ACQNET v7n030 (August 20, 1997) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/acqnet/acqnet-v7n030 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 7, No. 30, August 20, 1997 ======================================== (1) FROM: J. Bixby SUBJECT: What's with Facts on File? (18 lines) (2) FROM: B. Schatz & B. Hirsch SUBJECT: RE: Marshall Cavendish (2 postings) (102 lines) (3) FROM: J. Williamson SUBJECT: Militia of Montana Film Order (20 lines) (4) FROM: A. Glass, D. North, P. Stevens & B. Hirsch SUBJECT: RE: Staff Accounts (4 postings) (119 lines) (1)--------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 21:47:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Julie Bixby (Huntington Beach PL) Subject: What's with Facts on File? Our library has been a participant in Facts on File's standing order program for several years. We were on plan A-2, which is any FOF title under $75 (formerly $60). Shipments, until this year, came every other month. For some reason this year, shipments have been sporadic. Anyone else experiencing this? If so, have you gotten any info from FOF as to what's been going on with this program? I'm tempted to tell them "forget it" if things continue to be erratic. -- Julie Bixby, Acquisitions Huntington Beach Public Library Huntington Beach, CA (2)---------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 09:56:42 -0700 From: Bob Schatz (Academic Book Center) Subject: RE: Marshall Cavendish Last February, Marshall Cavendish informed us at Academic Book Center that they would fill non-reference book orders through wholesalers. Until we order, we're not sure which are available through us and which must be ordered direct by the library. I assume that most vendors now are able to handle Marshall Cavendish titles on that basis. Bob Schatz, VP for Sales Academic Book Center Portland, OR +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 10:53:00 -0700 From: Bonnie C. Hirsch (Eugene PL) Subject: RE: Marshall Cavendish Forwarded message -------------------------- From: PeytonS@ix.netcom.com To: HIRSCH Bonnie C Subject: Re: FW: ACQNET 7:27 Date: Saturday, August 09, 1997 6:33AM Bonnie, Thank you for forwarding the ACQNET articles on Marshall Cavendish to me. I thought you might want clarification on several questions. Marshall Cavendish publishes under two imprints. The Marshall Cavendish imprint is for reference titles. The Benchmark Books imprint is for circulating titles for the K-12 market. Both the reference and circulating imprints support K-12 and academic curricula. Public schools and public libraries usually buy both. Academic libraries get the reference books. Only the Benchmark Books titles are available through jobbers, and since this is a new arrangement, jobbers are not stocking them all. These are short-discount library-bound books, so jobbers do not give their 40% trade book discount on them. Marshall Cavendish gives a 30% discount on direct orders for these titles, as opposed to the 0-20% jobbers give, so along with getting a better fill rate it is considerably more economical to order directly from Marshall Cavendish. Standing orders for some of the Benchmark Books series qualify for an additional 10% discount. A library placing a large Benchmark Books order would also find it more efficient to order directly from Marshall Cavendish because they would get a 100% fill rate, whereas if the library were to order through a jobber it would get a lower fill rate and then have to place a second order directly with Marshall Cavendish for the remaining titles. This applies only to the Benchmark Books titles. All Marshall Cavendish reference titles remain sole source. The length of time between announcement of a new title, invoicing, and shipping occurs for the following reasons. The multi-volume Marshall Cavendish reference sets require considerable investment to publish. Marshall Cavendish, like other publishers, announces them prior to publication in hopes of having a backlog of orders to fill when the new sets are released. The prepublication announcement is clearly indicated as such, so the ordering library understands that they will not be receiving the books until a specified time. These initial orders help the publisher recoup some of the cost of publication. In exchange for ordering before publication, the publisher offers libraries a small extra discount. So the advantages to the library of ordering during the prepublication period are that the library saves some money and gets the books immediately upon publication. In the case of a large public library or school system which orders multiple copies, the savings may be substantial. Marshall Cavendish announces its forthcoming titles during the summer and fall of each year. The reference sets are then released in late fall or early winter. The reason the library receives an invoice immediately after placing a prepublication order, but perhaps months ahead of receiving the books, is that the invoice is necessary to confirm that the customer has encumbered to purchase the title and that Marshall Cavendish has entered the order into their fulfillment system. The invoice is, however, not payable until the customer actually receives the books. Lastly, so far as the legitimacy of Marshall Cavendish as a publisher, one has only to look at the outstanding reviews their books regularly receive from the library press to be assured that their publications are of the highest quality. Please feel free to post this reply on ACQNET. I hope it clears up any confusion about Marshall Cavendish and Benchmark Books. --Peyton Peyton Stafford Associates, Publishers Representatives to Schools & Libraries Representing in Oregon only: Compton's Encyclopedia, Marshall Cavendish & Benchmark Books, Raintree Steck-Vaughn, Sharpe Reference, and UXL. 539 SE 39th Ave., Suite 677, Portland, OR 97214-3214 Voice: 503-720-7149 or 800-739-8667 Fax: 503-234-4090 or 800-773-3408 E-mail: PeytonS@ix.netcom.com See our Web