126.2 RESPONSE TO LICENSE WAIVER ARTICLE, Peter Graham and Mary Jo Barnello
126.3 FINDING CURRENT INFORMATION ON THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY, Luke Swindler
126.4 VIRGINIA TECH EXPERIENCE, Paul Metz
126.5 COPYRIGHT ROYALTY INCREASE, Tom Lindsey
Marcia Tuttle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, tuttle@gibbs.oit.unc.edu.
I inadvertently sent out the previous issue without incorporating an update by Christie Degener in her part of the article about the Gordon & Breach photocopy license waiver. My apologies to all. It seems best to insert here Christie's part as it should have been. Please see issue 125 for the entire article. ----- >From Christie Degener: When I recently cataloged a Harwood journal (_Receptors & Channels_), I noticed the odd "License to photocopy" statement on the inside back cover of v. 1, no. 1 (May 1993) and v. 2, no. 1 (May 1994). I checked the other Harwood and Gordon & Breach titles we currently receive, and found the same statement on three other G&B titles: _The International Journal of Environ- mental Studies. Section A, Environmental Studies_ v. 45, no. 3/4 (Apr. 1994); _Ecology of Food and Nutrition_ v. 31, no. 3-4 (Mar. 1994); and _Connective Tissue Research_ v. 30, no. 3 (Mar. 1994). As far as I can tell, the statement contradicts the other info you have received from Gor- don & Breach. The following is from the aforementioned 1994 issues of these journals and includes their use of quotes around the words fair use: "LICENSE TO PHOTOCOPY. This publication and each of the articles contained herein are protected by copyright. The subscription rate for academic and corporate subscribers includes the Publisher's licensing fee which allows the subscriber photocopy privileges beyond the 'fair use' provision of most copyright laws. Please note, however, that the license does not extend to other kinds of copying such as copying for general distribution, for adver- tising or promotion purposes, for creating new collective works, for re- sale, or as agent, either express or implied, of another individual or company. A subscriber may apply to the Publisher for a waiver of the li- cense fee. For licensing information, please write to ...." Interestingly enough, 4 other Harwood and 2 other G&B titles that we cur- rently receive have a "Photocopy Licence" statement that is quite different from the one quoted above. (Also, this "Photocopy License" statement now substitutes for the one quoted above in later issues of _Receptors & Chan- nels_, _Ecology of Food and Nutrition_, and _Connective Tissue Research_.) Specifically, it lacks the language that allows copying beyond fair use and there is no mention of the option to waive the license fee. Here's this statement, from the most recent 1994 issues: "PHOTOCOPY LICENCE. This publication and each of the articles contained herein are protected by copyright. The subscription price (other than for subscribers who are individuals) includes a fee for a Photocopy Licence which permits multiple photocopying of single articles for the internal study or research purposes of the subscriber. The Photocopy Licence is not available to individuals. The Photocopy Licence does not permit copying for any other purpose, such as copying for distribution to any third party (whether by sale, loan, gift or otherwise); as agent (express or implied) of any third party; for purposes of advertising or promotion; or to create collective or derivative works. All requests for permission to copy beyond the scope of the Photocopy Licence must be made to the Publisher. No copy- right licencing organization in any territory has authority to grant such permission on the Publisher's behalf. Any unauthorized reproduction, trans- mission or storage may result in civil or criminal liability." Since none of the titles examined stated the amount of the fee in the is- sues, I checked G&B catalogs to see if the fee was mentioned in them. I found one paragraph about it in the 1993 Journals Price List: Annual sub- scription rates for university, medical, and corporate libraries. I couldn't find the 1994 equivalent (if it exists) and I wonder if this statement is still in effect. On the last page, the following paragraph appears, including their use of capitalization: "LICENSE TO PHOTOCOPY. Library subscription rates listed herein include a license to photocopy beyond the FAIR USE provisions of the USA and most other national copyright laws. This license does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale. University and hospital libraries wishing to have this license waived with- out signing the publisher's waiver form should self-deduct $5.00 per volume from their invoice. Such libraries will be recorded as limited photocopiers and will be renewed at the current subscription price less this deduction. Corporate and university libraries are entitled to an additional deduction upon signature of the publisher's waiver form. Upon acceptance and confir- mation from the Publisher for the waiver, any copies which exceed the FAIR USE provisions will require payment to the Copyright Clearance Center. Please contact the Subscriptions Department at STBS for details and a copy of the license waiver form." There is a danger that libraries may be paying for something without being aware of it and for something they might not want. At the very least, the issues should clearly state the amount of the fee in the subscription in- formation, and we should still have the option to request that the fee be waived.126.2 RESPONSE TO LICENSE WAIVER ARTICLE
Peter Graham, Rutgers University Libraries, psgraham@gandalf.rutgers.edu; and Mary Jo Barnello, Exxon Research and Engineering Co., Annandale NJ, mjbarne@erenj.com.
