115.2 CALL FOR PAPERS, WORKSHOPS AND PRECONFERENCES: NASIG 10TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE, Susan Davis
115.3 PROJECTED PRICE INCREASES AND PRINTING COSTS, Guy Dresser
115.4 _BULLETIN OF THE SEISMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA_, Susan Newman
115.5 SALE OF FAXON'S EUROPEAN OFFICES, Michael Markwith
Ron Akie, Faxon Company, akie@faxon.com
Some people have asked whether we are revising our 1995 price projections due to the recent weakening of the US dollar. Here is the response: We do not expect the recent weakening of the US dollar to have a signifi- cant impact on the overall 1995 pricing. As you know, many of the larger European publishers have changed their pricing over the last two years to US dollar prices in the US. These publishers have either already set their prices for 1995, or have purchased currency forward for the entire year to buffer the effects of the market changes we are seeing this month. There- fore, for the group of Fixed Exchange Rate European publishers, the current market conditions will have no real impact. The group where current conditions might have an impact is the European publishers who let the exchange rates vary with the market rather than setting a fixed rate. Remember, it is the currency exchange rate that is in effect at the time that the publisher receives the order from us that de- termines the rate -- typically in October or November. The question, there- fore, is whether the dollar will move up or down between now and then. To look at a pessimistic case, if the dollar is 5 percent weaker than last year at the time of order placement, the overall increase for this group will be 13.5 percent rather than the 8.5 percent we originally projected. This group of publishers makes up the smallest portion of a typical academ- ic/medical collection -- 12% on average. Therefore, the net impact on the total price increase across a client's whole renewal would be only about 0.5% (an overall increase from 10.28% in our original projection to an increase of 10.87%). It is still too early to determine whether we are seeing a temporary situa- tion in the currency markets or a longer trend. Since the impact as of now on a client's collection is minimal, we will wait a few more weeks before re-issuing a formal projection to see where the markets go.115.2 CALL FOR PAPERS, WORKSHOPS AND PRECONFERENCES: NASIG 10TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Susan Davis, NASIG Secretary, SUNY at Buffalo, UNLSDB@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU
[Apologies to Susan and NASIG for the delay in posting this announcement. -
ed.]
"SERIALS TO THE TENTH POWER: TRADITION, TECHNOLOGY AND TRANSFORMATION"
The North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG), an organization commit-
ted to serving the interests of all members of the serials information
chain, plans to hold its tenth annual conference June 1-4, 1995 at Duke
University in Durham, North Carolina. NASIG's annual conference provides a
forum in which librarians, publishers, vendors, educators, binders, systems
developers, and other specialists exchange views, present new ideas, proac-
tively seek solutions to common problems, and discuss matters of current
interest. The proceedings are published in both print and electronic format
and distributed to a wide audience.
The Program Planning Committee invites proposals for plenary papers and
preconferences dealing with any "big picture" aspect of the theme. We are
especially interested in the challenge of balancing traditional functions
with technological innovations within organizations and in consortia and in
the creation of new alliances. Established projects, new experiments, and
"blue sky" speculation are all welcome. Examples:
*Reinventing serials: optimizing their role in scholarly communica-
tion;
*Creating and providing access to electronic journals: editing/pub-
lishing, purchasing/acquiring, transmitting/delivering/gopheriz-
ing, cataloging, and archiving/preserving/securing;
*Copyright reconsidered and reconfigured;
*New developments in Internet use: commercial use, public policy and
security issues;
*Re-examining the role of the serials professional in the new
information society.
The Committee also invites workshop and preconference proposals that will
provide practical assistance in making changes, planning and implementing
new projects and forming alliances. Examples:
*Case studies from virtual libraries and electronic publishers;
*Reconstituting local serials collections;
*Analyses of user responses and needs;
*Training/retraining/educating serialists for new roles in article
delivery, public service, monograph acquisitions, etc.;
*Relevant new technologies/services/software packages/standards;
*Creative financing for innovation; grantsmanship.
Submission of topics and suggestions for speakers are welcome from NASIG
members and other members of the information community. The Program Plan-
ning Committee reserves the right to combine, blend or refocus proposals to
maximize program breadth and relevance to our membership. As a result, only
one presenter from proposals submitted by teams may be invited to partici-
pate.
Since all proposals are reviewed competitively, please include complete
information for maximum consideration:
*Name, address, phone/fax numbers, e-address(es) of the proposer
*Program title
*An abstract of 200-300 words that clearly explains the intent of the
proposal as well as its relationship to the theme
*Please list in priority order the formal preference for your propos-
al: plenary, workshop, or preconference.
