktop access to the full text of journals with the highest impact factor
in their respective fields. This access will be widely and consistently
used, and a direct relationship between price and usage more truly
reflects its value. 

We have, therefore, decided to base our pricing model on potential usage. 
The cost of a site license will depend on the installed base of readers,
the size of the institution, the number of machines on which access is to
be made available, dial-in access capability, and the number of distinct
sites. We will consider granting site licenses to sites behind firewalls
or proxy servers that mask the number of machines on receipt of a written
description of an institution+s network infrastructure. For large
institutions, the price for a site license is likely to be a multiple
rather than a fraction of the price of the print subscription. 

A site license will grant access to all of our journals and will include a
print copy of each journal (with credit given for existing print
subscriptions). Our site offers integrated searching across journals with
inter-journal links, an invaluable capability for general library usage. 
For smaller libraries serving a specialized clientele, we will discuss
providing online service to a single journal, although there will be no
benefit from the built-in discount for licensing the complete site. 

Access will be from specified IP addresses, and will not require user
names or passwords. Users will have unlimited access to view and print the
full text of articles (subject to fair use restrictions) from January 1996
through the current issue in our advanced HTML format with intra- and
inter-article navigation. PDF files are not available to institutional
subscribers and there is no physical archive provided with the site
license agreement. Initial licensing will be for a period of one year and
will start on receipt of payment of the site licensing fee and a signed
copy of our site license agreement. 

We realize that Cell Press+ approach represents a departure from the
current practice of licensing journals and appreciate your willingness to
work with us to find a solution for your institution. 

***********************

Michele Shipley
Collection Development Librarian
EG Miner Library
University of Rochester Medical Center
mshi@miner.rochester.edu
716-275-6878

 ----------
From: William S. Monroe
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Science Online
Date: Thursday, January 15, 1998 6:21PM

    We would like to know what other libraries are doing about
subscription to Science Online (i.e., the electronic version of
_Science_).   We, at Brown, are not happy about the method
the AAAS has devised for handling this, yet it is certainly a
title in demand.   I do not remember whether this has been discussed
before on the List, but here are some of the details about the
subscription, from the AAAS website:

******

    1.Access to Science Online must be purchased by individual computer
workstation and registered by IP address. The minimum order for
any library that does not have a print subscription to Science is 10
workstations. There is no minimum order requirement for libraries that
maintain a print subscription to Science. For current print subscribers,
please include 8-digit AAAS number as used for Science or Science
mailing
label with your order.

    2.All computer workstations that access Science Online MUST be located
in a library. Access outside the library is only available through
individual AAAS membership. Violation of this requirement may result in
termination of all subscriber online access.  .... 

    5.Science Online subscriptions allow access to the full text database
of all Science issues published on the Web over the course of a period of
51 weeks (a one year subscription). There is no physical archive provided
with this subscrption. Online subscribers are encouraged to purchase a
print subscription for archiving purposes. 

    6.After the order has been processed by AAAS, the library subscription
administrator must activate the online subscription. The librarian will
select a user name and password (for administrative purposes only), list
the IP address for each authorized workstation and sign off on the License
Agreement for Library Subscriptions to Science Online.  .... 

    8.Libraries with computer systems behind a firewall or on a proxy
server, or those with no permanent IP internet address (i.e. dial-in
internet service) should contact AAAS Customer Service to discuss
alternate arrangements for online access: 202-326-6417.  *****

     AAAS is clearly concerned about losing subscriptions if they
provice wider access to the electronic version.  Yet this is not
the direction we are moving with other products.   What are others
doing about this?   Comments?

 --WSM


*******************************************************
William S. Monroe			* William_Monroe@Brown.edu
Head, Collection Development		* Phone: (401) 863-2406
Brown University Library		* Fax:     (401) 863-2753
Box I
Providence, RI  02912-9109
*******************************************************


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