Newsletter on Serial Pricing Issues 073 (March 14, 1993) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/nspi/nspi-ns073 ISSN: 1046-3410 NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES NO 73 -- March 14, 1993 Editor: Marcia Tuttle CONTENTS 73.1 FROM THE EDITOR, Marcia Tuttle 73.2 INCREASES IN MATH AND PHYSICS JOURNALS FOR 1993, Peter Cziffra 73.3 PUBLISHER DISCOUNTS TO SUBSCRIPTION AGENTS, Susan Davis 73.4 COMMENT ON EBSCO PURCHASE OF MAJORS, Scott 73.1 FROM THE EDITOR Marcia Tuttle, tuttle@gibbs.oit.unc.edu. I apologize for the long time between issues. The editor's life got excep- tionally busy, and the delay was lengthened by "gibbs" being down all week- end (because of the weather?). There will be several issues very quickly now, assuming I can get to the computer on Monday. First it was PergamonPLUS, where the publisher announced a program to give each senior editor of an article accepted for publication a L25 credit for use by a library to reduce the cost of its Pergamon journals. Next Gordon and Breach implemented "Negative Page Charges," a program that gives the author "a credit valued at either $20 US, 3,000 Yen, or 15 ECU," for use by a library of the author's choice against a Gordon and Breach title. Now Bowker has introduced a "Library Bond Program." The February 1, 1993 issue of Reed Reference Publishing's _The Cornerstone_ has the following an- nouncement: Bowker is introducing another program to help libraries battle their shrinking budgets. Here's how it works. We are now issuing special Library Bonds which can be purchased by all friends of the library community -- alumni associations, corporate spon- sors, PTO/PTAs, Chamber of Commerce groups, and more -- at a 20% dis- count, and then redeemed for their full face value. Bonds are available in denominations of $100, $250, $500, $750, and $1,000. A bond worth $100, for example, will cost just $80; a $500 bond can be purchased for $400; and a $1000 bond is $800. Librarians will be able to use the bonds to purchase critical Reed publications, handbooks, and selections guides -- at a major savings. The newsletter has an order form and gives a telephone number for those who are interested: 1 800 521-8110. Do three programs make a trend? Will we see more of this? Is it a good thing, or does the effort, the departure from library routine, cancel the monetary savings? What do you think? Ted Dobb, University Librarian at Simon Fraser University, sent a memoran- dum from the Office of the Vice-President, Academic, that relates to seri- als prices. The University Senate approved the following motion: that Senate establish regulations which will ensure that no new or re- vised courses and programs, or offerings of existing courses and pro- grams at new locations, including individual offerings of special topic courses, can be offered unless adequate library resources are in place, or funds for them guaranteed in the base budget of the Library. The proposal to implement this motion includes: 1. No new course should be approved by Senate until funding has been committed for necessary library materials....For library materials which involve continuing commitments, the source for this funding will be transferred from the base budget of the Faculty concerned into the Library acquisitions budget or from the current acquisitions allocation for the department.... 2. Off-campus programs will not be initiated until there has been appro- priate consultation with the University Librarian with respect to the availability of library materials and services.... 3. Special topics courses which have not previously been offered shall be presented to the Library for an assessment of the availability of library materials as early as possible. 4. No new program should be approved by Senate until funding has been committed for necessary library materials.... Would that more of us had such a policy to prevent expensive surprises! Simon Fraser University is to be commended. 73.2 INCREASES IN MATH AND PHYSICS JOURNALS FOR 1993 Peter Cziffra, Princeton University, PCZIFFRA@PUCC.BITNET. [This item is reprinted, with permission, from SERIALST. -ed.] The following tables are taken from our serials records and include only those journals for which the Princeton Math-Physics library has a subscrip- tion and for which we have received 1993 renewal invoices. Some journals from very minor publishers that cost less than $200 are not included. The number-of-titles count is not accurate because combined subscriptions are counted as one title. For some reason, we have received only one invoice from... Gordon and Breach. In the subject table, Mathematics does not include computer