Nature's new "post cancellation policy"

[Debi Baker <ddbaker@uoregon.edu>]

Colleagues,

Please see the message below from one of our member institutions. 
I have not seen anything here about this -- perhaps I've missed 
it since I tend to delete posts based on subject line?  If not, 
is anyone else having this experience with Nature?

Regards,
Debi

********************************************************************
Debi Baker				Orbis Cascade Alliance
Projects Manager			ddbaker@uoregon.edu
1299 University of Oregon               voice: (541) 346-1832
Eugene, OR 97403-1299                   fax:   (541) 346-1968
********************************************************************

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 10:37:56 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: alliance-er: Nature's new "post cancellation policy"

I received an email from our representative at Nature recently 
regarding their new license agreement that includes a "post 
cancellation policy" which will be effective as of 1/1/07. Here's 
the gist of it:

"As we discussed, the journals that you currently have a site 
license to will receive the maximum content benefit by being 
grand-fathered into this policy.  Right now your site licenses 
come with a large amount of archives, which you will never lose 
if you cancel a title (however, there will be a minimum fee to 
keep your access going); with our new policy customers are only 
given 4 years of a rolling archive, and if you cancel, your 
retained access only covers the years that you subscribed to.  I 
am not sure if your budget allows, but I am recommending to all 
of my customers that if you plan on adding a journal, or 
switching journals from print to online, I would do so before the 
end of this year in order to receive the most amount of archives, 
and still have your archive coverage protected if you need to 
cancel."

Has your library received this message from Nature, and what are 
your thoughts about it? I am particularly disturbed, not only by 
the approach they are using to "encourage" more online 
subscriptions, but by the fact that we will no longer own the 
content we paid for if we begin a new subscription to a journal 
online after 1/1/07, but will only have access to a 4 year 
rolling archive. Has anyone seen discussion of this new license 
on any list-servs?

Joanna