I'm going to throw out my two cents on this topic. My personal context is
that the first six years of my career were spent working for an academic
serials vendor. Eventually I moved into a paraprofessional position at an
academic library, and now I'm at a public library system as their head of
Technical Services, so my perspective is one that includes being on both
sides of the fence.
I don't think it's professional or appropriate to mention vendor names in
an open forum in a negative way. Asking for recommendations and mentioning
names is different. The practice in the past would be to be purposely vague
when posting on listservs, etc. and to possibly give clues so that the
wider audience might be able to infer which vendor is being referred to.
There are always going to be circumstances where problems arise, things go
wrong, or perhaps their are personal issues between vendor and a customer,
but as professionals, we have a duty to maintain a level of collegiality on
both sides. If a person wants to share information and see if others are
having a similar problem, it would be best for all parties involved to put
that information out as tactfully as possible (without specifying the
vendor's name), asking to be contacted directly *and offline* for details
or further discussion.
As a vendor, I never appreciated the "us vs. them" that sometimes exists
between libraries and vendors.
If a vendor has done something egregious (which may have happened in the
circumstances you mentioned, or at least, that's what I'm inferring) that's
not for an open forum. That's a phone call to the representative's manager
with the backing of your own supervisor, department head, or director.
Best,
Rebecca Sandoval Sloat
On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 6:26 PM Cris Ferguson <acqnet_at_lists.ala.org> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> First, apologies, this message has been cross-posted to a couple of
> listservs.
>
> Twice this week I have heard of librarians discussing either an
> interaction with a specific vendor or the product from a specific vendor on
> a listserv, and, as a result of that conversation, the vendor has contact
> the librarian's employer off the listserv (presumably to request either
> disciplinary action or a retraction).
>
> Has this happened to you or a colleague? If so, I am interested in
> hearing more about it - the specifics of the case (if they can be shared,
> of course), how your administration reacted, what the ultimate solution
> was. If it hasn't happened to you, I'd still be interested in hearing your
> thoughts on the purpose of listserv communication, how it is used to
> discuss vendors and products, and what it means when a vendor takes that
> communication and contacts an employer in regards to it.
>
> If you are hesitant to post about an interaction with a vendor directly to
> the list, please feel free to contact me off list at the contact
> information below. As I gather information on this, I am happy to work
> with you to protect anonymity if that is what you prefer. I also think
> this is a two-way street. I would be interested in hearing from vendors
> who have contacted, or wished they could perhaps contact, a librarian's
> supervisor to help me understand why this might be necessary.
>
> In the interest of full disclosure, I am noodling on the idea of an
> editorial of some kind on this topic, but nothing is finalized. I am
> really just fascinated by this phenomenon and interested in people's
> thoughts.
>
> Thanks,
> Cris Ferguson
>
> __________________________
> Cris Ferguson
> Assistant Dean of Libraries / Associate Professor
> 222 Waterfield Library
> Murray State University
> Murray, KY 42071
> 270-809-5607
> cferguson13_at_murraystate.edu
> http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8410-6010
> <http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8410-6010?lang=en>
>
> (she/her/hers)
>
--
[image: logo] Rebecca Sandoval Sloat
Technical Services Manager
rsandovalsloat_at_sclibnj.org | 908-458-4946
SCLSNJ.org <http://www.sclsnj.org> Somerset County Library System of New
Jersey
SCLSNJ Administration
1 Vogt Drive, Bridgewater, NJ 08807
Received on Fri Jan 18 2019 - 09:31:56 EST