47.2 ONE LIBRARY'S RESPONSE TO A PRICE INCREASE , Bill Benson
[The analysis was produced by David Fisher, Scripps Library's Head of Acquisitions for internal purposes, and is reproduced with permission from IAMSLIC@UCSD Internet Conference, a conference for aquatic and marine science libraries. -ed.]
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library at University of California San Diego is analyzing price increases for its subscriptions and has examined its Elsevier and Pergamon titles.
Our 33 Pergamon subscriptions are increasing from a total expenditure of $32,336.97 for 1992 to $41,840.50 for 1993, an overall increase of 29.39%. The spread for price increases ranged from 9.4 to 55%. We used Pergamon's quote of $1.90/pound sterling which they are honoring through Dec. 31.
Our 39 Elsevier subscriptions are increasing from $39,621.51 to $52,484.65, a 32.45% increase. The spread ranged from 8% to 91%. We used Elsevier's quote of 1.66 Guilders/$1.00.
Titles with large increases are supposed to have increased numbers of pages for 1993. Titles which are expanding are noted with an asterisk. All of these titles were acquired through The Faxon Agency for 1992 subscriptions, and the prices quoted included their service charges.
SIO LIBRARY
1992 & 1993 PRICES AND PERCENTAGE INCREASES
ELSEVIER SUBSCRIPTIONS
1992 % CHANGE 1993
ANALYTICA CHIMICA ACTA * $2172.38 +29.66% $2816.86
AQUACULTURE * 1227.65 +36% 1674.69
AQUATIC BOTANY 480.72 +28.9% 619.87
AQUATIC TOXICOLOGY 610.03 +24% 757.22
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH * 310.32 +89% 587.35
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA *
(all sections) 5516.23 +32% 7278.91
CHEMICAL GEOLOGY * 1192.69 +27.6% 1522.28
COASTAL ENGINEERING * 345.81 +91% 661.44
COLD REGIONS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 186.80 +59.73% 297.59
DYNAMICS OF ATMOSPHERES & OCEANS * 271.18 +74% 472.29
EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS* 1007.04 +41.5% 1425.30
EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS 355.98 +24% 453.00
ECOLOGICAL MODELLING * 692.18 +53% 1059.00
ENGINEERING GEOLOGY 520.86 +28.7% 670.48
FEBS LETTERS 2672.86 +25.78% 3365.00
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY 355.98 +31.6% 468.67
FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS 1929.85 + 8% 2081.92
FISHERIES RESEARCH * 307.35 +82.3% 560.24
GENE * 2568.28 +36.6% 3508.43
GEODERMA * 537.59 +60.5% 826.65
GEOMORPHOLOGY * 245.54 +72% 422.89
ISPRS JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY
AND REMOTE SENSING 179.18 +28% 230.12
JOURNAL OF APPLIED GEOPHYSICS 174.08 +28.3% 223.49
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE
BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY 1536.52 +25.4% 1927.71
JOURNAL OF GEOCHEMICAL EXPLORATION 680.77 +26% 859.83
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY * 1747.98 +34.4% 2349.39
JOURNAL OF MARINE SYSTEMS 245.93 +28.59% 316.26
JOURNAL OF VOLCANOLOGY AND
GEOTHERMAL RESEARCH * 676.75 +50.4% 1018.00
MARINE CHEMISTRY 697.26 +28.2% 893.97
MARINE GEOLOGY * 1013.75 +40.5% 1425.30
MARINE MICROPALEONTOLOGY * 353.26 +28.2% 453.00
ORE GEOLOGY REVIEWS 241.56 +28.4% 310.24
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY, PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY,
PALAEOECOLOGY 1282.96 +23.6% 1586.74
PHYSICS OF THE EARTH AND
PLANETARY INTERIORS 1053.57 +27.3% 1340.96
PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH 839.60 +29.5% 1087.34
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY 735.96 +28.3% 944.57
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT * 1783.14 +32.26% 2358.43
SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY 839.92 +25.8% 1057.22
TECTONOPHYSICS 2032.00 +26.5% 2572.00
TOTALS $39,621.51 +32.45% $52,484.65
PERGAMON PRESS SUBSCRIPTIONS
1992 % CHANGE 1993
ANNUAL REVIEW OF FISH DISEASES NOT BILLED $190.00
APPLIED GEOCHEMISTRY $238.00 +26% 300.00
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT A 1819.00 +44% 2625.80
CHEMOSPHERE * 966.97 +55% 1501.00
COMPARATIVE BIOCHEM.& PHYS. A 1672.00 +25% 2093.80
COMPARATIVE BIOCHEM & PHYS. B 1680.00 +29% 2173.60
COMPUTERS AND GEOSCIENCES 869.00 +20% 1045.00
CONTINENTAL SHELF RESEARCH * 549.00 +30% 712.00
CURRENT ADVANCES IN ECOLOGICAL &
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 885.00 +27.7% 1130.00
DEEP SEA RESEARCH A & B (w/OCEANO- @ 1524.00
GRAPHIC LITERATURE REVIEW) (2 copies)
[Note: Beginning 1993 suscribers to parts A & B will receive Part I:_Ocean-
ographic Research Papers, and Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography.
