RE: Online journal statistics

["Peter Picerno" <ppicerno@choctaw.astate.edu>]

Amen!! How can we, as a profession, exert the influence which will benefit
our institutions in the best and most cost-effective way?? It seems to me
that we, as serials librarians, have been the helpless victims of certain
publishing practices, but must this always be so? Some vendors and
publishers are open to our needs and are willing to seek out our input
while others retain a closed blank wall in the face of our needs. I, for
one, think that we -- if we were to present a unified and fair front --
could make a lot of headway which would be mutually beneficial: after all,
publishers want to sell their product, and a fair market environment will
make that much more possible!

P Picerno
Dr. Peter V. Picerno
Collection Development Team Leader
Dean B. Ellis Library
P O Box 2040 - 108 Cooley Drive
Arkansas State University
State University, AR 72467
(870) 972-3078
(870) 972-3199 FAX
ppicerno@choctaw.astate.edu

__________________________________

It is obvious why they, and the rest of the journal vendors, do not want
to supply us with these types of statistics. If we have proof that certain
titles are not being used, we may cancel those titles. This would be the
first pebble in the avalance to acquiring ejournals on a title by title
basis. The vendors want to sell 'packages' which benefits them. If we can
say that we do not want something because of low use, they lose their
sales edge. Statistics give us an edge and they do not want to give us the
information bullet. Some of the vendors may be moving in our direction,
but that is because they see the long term benefit of keeping their
customers happy.

Kennith Slagle
Head of Collection Services
University Library
New Mexico State University
Box 30006/Dept. 3475
Las Cruces, NM  88003-8006
Phone: 505-646-4228
FAX:   505-646-7477
Email: keslagle@lib.NMSU.edu