-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: dealing directly with publishers -- Linda Grooms
From: "Christopher Waldrop" <Waldrop@LIBRARY.Vanderbilt.edu>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 14:27:17

Linda,

For the record, I've dealt directly with all the publishers you list except
Nature America. Each have had their problems from time to time.
Cambridge, Oxford, Elsevier, and Sage have the advantage of
generally assigning one of their own numbers to each invoice. The
others don't, always, and even though we include a copy of the
invoice with the check our payments still seem to get misapplied. In
the case of Blackwell in particular I've repeatedly had to ask our
accounting department for copies of cancelled checks which I've then
had to fax or mail to Blackwell as proof that they received our payment.
However, I've only had to do this with a small number of our total
number of direct subscriptions.

Although I've never had to supply a copy of a cancelled check to
Johns Hopkins, the one disadvantage of dealing with them directly is,
if you're a Project Muse subscriber, you have to remember to deduct
the 60% discount on your print subscription yourself. For a few years
Johns Hopkins would send a single invoice for all titles we had direct
and with the Project Muse discount already deducted, but they
stopped doing that.

On 13 Mar 2003, at 11:49, Stephen Clark wrote:

 > Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 11:06:15 -0500
 > From: Linda Grooms <lgrooms@stetson.edu>
 > Subject: dealing directly with publishers
 >
 >
 > We are looking at the possibility of placing some of our journal orders
 > directly with the publishers instead of going through a vendor. I looked
 > at the websites of the publishers listed below and see that each has a
 > toll-free customer service phone number and an email link for claims. I
 > would like to know if anyone who deals directly with any of these
 > publishers is willing to share their experiences, good or less than.
 >
 > Blackwell
 > Cambridge University Press
 > Elsevier
 > Haworth
 > Johns Hopkins University Press
 > Nature America
 > Oxford University Press
 > Sage Publications
 > Taylor & Francis
 >
 > Thanks.
 >
 > Linda Grooms
 > lgrooms@stetson.edu

Christopher Waldrop
Serials Coordinator
Vanderbilt University Library
Order Services Department
Tel: 615-343-3831
Fax: 615-343-8834