page for updates on publishers' specials, etc. http://www.netcom.com/~peytons/home.html (3)--------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 13:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Josie Williamson (Univ. of Delaware) Subject: Militia of Montana Film Order Request We have been asked by our Media Department to purchase a film from the Militia of Montana. This organization only accepts cash or postal money orders, no checks. This pretty much eliminates our ability to purchase this film, so we asked our media vendor to give it a try. They contacted the Militia of Montana, who refused to do business with them. We consider the order closed, but our Media Department will not take "no" for an answer. This has stimulated some lively discussion here, but no solution. I would appreciate hearing from those of you who can offer us advice or guidance. Josie Williamson Head, Acquisitions Dept. University of Delaware (4)---------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 09:02:03 -0500 From: Anthony Glass (Eureka College) Subject: RE: Staff Accounts Here at Eureka College we set up such an account with Baker & Taylor. It was no problem as far as the business office was concerned, because it is set up so staff pay tax on their purchases--nobody is getting a free ride off the institution's tax exempt status. The problem for us is that, while you get B&T's discounts, you still have to pay shipping (in addition to tax)--unless you are a big school or a public library doing a high volume business with the vendor, in which case they may waive the shipping charges. Even then, you need to dicker with your rep, because they won't just volunteer to waive shipping. Unfortunately, we are but a tiny school and shipping charges not only eat up our discount, in many cases they result in a higher price. We're better off just going to Barnes & Noble. You may have better luck. Anthony R. Glass Eureka College +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 10:48:43 -0500 From: Daniel North (Univ. of W. Fla) Subject: Re: Staff Accounts At the University of West Florida, our staff account is maintained by our library staff association. We (Acquisitions) established separate staff accounts and billing/shipping addresses with our vendors, and the staff association treasurer does the actual work of ordering and receiving the books, getting the payments from our staff members, and then paying the vendors' invoices. This procedure works very well. Our vendors have been quite happy to extend to our staff the same institutional discounts that the library receives. Dan North Head, Acquisitions/Collection Development John C. Pace Library University of West Florida Pensacola, FL 32514 Email: dnorth@uwf.edu Ph: 850-474-2449 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 09:03:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Peter Stevens (Univ. of Washington) Subject: RE: Staff accounts I've operated staff accounts for several decades in various libraries, with very high levels of library staff satisfaction. Setting up the accounts (with Baker & Taylor and with Blackwells in Britain) was easy. All of the ordering on these accounts is done by me outside our normal ordering and accounting systems, using an 800 number or special order forms. I order about 100 titles a year for staff. Books and invoices come addressed to the special account, on purchase order numbers I assign that are different enough from our regular numbers that they can all be directed to my personal attention. I've also ordered CDs for staff but the shipping charge on CDs reduces the discount to a negligible amount. Invoices are paid by our library staff association treasurer in dollars. I've also ordered books for library staff from Scandinavia, Hong Kong and other places where some acquisitions expertise is needed to obtain the books. In such cases, I use our regular vendors but request separate invoicing so that library and staff association orders are not mixed on the same invoice. Nowadays, anyone can order U.S. books at a discount from the Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble Websites linked to our Acquisitions' homepage--but our B&T discounts and free shipping are generally a better deal at present. Often, the books I order for staff are lower-discount, harder-to-get titles. I think staff book ordering is a good fringe benefit to offer to library staff, especially if you already have a library staff association. Peter Stevens, Head, Acquisitions Division University of Washington Libraries +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 09:11:00 -0700 From: Bonnie C. Hirsch (Eugene PL) Subject: RE: Staff Accounts At Eugene Public Library we once had staff accounts. It was shortly before my time, but my impression is that we had several account numbers with our primary vendor - one for adult materials, one for childrens, one for staff... Any staff requests were ordered through the designated account, and the staff paid when the item was received. Incidentally, all city staff, not just library staff, were able to order this way. It is rather ironic that the city official who decided this was really a violation of the rule against personal gain was one of the heaviest users of the staff account. The main intent of the rule, of course, is to prevent employees from accepting personal bribes and then making business decisions in favor of the giver. The wording, however, is such that we have to slap our consciences down to accept the fresh cookies one sales rep brings, even though he represents publishers that are available no other way. And the wording of the rule implies that if we use the library discount for personal use, for instance, that is personal enrichment. Therefore, we no longer order personal purchases on the library discount. Bonnie Hirsch Eugene (Oregon) Public Library ****** END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 7, No. 30 ****** END OF FILE ******