Albert Henderson consistently argues that universities are making profits
while starving libraries, while many of us following this listserv think
"that's not the reality for my institution".  We, in turn, see our
subscription bills and an article reporting that Elsevier made a 40%
profit in a recent year, and think many publishers make excessive profits.
Mr. Henderson argues that is not publishers' reality.

If it is true that publishers are barely making it, and that every dollar
they charge us is justified, why don't they open their books to librarians
and let us know where the money is going?  If I saw a financial report
with enough detail to show just where the money comes from and where it
goes for a publisher's full title list of journals, and it was clear that
the expenses were reasonable and justified, I would be far more willing to
accept 10+% annual price increases.  It would also give me a stronger hand
in our pitches to administration for more funding.  I would want to see
detail beyond "staff" and "overhead", enough to truly understand where the
money goes.  And I mean real numbers, not summaries or approximations.

Has anything like this been published recently?  Does anyone on SERIALST
have information they can share?  Mr. Henderson, are you willing to lay it
out for us here for Publishing Research Quarterly?

Steve Black
Reference,Instruction, and Serials Librarian
Neil Hellman Library
The College of Saint Rose
392 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12203

blacks@mail.strose.edu
(518) 458-5494