science, which is collected by Engineering, and physics only includes a few astronomy journals; we have a separate Astronomy Library. COMPARISON TABLE FOR 1992 - 1993 JOURNAL PRICES BY PUBLISHERS 2/11/93 No. of Sum of Sum of Percent Name Titles 1992 Prices 1993 Prices Increase --------------------------- ------ ----------- ------------ -------- Publisher not noted 48 24,343.54 27,150.06 11.53 Academic Press 16 10,214.05 11,439.10 11.99 Akademiai Kiado 1 175.00 236.00 34.86 Akademie Verlag 4 3,688.75 4,808.25 30.35 Akademiia nauk SSSR 2 540.00 658.00 21.85 Allerton Press 9 5,462.30 6,079.70 11.30 American Astronomical Society 2 830.00 875.00 5.42 American Institute of Physics 25 25,865.00 29,694.00 14.80 American Mathematical Society 15 10,200.00 10,996.00 7.80 American Statistical Assn 2 280.00 270.00 (3.57) Birkhauser 4 1,256.22 1,586.15 26.26 Cambridge University Press 5 1,764.00 1,963.50 11.31 CRC Press 1 195.00 225.00 15.38 Deutsche Verlag der Wissensch. 1 152.00 245.00 61.18 Editions de Physique, Les 4 4,422.64 5,562.00 25.76 Elsevier 25 47,688.16 65,244.37 36.81 Gordon and Breach 1 1,814.00 2,680.00 47.74 Hadronic Press 1 250.00 270.00 8.00 IEEE 4 1,150.00 1,255.00 9.13 Institute of Physics 4 12,178.00 16,435.00 34.96 Kinokuniya 2 500.52 518.00 3.49 Kluwer 8 2,938.88 4,153.23 41.32 London Mathematical Society 3 1,422.00 1,386.00 (2.53) Marcel Dekker 6 4,105.00 4,515.00 9.99 Masson 1 333.00 300.00 (9.91) Nauka 5 1,871.28 1,948.00 4.10 Optical Society of America 4 2,305.00 2,510.00 8.89 Pergamon 9 6,671.68 7,755.26 16.24 Physika-Verlag Heidelberg 3 532.35 690.50 29.71 Plenum Press 21 18,545.00 19,815.00 6.85 Royal Statistical Society 1 73.00 94.50 29.45 Science Press, Beijing 2 570.00 666.90 17.00 Springer Verlag 26 23,413.27 28,014.50 19.65 Taylor and Francis 3 2,829.39 2,700.00 (4.57) University of Chicago Press 1 380.00 420.00 10.53 Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1 41.73 53.50 28.21 Walter de Gruyter 1 276.00 312.25 13.13 World Scientific 9 5,301.22 6,142.06 15.86 ---- ----------- ---------- ------- TOTALS 280 224,577.98 269,666.83 20.08 COMPARISON TABLE BY SUBJECT OF 1992-1993 JOURNAL PRICES 2/11/93 No. of Subject Titles 1992 Prices 1993 Prices Increase ----------- ------ ----------- ------------ -------- Mathematics 121 68,409.35 80,389.26 17.51 Physics 131 144,027.48 174,130.41 20.90 Statistics 28 12,141.15 15,147.16 24.76 ---- ----------- ------------ -------- TOTALS 280 224,577.98 269,666.83 20.08 73.3 PUBLISHER DISCOUNTS TO SUBSCRIPTION AGENTS Susan Davis, State University of New York at Buffalo, UNLSDB@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu. There is a disturbing trend occuring with respect to discounts to subscrip- tion agents from large publishing houses. We have seen these discounts erode in some cases more than 50%! I would like to see some discussion of the impact on subscription prices, subscription agents, and publisher repu- tation. Do discounts to agents amount to a significant amount of money? Is a lessening of the discount preventing (or postponing) price increases? It still may end up costing the library just as much, only now the agents' service charge will be the focus of our ire. How much should we as librar- ians be concerned? We need our agents to perform many valuable and labor intensive services on our behalf. All our staffs are shrinking and respon- sibilities are not lessening. Is there a problem here, or just another phase we're going through? I hope librarians, agents and publishers will comment. 73.4 COMMENT ON EBSCO PURCHASE OF MAJORS Scott ?, Follett Software Company, 809 N. Front Street, McHenry IL 60050- 5589, Phone: 815 344-8700. Regarding the letter in the February 14, 1992 issue on the purchase of Majors Subscription Services by EBSCO (72.1), perhaps the writer is over- reacting somewhat (a phenomenon on E-Mail known as "flaming"). Librarians become passionate about some things, such as their automation systems, right-to-read, and their subscription service agent. EBSCO and Majors are private companies, in business to make a profit, something which we librar- ians often forget. Majors made a business decision to sell their subscrip- tion activities to EBSCO. EBSCO purchased the operations since they felt it would be a profit-generating activity. As a business, EBSCO has a right and an obligation to make money. It is a fairly common practice in business to purchase other companies in an effort to achieve the economies of scale necessary in today's society, and to increase market share. The home mort- gage industry is a common example. The typical mortgage will change hands many times during the life of the loan. In the long run, it is in