From: Peter Graham: I wonder if there is any analogy between the G&B "license waiver" and the software terms commonly referred to as the "shrinkwrap license." In the latter case, there seems to be agreement that the terms are unenforceable and in fact never have been enforced, as they involve a set of requirements beyond what normal purchase would imply and that can't be fully understood until the package is opened (purportedly "committing" the "licensee"). I suspect that a lot of dollars can be spent to "save" the $5 the publisher is talking about here, and that there is little danger of subscribers being committed either now or later to the terms of the "license" just because it's printed in the back of the journal. I would treat it as smoke and ignore it, myself, unless a lot more money was involved. ----- >From Mary Jo Barnello: Something else to consider for G&B publications. The titles are now includ- ed in schedule A of the CCC. If an organization is part of the CCC, they should check their subscription costs for these titles with the publisher and/or their journal vendor.126.3 FINDING CURRENT INFORMATION ON THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY
Luke Swindler, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Luke_Swindler@unc.edu.
If one is looking for up-to-date, high-quality information on the publish- ing industry, INVESTEXT ON INFOTRAC is the one of the best starting places. This monthly CD-ROM includes reports from American, British, European, Asian, and Australian investment firms on over 10,000 companies in scores of industries. It provides indexing, abstracting, and full-text reports. These reports are typically prepared by analysts at investment firms and are especially useful for financial data and industry trends. In terms of the publishing, for example, INVESTEXT includes company, indus- try, and topical reports. A recent search produced a report on Reed Else- vier from March 1994 that covered more than a dozen topics, including such high-interest items to readers of this newsletter as "Stock Price, Earning Data and Rating 1993-95" and "Scientific & Medical Turnover/Profits 1992- 1995." Another 45-page report on the Dutch publishing industry dated July 1994 covered several screens worth of topics. It contained nearly a dozen sections on Kluwer alone, including one on "Wolters Kluwer - Medical and Scientific Publishing" that contained both current and projected statis- tics, and another on "Wolters Kluwer - CD-ROM - A Structural Change," in which the company projected its electronic products for the rest of millen- nium. (By the year 2000, Kluwer estimates that total group sales from elec- tronic publishing--mostly CD-ROMs--will move from its 1994 7% to 15-20%.)126.4 VIRGINIA TECH EXPERIENCE
Paul Metz, Virginia Tech University, pmetz@vt.edu.
Recently it came to my attention that we had paid over $30,000 last year for each of two journals in chemistry. While these journals are paid in blocks of volumes and therefore bills could cover more than one year (we had in each case paid nothing the previous year), we naturally became con- cerned and started to investigate. For _Phosphorous, Sulfer, and Silicon and the Related Elements_, published by Gordon and Breach, we most recently paid $9,804 for 12 volumes, and have in general been paying $700-$900+. Often volume and number are synonymous and pagination runs from just under to something over 200 pages. Per page costs for a given shipment can exceed $4.00. Generally shipping and hand- ling adds another $40 per volume. If I read the 1992 citation data correct- ly, this journal ranks somewhere in the second 1,000 of cited journals in science. Two issues were reshelved in a study of current periodicals use we at Virginia Tech conducted through most of the winter 1994 semester. For _Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Science and Technology,_ pub- lished by Gordon and Breach, we have most recently been paying something over $700 for a volume, and again these are volumes one might arguably equate with numbers of most journals. Readers should verify these numbers themselves, but I believe that the _Journal Citation Reports_ of ISI indi- cated that this journal ranked 450th in the 1992 citation data for science journals. We recorded no reshelving of this title during our study. The chairman of our Chemistry Department was most cooperative in conducting a straw poll on short notice (we had very little time before making a deci- sion whether to renew). Members of the department who responded voted 7-0-1 (7 favorable, one abstention) for cancellation, and we have cancelled. Two comments from the chemists are worth sharing. The chair noted that it was his sense that faculty members in the US are making personal pledges not to publish in highly expensive journals. A member of his department stated: "There are a number of journals that could be removed from accession with- out affecting our vitality as a research institution. They are holdovers from the days of affluence. Indications from a number of publisher advisory boards suggest that they recognize that journals have proliferated to the point of absurdity, impact indices are dropping as people become flooded with 'too much," and all commercial elements are struggling with how to cope with the pending explosion in electronic publishing. "These journals should go, and it is time that we looked honestly at the expenditures within the library collection. Our historical view that it involved 'their' money, not ours is no longer tenable. Our classic reac- tionare attitude needs to be changed."126.5 COPYRIGHT ROYALTY INCREASE
Tom Lindsey, University of Texas at Arlington, lindsey@library.uta.edu.
_Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues_ Item 100.5 was a letter from me commenting on an apparent increase of copyright royalty fees over the past few years. Some other librarians and I did a study of the situation using 300-315 journals for which our libraries had exceeded "fair use" guide- lines, and had paid royalty fees to the CCC or through a document supplier. We have some statistics, but I am uncertain about them. A crucial factor was the decision about what calendar day of the year to use when converting non-U.S. currencies to their U.S. equivalents in dollars and cents. Have you learned about anyone else studying changes in copyright fees over the past few years? I try to search Library Literature and other bibliographic databases, but I haven't found the right concept indexing term that might index such stud- ies. Are there no such studies, or am I so blinded by the "forest" that I can't find the "tree" or "trees" of index terms? Thank you for any help you or others can give me?
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