Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 07:01:24 -0800
From: Rick Anderson (Univ. of NV-Reno) <rickand_at_unr.edu>
Subject: RE: ACQNET: More Business directory scams
> If a salesman calls the
> reference desk and asks to speak to the person "who buys
> things" etc. I will take their information and tell them
> that "an appropriate individual will be in touch with them
> if needed." I can't prevent them from getting the information
> in some other way, but why make it easy for the scam artists?
> Is this perhaps too harsh??
If I know the company is legit, I'm happy to direct sales reps to the
appropriate subject specialists in my library. You might want to ask the
folks at your institution what they'd prefer -- it may be that they would
welcome sales calls. (And even if they wouldn't, there's an argument to be
made that part of one's job as a subject sspecialist or bibliographer is to
entertain sales pitches from publishers in one's assigned area.)
Of course, if you've never heard of the company you'll want to be more
careful. And if you know it to be a scam operation, you'll want to
explicitly instruct the caller to add your institution to its "do not call"
list.
-------------
Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
The University Libraries
University of Nevada, Reno
1664 No. Virginia St.
Reno, NV 89557
PH (775) 784-6500 x273
FX (775) 784-1328
rickand_at_unr.edu
Received on Sun Mar 24 2002 - 15:23:41 EST