RE: NEJM

[Tom Williams <twilliam@bbl.usouthal.edu>]

Yes Rick, the publishers want to sell and we want to give it away.  
However, we are more than willing to pay a fair price for the privilege of
"giving it away."  It's the price gouging that we can't tolerate and the
restrictions on use.

-- 
Thomas L. Williams, AHIP
Director, Biomedical Libraries and
 Media Production Services
University of South Alabama
College of Medicine
Mobile, Al 36688-0002
tel. (251)460-6885
fax. (251)460-7638
twilliam@bbl.usouthal.edu

On Tue, 2 Oct 2001, Rick Anderson wrote:

> > Now this one's a real money saver for libraries. . . cancel all those
> > expensive contracts with Ebsco, Proquest etc., and just tell patrons they
> > should subscribe individually to the electronic journals of their choice!!
> > Do we want to start down this road?? If publishers want to "act rationally
> > and maximize revenue" let's go this route and see if they can match the
> > revenues they get now from libraries!!
> 
> I think many journal publishers would love to see us do this.  They've
> never been thrilled by the idea of several thousand people getting the use
> of a single subscription.  Imagine if my library gave up its single
> subcription to NEJM and the number of individual faculty subscriptions
> doubled as a result -- the MMS would be thrilled, of course, and should
> be.  Actually, it wouldn't need to double; it would only need to increase
> by two for the publisher to realize a net gain.
> 
> This is the essence of the tension between libraries and publishers.  We
> want to give away what they want to sell.
> 
> -------------
> Rick Anderson
> Director of Resource Acquisition
> The University Libraries
> University of Nevada, Reno        "Beware the cynic as well as
> 1664 No. Virginia St.                    the huckster."
> Reno, NV  89557                         -- Ted Marchese
> PH  (775) 784-6500 x273
> FX  (775) 784-1328
> rickand@unr.edu