Subject:  Did you sign? summary of responses
From:  "Prima Casetta" <PCasetta@getty.edu>
Date:  Tue, 25 Mar 2003 11:51:48 -0800

Dear colleagues,

Thank you very much for your responses to my posting on March 21
regarding our decision not to sign the RoweCom Prepaid Orders Agreement.

I received eight replies:  four from libraries who did not sign, one
from a library that did sign, and three from vendors, including RoweCom
and Ebsco.

Of the four libraries that did not sign, one had not yet paid most of
their 2003 subscriptions, another had already transferred most of their
business to another vendor and stood to lose only a relatively small
amount from RoweCom, and a third did not feel they had enough
information or incentive, and were unsure they wanted to become Ebsco
customers.  The fourth library did not give me any information as to why
they did not sign or what their alternative course of action was.

As I mentioned in my previous posting, we too did not sign this
agreement.  Early this year, when it became clear to us that RoweCom
would not be able to continue business, we felt the need to move quickly
to place our 2003 orders with another vendor.  We decided that waiting
to see what developed was not the best course of action for us.  We
selected a vendor, signed an agreement with them, and began placing our
2003 orders.

Having signed an agreement with one vendor in January, we could not
then, of course, sign an agreement with Ebsco in March.  As we other
libraries, we hope to recover some of our lost funds through the
bankruptcy settlement.

Thank you once again for taking the time to respond and to share your
thoughts with me.

Prima Casetta
Head of Serials
Getty Research Institute
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688
pcasetta@getty.edu
phone (310) 440-7499
fax (310) 440-7780