OCEANOGRAPHIC LITERATURE REVIEW will be available as a separate entity, or
with Parts I & II at 50% off regular price ($456.00 discounted price).
[Excerpted from the Pergamon Catalog]]
DEEP SEA RESEARCH PARTS I-II (2 copies)
(w/OCEANOGRAPHIC LITERATURE REVIEW) +37.7% @2099.50
ENDEAVOUR 106.00 +34% 142.50
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEM. * 426.00 +19.5% 509.00
EXPLORATION & MINING GEOLOGY 145.00 ? Price not set
GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA * 693.00 +14.8% 796.00
GEOFORUM 346.00 +22.4% 423.00
GEOTHERMICS 339.00 +20% 408.00
INTL.JNL. OF ROCK MECHANICS & MINING
SCIENCES & GEOMECHANICS ABSTRACTS * 866.00 +38% 1197.00
JOURNAL OF AFRICAN EARTH SCIENCES 570.00 +24% 706.00
JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC & TERRESTRIAL
PHYSICS * 1074.00 +32.7% 1425.00
JOURNAL OF GEODYNAMICS 335.00 +33% 446.00
JOURNAL OF S.AMERICAN EARTH SCI. 232.00 + 9.4% 266.00
JOURNAL OF S.E. ASIAN EARCH SCI. 404.00 +26.9% 513.00
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY * 446.00 +38.4% 617.00
OCEAN ENGINEERING 429.00 +21.8% 522.00
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 499.00 +23.7% 617.00
PHYSICS & CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH 495.00 +36.4% 589.00
PHYTOCHEMISTRY * 1246.00 +36.4% 1700.00
PROGRESS IN OCEANOGRAPHY (2 C.) * @ 543.00 +38% 750.00
QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVEIWS * 484.00 +23.6% 598.00
TETRAHEDRON (w/BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEM
LETTERS; ASYMMETRY; TETRAHEDRON LETT) 8863.00 +23.8% 10,972.00
WATER RESEARCH 1173.00 +27% 1493.00
ZOOLOGICA SCRIPTA 353.00 +22.7% 433.00
TOTALS $32,336.97 +29.4% $41,840.50
47.2 ONE LIBRARY'S RESPONSE TO A PRICE INCREASE Bill Benson, Wright Laboratory Technical Library, bensonwo%wrdc.dnet@wl.
We just received notification from our vendor (Faxon) that a journal would be significantly increasing in price. You may be interested in how we decided to react. We sent the following letter to the original requester:
"We recently learned that the _International Journal of Impact Engineering_ published by Pergamon Press, Ltd., Oxford, England will increase to $617 in 1993. When we began ordering this journal at your suggestion in 1990, it cost $200. Although Pergamon plans to publish one supplementary issue in 1993, we feel that a 209% increase over a three year period is unreasonable. Even though it is being used in the Library, we are considering canceling the subscription but first want to know what you think.
"We believe that we can supply articles of interest to you via our Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Dept. more cost effectively. If you would like to set up a current awareness service so that you will regularly receive a list of the new articles in this field, this can be done through ________, our Online Searcher (58004). Another option is to review this journal's table of contents on a computerized version of the engineering edition of _Current Contents_ in the Library. If we do decide to drop this journal you could also request that your organization pay for it directly.
