Today we moved the pricing newsletter archive from UNC's Sunsite to the UNC Library server, so there is a new url: http://www.lib.unc.edu/prices/. The former url will work for a while yet, but it just links to the new one; you cannot access any issues there. Please change your bookmarks to the new url.
This is probably as good a time as any to let you know that at the end of June I will retire from my position as Head of the Serials Department at the UNC Library. But that doesn't mean I'm retiring from my profession! Thanks to the library administration and the university, I will be able to continue editing the newsletter as before, except that I will have much more time to be an active editor. For me, however, other means of communication will change. I will insert new telephone and fax numbers and a new address when the time comes. Meanwhile, to head off the inevitable question: The first thing I'm going to do in July is clean out my closets, then I'm going to wash my windows. Yes, I am!
183.2 NORTH AMERICAN JOURNAL PRICES: A THREE-YEAR REVIEW FOR A
MEDIUM SIZED ACADEMIC HEALTH SCIENCE LIBRARY
Danny Jones, University of Texas Health Sciences Center,
San Antonio, jones@uthscsa.edu
We recently received from our domestic subscription agent a report on our North American journal prices for 1995-97 which I thought would be of interest to readers of NOSPI. The summary data follow.
| Year | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | %95-97 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. subscriptions | 1,213 | 1,136 | 1,121 | -8% |
| Total expenditures | $255,415 | $275,968 | $302,162 | 18% |
| Average price/subs. | $211 | $243 | $270 | 28% |
The story is probably familiar. We subscribed to fewer subscriptions, expenditures have risen approximately 9% a year since 1995, while the average price of a domestic subscription has risen 14% a year since 1995. While much attention has been focused on the cost of expensive foreign journals, clearly the same thing has been happening with North American titles, and domestic prices are not confused by the issue of exchange rates.
The one questionable fact in our case is the number of subscriptions. We have made an effort to regularly cancel journals which are not producing, so the reduction in subscriptions has not been driven totally by the fund issues. Some of reductions in subscriptions can be attributed to cancelling a few remaining duplicate and microfilm subscriptions and cancelling all our leisure magazines. Most of the other reductions were cancelled due to low use. It is also important to note that the list of journals for each year was not identical because in each year we also added approximately 10-20 new subscriptions. Nevertheless, the bulk of the titles for each year remain the same, so the data is basically comparable.
It has only been through careful pruning that we have been able to keep expenditures for North American journals within the estimated annual 10% increases predicted by publishers and subscription agents. Wouldn't it be great if we saw salaries increasing at the same rate as journal prices!!
183.3 ANNUAL REVIEWS 1998 PRICES TO REMAIN AT 1997 RATES
Mona Rice, Annual Reviews, mrice@annurev.org
I am pleased to inform you that the Annual Reviews Board of Directors recently decided to hold prices for our 1998 volumes at the current 1997 rates. There will be no price increases on any Annual Reviews publications for the upcoming year.
Our Annual Reviews 1998 Publications Preview booklet containing contents and pricing information for upcoming 1998 Annual Reviews publications will be printed and distributed in late July. Librarians who wish to be included on the mailing list for the Annual Reviews 1998 Publications Preview booklet may send an e-mail message to marketing@annurev.org.
I would like to thank you again for distributing the newsletter. It is an extremely important communications forum for libraries and publishers.
183.4 BLACKWELL'S AND READMORE'S 1998 JOURNAL PRICE INCREASE
FORECAST
Marilyn Geller, Readmore, mgeller@sun.readmore.com
In most libraries, budget planning for 1998 is well underway. This process is happening in advance of the release of most publishers' 1998 price schedules; at best, they are only in the early stages of developing their new price lists. Blackwell's and Readmore have taken this overlap into account and have calculated average increases based on what selected publishers have told us about the levels of increase they are currently anticipating. The figures are noted in the table below.