the best interest of the library profession to have financially healthy businesses work with us, as the collapse of a company, any company, which services anything as critical as our periodical subscriptions can be devastating. Perhaps emotion has clouded the writer's objectivity, since none of the possible positive results of the purchase discussed in Mr. Brooke's memo were mentioned. EBSCO has a long reputation of working with national li- braries, both here and abroad. This synergy enables EBSCO, and the library, to provide their respective customers with the best possible service at the most reasonable price. Some of these benefits are bibliographic records, current price and publisher information, publication status, indexing in- formation, etc. All of these things are ultimately in the best interest of libraries. The writer of the article states that EBSCO should not assume anything and that they have not bought [the library's] account. This is a fair state- ment, but if we step back, we see that EBSCO is attempting to put the li- brary's interest at the front of the purchase. If EBSCO were to do nothing, then it could very easily happen that some of the library's subscriptions could lapse, creating gaps in the collection and/or requiring a very tedi- ous, time-consuming claiming process. EBSCO is looking to increase their business and market share. As a company, that is their responsibility and their right. Yes, the librarian is well within his/her right to evaluate the library's periodical vendors and yes, they may choose to move their business elsewhere to provide the best possible service to our patrons at the most reasonable price. That is our responsibility and right. Until the time the library does make such a decision, it should be grateful that EBSCO has taken the steps which they have so that the library will receive uninterrupted service. When evaluating services in the future, maybe the librarian should consider this commitment to service. We exist in a profit-generated world. That is the price we pay for a capi- talistic economy. As librarians, we cannot begrudge companies to make a reasonable profit providing services which, admittedly, are necessary for our efficient operation. This is not something to be ashamed of; it is a fact of life. Those same profits enable companies such as EBSCO to provide services which individual libraries, or even consortia, could not afford. A reasonable, non-emotional viewpoint is still the best choice. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Statements of fact and opinion appearing in the _Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues_ are made on the responsibility of the authors alone, and do not imply the endorsement of the editor, the editorial board, or the Uni- versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Readers of the NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES are encouraged to share the information in the newsletter by electronic or paper methods. We would appreciate credit if you quote from the newsletter. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES (ISSN: 1046-3410) is published by the editor through the Office of Information Technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as news is available. Editor: Marcia Tuttle, Internet: tuttle@gibbs.oit.unc.edu; Paper mail: Serials Department, CB #3938 Davis Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC 27599-3938; Telephone: 919 962-1067; FAX: 919 962-0484. Editorial Board: Deana Astle (Clemson University), Jerry Curtis (Springer Verlag New York), Janet Fisher (MIT Press), Charles Hamaker (Louisiana State Universi- ty), Daniel Jones (University of Texas Health Science Center), James Mouw (University of Chicago), and Heather Steele (Blackwell's Periodicals Divi- sion). The Newsletter is available on the Internet and Blackwell's CONNECT. EBSCO and Readmore Academic customers may receive the Newsletter in paper format from these companies. Back issues of the Newsletter are available electronically. To get a list of available issues send a message to LISTSERV@GIBBS.OIT.UNC.EDU saying INDEX PRICES. To retrieve a specific issue, the message should read: GET PRICES PRICES.xx (where "xx" is the number of the issue). To subscribe to the newsletter, send a message to LISTSERV@GIBBS.OIT.UNC.EDU saying SUBSCRIBE PRICES [YOUR NAME]. Be sure to send that message to the listserver and not to Prices. You must include your name. To unsubscribe (no name required in message), you must send the message from the e-mail address by which you are subscribed. If you have problems, please contact the editor. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++