ACQNET v1n091 (July 10, 1991) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/acqnet/acq-v1n091 ACQNET, Vol 1, No. 91, July 10, 1991 ==================================== (1) FROM: Richard Jasper SUBJECT: Who's New on ACQNET Today (34 lines) (2) FROM: Richard Jasper SUBJECT: Ethics here, ethics there, ethics, ethics everywhere... (14 lines) (3) FROM: Doug Duchin SUBJECT: Gift books, vendors & ethics (21 lines) (4) FROM: Jim Mumm SUBJECT: Ordering from vendor slips - ethics and What makes a good decision? (35 lines) (5) FROM: Alan Schaplowsky SUBJECT: Returns and ethics (25 lines) (1) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Date: July 10, 1991 From: Richard Jasper Subject: Who's new on ACQNET today Scott Wicks, in his usual energetic fashion, has been signing on people right and left. Here's who has joined since just before ALA. Maria Cap Linda Williams Acquisitions Librarian Head, Acquisitions Los Angeles County Law Library Henry E. Huntington Library BM.LCL@RLG BM.H3L@RLG Bob Schatz Sales Manager Academic Book Center ACBC%ALANET@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU Maggie Rioux Ms. Filis Fahey Acquisitions Librarian Head, Order Department Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Mount Allison University Library C78_MAR1@RED.WHOI.EDU FFAHEY@MTA.BITNET Frank Winter Mary Anderson Associate Librarian Head of Technical Services University of Saskatchewan Libraries Clark University Library WINTER@SKLIB.USASK.CA MANDERSON@CLARKU.BITNET Orion Pozo Collection Manager, Physical Sciences & Engineering North Carolina State University Libraries ORION@LIBGB2.NCSU.EDU J. Andrew Stewart Raymond Paul Schwartz Reference/Collection Development Bibliographic Assistant University of Missouri-Rolla Columbia University Library C3038B@UMRVMB.BITNET RPS4@CUNIXF.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (2) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Date: July 10, 1991 From: Richard Jasper Subject: Ethics here, ethics there, ethics, ethics everywhere... While the rest of us were here in Atlanta, presumably being wined and dined by our respective vendors or publishers at places like the Country Place at Colony Square and Veni, Vidi, Vici, some people were busily thinking about the ethical aspects of what we do, e.g.: -- What we do with gift books... -- What we do with vendor slips... -- What we do with returns... These thoughts, all of them worthwhile and provocative, come from Doug Duchin, Jim Mumm, and Alan Schaplowsky respectively--and there was enough of them to make an entire issue! (3) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Date: June 24, 1991 Name: Doug Duchin Subject: Gift books, vendors and ethics Too bad there aren't more vendors or ex-vendors on this network, because a lot of these questions are something vendors deal with daily. So, you got a gift book and you also got the book on approval/firm order. Unless you run a staggering gifts and exchange program and this is happening more than once a week, I don't see it as a problem. A vendor expects a percentage of returns on an approval plan, resulting from errors, books received on both serial standing orders and firm orders, dups resulting from gifts or exchanges, and just plain rejects. As long as the book is in salable when he gets it back, I doubt that the vendor cares if it is his book or the gift book. Whether the book is a gift book or purchased elsewhere is also immaterial. I think most vendors understand that you will accept the cheapest copy of the book (or the first received) as long as this does not get out of hand. Whether or not it is worth it to you to create additional processing costs in order to save a few dollars on the list price is also up to you. The point is, I think, to tell the vendor that you may, from time to time accept a gift book in lieu of the vendor's copy. (4) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Date: July 1, 1991 Name: Jim Mumm <9724MUMMJ@VMS.CSD.MU.EDU> Subject: Ordering from vendor slips -- ethics and What makes a good decision? When I wrote a few weeks ago on this topic, I posed a question which seems to have come up through responses which have been generated. The question: What constitutes a good decision when it comes to choosing a vendor? This is particularly interesting when thought of in the light of obligation to the employer. In Christian's summarization he says, "We owe it to our institutions ... to buy books as cheaply as possibly. Indeed it would be unethical for us not to do so." |ACQNET v.1 #88, item 6 pt.2|. I have to disagree with this, and apologize if that is the inference gained from my statements. I don't think our decisions should be purely economic, for there will undoubtedly be agreements we make with vendors and administrators which are based (at least for some reason) on political or other motivations. For example: one may choose to avoid a vendor because of practices which it or its parent company might support which are contrary to one's employer's concerns. This can only be known on a case by case basis, but it may provide a reason (other than monetary) for avoiding someone. Another example: The librarian or administration has had a "bad experience" with a company which they do not wish to repeat. The point is that there is more to life than a good bargain, and reasons for ordering from someone may include much more than the discount offered. This brings me back to the question of what constitutes a good decision when choosing a vendor. Would anybody care to expound further? (5) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Date: July 3, 1991 Name: Alan Schaplowsky Subject: Returns and ethics Regarding Joyce Ogburn's question in Vol. 1, No. 89 about the ethics of returns: The cases she lists raise two sets of questions in my mind when I try to answer them: (1) what commitments are assumed to be involved with firm orders and approval plans (this would get at the requirement or conditions for requesting permission to return materials, and whether "switching" material makes sense); (2) although Joyce excludes consideration of processing costs, the question of balancing the costs involved in returns with the savings or benefits gained underlies the "ethics" of deciding what course to take on behalf of our libraries (two major benefits - giving the vendor feedback about mistakes, and obtaining an adequate copy - are usually considered great enough to outweigh most costs, but not all). Returning items requires identifying invoice charges to a vendor (which in our unautomated environment can be quite costly), and a certain amount of processing and record-keeping/monitoring for response costs, not to mention shipping charges. At Columbia we return firm orders only with permission (unless the firm order was cancleed before shipment); we return any approval item for whatever reason, as long as the item is unmarked and we are returning within a "reasonable" time (around 6 months) or receipt. Based on these considerations, my answers would be Case A: Yes; Cases B-D: No, unless the item's cost makes returning reasonable; Cases E-F: We would not switch a purchased item with a gift, unless the supplier knew he was "buying" back a different copy. |