ACQNET v1n085 (June 11, 1991) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/serials/stacks/acqnet/acq-v1n085 ACQNET, Vol 1, No. 85, June 11, 1991 ==================================== (1) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: Who's new on ACQNET today (25 lines) (2) FROM: Anne McKee SUBJECT: Annuals not received every year (27 lines) (3) FROM: Marylou Hale SUBJECT: Ordering from vendor slips, ethics, vendor selection (29 lines) (4) FROM: Christian Boissonnas SUBJECT: Ordering from vendor slips, ethics (23 lines) (5) FROM: Jeffry Larson SUBJECT: Advertising in books (11 lines) (6) FROM: Heather Miller SUBJECT: Service charges (25 lines) (1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: June 11, 1991 From: Christian Subject: Who's new on ACQNET today Kevin Coyle Iain G. Brown Midwest Regional Representative Information Technology Librarian Blackwell's University of Canberra Library E-mail: K.COYLE%ALANET@INTERMAIL. E-mail: IGB@LIBSERVER.CANBERRA.EDU.AU ISI.EDU Judith Jennejahn Ann M. Tenglund Head of Acquisitions Coordinator of Library Computer Svces SUNY - Brockport Library St. Bonaventure University Library E-mail: JUDYJ@BROCK1P.BITNET E-mail: ATENG@SBU.EDU Janice E. Donahue Dina Giambi Assist. Dir. for Technical Svces Head of Acquisitions & Serials Florida Atlantic Univ. Libraries Kent State University Library E-mail: DONAHUE@FAUVAX.BITNET E-mail: MGIAMBI@KENTVM.BITNET Joan C. Griffith Assistant Serials Librarian Dartmouth College Library E-mail: JOAN.C.GRIFFITH@MAC. DARTMOUTH.EDU (2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Jun 91 08:05:06 EDT From: Anne E. McKee Subject: Annuals not received every year As Fletcher Library (and the campus for that matter) is only 2 years old, we originally set up quite a few of the annuals to be received every other year, every 3 years, etc. We are now in the middle of identifying all of these titles and deciding whether to receive them annually or not at all. (Titles include _World of Learning_, _Encyclopedia of Associations_, etc). Problems we have faced with "every other year" or "every 3 years" are: 1) Patrons needing current information and our edition is out of date. 2) Publishers or vendors who somehow get the signals mixed & send us the material out of our requested cycle-thus expending staff time in returning the "unwanted" years. 3) Publishers or vendors who get confused and {never} send the material - once again expending valuable staff time in claiming and follow-up. We have been receiving these titles both directly and through vendors (namely BNA) . Our Collection Development Committee has finally decided that if we believe the information is valuable enough to justify cataloging for Reference, then the information is important enough to receive annually. If the informa- tion is not deemed that useful, then it's not worth subscribing to at all. It is our goal to identify all titles received on a less than annual basis and either subscribe to them annually or cancel them altogether. (3) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 06 Jun 91 17:02:37 -0700 From: Marylou Hale Subject: Ordering from vendor slips, ethics, vendor selection In most cases, I do order from vendor-supplied notification slips. However, I deviate from vendor catalogs unless it's a sale or special vendor (media, foreign languages, etc.) Because I do most of my shopping from clothes and Christmas presents to home furnishings and household repairs through catalogs, I thought I knew about dealing with vendors through the mail. I know which vendors can supply the best service and product for my money and which vendors should be avoided. When I moved into book purchasing, I learned who can supply what and with the best service. I never in my wildest imagination thought that I was being unethical by ordering from one vendor after reading about an item from another vendor. I often browse through my catalogs at home and find the "best buy". Why did I think it would be different with books? Maybe that's the problem. I don't see any difference. I feel that I am being a prudent stewart of the state's money and treat that money the same as my own. I don't like wasting either. Now I am wondering if this attitude is unethical. Those articles certainly have me wondering. In addition, I never knew anyone cared how much business went to vendors and how much went directly to the publisher. After I read other universities statistics, I quickly figured ours. For our firm orders, 75%-80% go to vendors, 15% go directly to publishers, and 5% are foreign publishers-suppliers or foreign language items. I guess that puts us somewhere between the 50%-50% at Berkeley and the 95%-5% at Cornell. I guess that puts us pretty close to Wellesley (Caleb C. Hanson). (4) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 09 Jun 91 17:32:54 EDT From: Christian Subject: Re: Vendor stuff Marylou's discussion above got me thinking again about this topic which we first approached earlier this year. For those of you who want to catch up, there is a back file on it (VENDSLIP.POS) which you can get by requesting it from me. These situations are never as clear cut as we think. For example: Situation 1: You get slips from 3 vendors, but you only order from 1 of them. Situation 2: You get slips from 3 vendors, but you order from all 3, although substantially more from one than from the other two. Which is more ethical? Is there in fact a difference? Now, introduce another variable: In situation 1, the 3 vendors know what you are doing because you told them. In situation 2, they don't. Does that change the problem? I think so, but you may feel differently. We now have some vendors on ACQNET. We didn't when we first kicked this around. I wish they would participate in this dicussion. (5) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 10 Jun 91 16:23:15 U From: "Jeffry Larson" Subject: Advertising in books We have received a few Whittle titles containing advertising, and after consultation among selectors, decided to keep some as samples of the decadence of late capitalism. Some day a researcher will want to know who Whittle was and where he went. For those librarians not reading the general press, Whittle is also the company that is force-feeding TV documentaries on school classrooms interlarded with commercials for products appealing to kids. Some poor school districts buy in to get the free equipment. (6) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1991 15:13 EDT From: Heather Miller Subject: Vendor Service Charges This is a subject I've been trying to come to grips with while working on a manuscript for a book on librarian/vendor relations. Several vendors have explained in similar terms how they calculate book prices. Basically, they feel that they must make at least a 22% profit on each book in order to remain profitable overall. They must, at the very least, offer zero discount to the library if they receive 20% from the publisher, if one accepts the idea that they need to make 22% minimum. Some try to make each book pay its own way, others let high-discount books carry the low- and no-discount books to some extent. Thus, a $30 net book may be billed at $40 to the library. Following this scenario, a markup of $6.60 is on the high side. Vendors do need to make money - if they are not profitable, they will not be there when we need them! However, every vendor has established procedures for pricing books, usually beginning with the price charged by the publisher and including a chart of discounts and service charges, which may vary (at least the discounts) by library. What is most disturbing is that you cannot understand your vendor's policy. It should be clearly stated and understandable and, moreover, you should be able to request and get without difficulty copies of the publishers' invoices to the vendor, in order to verify your vendor's practices. It would not be reasonable to request great volumes of invoice copies due to the workload, but a few a month should be OK. Personally, I find more to question among publishers than vendors. I'd like to see comments from people who have worked for vendors and could provide the vendor viewpoint here. ***** END OF FILE ***** END OF FILE ***** END OF FILE ***** END OF FILE *****