"We would appreciate your thoughts or those of your colleagues."
The requester called the next day and he was in agreement with us. He also was very interested in setting up a CAB (current awareness bibliography) with our online searcher.
Thanks to e-mail, my supervisor was easily kept aware of what I was doing, we have a paper trail if necessary, and the whole process was pretty pain- less. Of course it is not always this easy.
We subsequently faxed a copy of Faxon's letter to cancel the title. I hope Faxon continues this service even though it may occasionally mean a loss of revenue for them.
47.3 FROM THE MAILBOX The mailbox is: tuttle@gibbs.oit.unc.edu.
>From Peter Stangl, Stanford University (peter@krypton.Stanford.EDU):
What a pleasant surprise to read "From the Mailbox" and learn that my proposal to the AMA to modify their License is accepted. Here is my letter to Betty Bunsa of a few weeks ago:
Dear Ms. Bunsa,
As discussed on the telephone, I am proposing to modify your licensing
agreement in order to exempt Lane Library from responsibility for li-
brary patrons' unsupervised activities, which may not be in compliance
with the terms of the License. All the required copyright notices are in
place on every photocopy machine at Lane Library, and several large
placards are on the walls in the photocopy area. However, as the Library
operates 104 hours per week, we are not in a position to "police" the
behavior, activities, and specific actions of library patrons.
I have added the following sentence on the reverse side of your license
form:
However, Licensee's responsibility with regard to unsupervised, in-house
photocopying of the DoP by library patrons is limited to the prominent
display of Copyright warnings and notices, as required by law, on each
public photocopy machine.
I hope the AMA will accept this change -- in my view, it is really a
clarification, rather than a modification, of your proposed agreement.
Without it we are not in a position to accept the agreement.
Sincerely,
Peter Stangl, Director
I have not yet had a reply. However the text she sent to Gladys Shapera is
verbatim what I proposed to her in my third paragraph. It is gratifying.
Maybe she will reply to me directly as well, sometime.
>From Lois Pausch, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign (PAUSCH@UIUCVMD. BITNET):
Here's some information on geology journals that may be of interest for the newsletter -
_Deep Sea Research_, published by Pergamon, has had two parts (A & B) for a number of years. In a recent letter from the publisher, the announcement was made that Part A would now be in two parts and that Part B would become a separate publication. The two titles in Part A for 1993 will cost about $200 more than the price for Parts A and B in 1992. By itself, the new title that was Part B will cost around $1000 but, if ordered with the two Part A titles, it will only cost $500.
Now the word is out that the _Journal of Sedimentary Petrology_ will change title to the _Journal of Sedimentary Research_ and will divide into two sections: Section A -- Sedimentology, and Section B -- Stratigraphy and Basin Analysis. The subscription price will probably increase 20% for the two journals with no information on whether or not they would be available separately. Letters outlining this proposal asking for opinions were sent to geoscience librarians. Persons who make cancellation decisions were requested to reply with information on whether these changes will result in cancellation. The name of the person to contact with your views on this is: Johm M. Southard, Professor of Geology, Room 54-106, MIT, Cambridge, Mass. 02139 (FAX: 617-253-6208).
>From Jim Thompson, University of California Riverside (THOMPSON@UCRAC1. UCR.EDU), "Something a bit lighter for the Newsletter":
THE FIVE LAWS OF LIBRARY SCIENCE
by S. R. Ranganathan, 1963
Revised J. C. Thompson, 1992
1. Books are for profit.
2. Every reader his bill.
3. Every copy its bill.
4. Take the cash of the reader.
5. The library is a groaning organism.
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), Charles Hamaker (Louisiana State University), James Mouw (University of Chicago), and Heather Steele (Blackwell's Periodicals Division). The Newsletter is available on BITNET/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 free of charge through electronic mail from the editor. To subscribe to the newsletter, send a message to LISTSERV@GIBBS.OIT.UNC.EDU saying SUBSCRIBE PRICES-L [YOUR NAME]. Be sure to send that message to the listserver and not to Prices-l. 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.