| UK Publishers Average Price Incr | European Publishers Average Price Incr | US Publishers Average Price Incr |
|---|---|---|
| 10-11% | 10-11% | 9.5-11% |
The following table shows these same price increases arranged by currency. This comparison takes recent exchange rate fluctuations into account and illustrates what level of inflation a typical library should expect to encounter. Note that these increases assume that a library is buying journals today.
| UK Library | European Library | US Library | Canadian Library | Australian Library | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Materials | 10-11% | 28-30% | 14-15% | 15-17% | 15-16% |
| European Materials | (-5-6%) | 10-11% | 3-4%* | 3-4%* | (-1-2%) |
| US Materials | 5-6% | 24-25% | 9.5-11% | 10-12% | 10-11% |
Again, please remember that subscription price increases differ among institutions by type and by their combination of publications. Review your own title mix in applying the above percentages.
Impact on Libraries
When we consider the average mix of journals from the UK, Europe and the United States, the impact of these prices and the current exchange rate situation appears as follows:
| UK Library | European Library | US Library | Canadian Library | Australian Library | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impact on Budget | 4.5% | 22.5% | 10% | 11% | 7.5-8% |
We will continue to monitor any currency fluctuation which could impact subscription rates, and will alert you to any changes to these predictions on our web sites
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact:
| Mary Fugle | Rollo Turner |
| Divisional Director Publisher Relations | Head of Publisher Relations |
| phone: 212-349-5540 | phone: +44 (0) 1865 261303 |
| fax: 212-233-0746 | fax: +44 (0) 1865 791438 |
| e-mail: fugle@readmore.com | e-mail: rollo.turner@blackwell.co.uk |
183.5 ACCESS IS BECOMING TEMPORARY OWNERSHIP
Russ Dennison, Winona State University,
rdennison@winona.msus.edu
Are we going full circle rapidly? The Access vs. Ownership discussion of the `80s and `90s seems to have taken a new, unexplored twist. In a growing trend, some of the online indexes are now including the full text of the articles or even full graphics. Access is mutating into a version of temporary ownership. We used to debate CD-Rom index and online index problems like rolling backlogs (that is, would we lose some years of indexing as time passes). Now casual chatting among librarians is comparing the various online indexes for full-text coverage. To help our patrons make full use of these, we are setting up connections for printing, emailing and downloading full text from these indexes. Some libraries are even taking full-text availability via online indexes into account for weeding or serial reduction purposes. However, I haven't seen discussion about this as temporary access.
This is not necessarily bad. In fact, given the current prices, many of these online indexes providing full text are real bargains. Multiple access, remote access, easy transmission, easily-used formats, consortium pricing and more make these very versatile and attractive. However a professional discussion from multiple viewpoints is lacking. These indexes provide access via a lease. What happens when the lease ends, the index vanishes or the price climbs?
Given inflation, underfunding, the rapid state of change in the electronic/networking environment, and the public's demand for accountability of expenditures, full-text online indexes may be the best current option. It is a way of concentrating on immediate academic needs in a flexible, responsive manner. However it may be ignoring long term collection management responsibilities. This could be viewed as a present vs. future decision. In other words, the Access vs. Ownership Debate may be back in a new set of clothing.
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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 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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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.
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The Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues (ISSN: 1046-3410) is published by the editor through Academic and Networking 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: 919 962-8047; FAX: 919 962-4450. Editorial Board: Deana Astle (Clemson University), Christian Boissonnas (Cornell University), Jerry Curtis (Springer Verlag New York), Isabel Czech (Institute for Scientific Information), Janet Fisher (MIT Press), Fred Friend (University College, London), Charles Hamaker (Louisiana State University), Daniel Jones (University of Texas Health Science Center), Michael Markwith (Swets North America), James Mouw (University of Chicago), and Heather Steele (Blackwell's Periodicals Division). The Newsletter is available on the Internet, Blackwell's CONNECT, and Readmore's ROSS. EBSCO customers may receive the Newsletter in paper format.
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Back issues of the Newsletter are archived on 2 World Wide Web sites. At
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