Proposals should be submitted no later than August 1, 1994 to:
Susan Davis
NASIG Secretary
Head, Periodicals Section
State University of NY at Buffalo
Lockwood Library Building
Buffalo, NY 14260-2200
Phone: 716-645-2784 Fax: 716-645-5955
Bitnet: UNLSDB@UBVM
Internet: UNLSDB@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU
115.3 PROJECTED PRICE INCREASES AND PRINTING COSTS
Guy Dresser, Vice President-Operations, Allen Press, Inc., 1041 New Hampshire St., Lawrence, KS 66044; 913 843-1234.
This is a belated message relating to NSPI 111.2 from Bernard Naylor. As a printer specializing in scientific, technical and medical journals, I was surprised to read that journal price increases for 1995 will be in the range of 8-10 percent. I am responsible for pricing, quotes and contract negotiations at Allen Press, and I think I speak for our competitors in STM printing in saying that any increases in journal prices are not caused by price increases from printers. The STM printing marketplace has been in- tensely competitive for the past 2-3 years and publishers have taken advan- tage of this situation to the point that some journal printing prices are actually lower now than 3 years ago. Paper prices have been stable, as well. I thought your subscribers might like to know that any cost pressures that exist are not coming from the typesetting, printing and binding side of the ledger.115.4 _BULLETIN OF THE SEISMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA_
Susan Newman, Executive Director, Seismological Society of America, ssa@perry.berkeley.edu
The Seismological Society has recently been forced to make a number of difficult decisions regarding our publications. One of those was the deci- sion to increase the subscription rates of the SSA Bulletin. Because we understand that this is a very difficult time for libraries, we wanted to explain to you the reasons that we felt compelled to take this action. SSA has traditionally maintained very modest subscription rates. We have been able to do so because the primary support of the Bulletin has come from publication charges that authors include in their requests for re- search funding. Unfortunately, research funding is decreasing. One of the major employers of seismologists, a government agency, even threatened to suspend payment of all publication charges during the past year. It has become increasingly clear that we must take steps to reduce our financial dependence on publication charges if we are to continue to attract high quality research. This year we changed to a more cost-effective format for the Bulletin and reduced the publication costs to authors. BSSA is committed to publishing the best research in earthquake seismology and related fields. In 1994 we will publish nearly 30% more pages than in 1993, including a 400 page issue on the 1992 Landers, California Earthquake Sequence. Unfortunately the new format, the increased coverage and the reduction in page charges all had an impact on the price we need to charge for BSSA. We have found it necessary to increase the institutional price to $250 for North American institutions and $260 outside North America. We regret having to increase the price in this age of declining library budgets but the publication program of the SSA could not move forward with- out a substantial price adjustment. We did not make this decision lightly. We studied prices of comparable society journals and consulted with librar- ians to insure that this was a fair price for BSSA. We believe that our subscribers and their patrons will see the results of our efforts to make BSSA even better, perhaps you have already noticed. Submissions of quality research are increasing and the content is broaden- ing. Unfortunately, these improvements require that the subscription prices support a greater proportion of the costs. I'd be happy to discuss this further with anyone who would like to contact me. My email address is: ssa@perry.berkeley.edu.115.5 SALE OF FAXON'S EUROPEAN OFFICES
Michael Markwith, Faxon Company, markwith@faxon.com.
Faxon is selling its European offices that provide serial services to Euro- pean libraries to Swets. This has NO effect on Faxon US providing European journals to US, Canadian, Latin American, and Asian libraries (which are served from Westwood and Canada). Faxon (and Turner) still can and do pro- vide titles from all over the world for our customers. I hope this settles any confusion in people's minds about what the sale really means.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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 27514-8890; Telephone: 919 962-1067; FAX: 919 962-4450. Editorial Board: Deana Astle (Clemson University), Jerry Curtis (Springer Verlag New York), Janet Fisher (MIT Press), Fred Friend (University College, Longon), Charles Hamaker (Louisiana State University), Daniel Jones (University of Texas Health Science Center), James Mouw (University of Chicago), and Heather Steele (Blackwell's Periodicals Division). The Newsletter is avail- able on the Internet, Blackwell's CONNECT, and Readmore's ROSS. EBSCO cus- tomers may receive the Newsletter in paper format. 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. 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). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++