Please excuse cross-posting.

PROJECT MUSE HEARING ON PRICING MODELS CONTINUES ONLINE

At the recent ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, Project MUSE hosted
a Public Hearing to solicit customer and consortia executive feedback
to proposed new pricing models for 2005. We were very pleased with
both the size of the turnout and the useful suggestions. However, not
everyone who wished to attend the hearing was able to do so, and time
constraints limited the number of comments we could take on each
model. So, we have decided to extend the hearing into an online forum
where additional discussion of the models may occur.

Two sets of PowerPoint slides used at the hearing are available on
our web site at http://muse.jhu.edu/proj_descrip/pricing_forum.html.
The first presentation provides an overview of Project MUSE finances
and the relationships with our 40 participating publishers,
describing the need for a change in our current pricing strategy. The
second presentation was used to guide the discussion of proposed new
models by our consultants, October Ivins and Judy Luther. The web
site includes a discussion forum where you may leave additional
comments and feedback on the models currently under discussion.
Please keep in mind that the ideas presented in the PowerPoint
demonstration are meant as points for discussion, and no decisions
have yet been made about Muse pricing for 2005. We encourage your
comments to help us refine these ideas as we continue with our
pricing study.

Later in January we will also host a web-based survey to solicit
additional feedback.  Our timetable for the new pricing models is to
conclude the web based survey by Feb. 6th and for the consultants to
submit their report by Feb. 27th.  We will then review the
recommendations with our Advisory Board in March and at our meeting
of all participating publishers in April.  We plan to announce the
new pricing during June, contingent on receiving final 2005 print
prices from our participating publishers by August.

Please feel free to comment now, or you may wait for the web-based survey.

--

Melanie B. Schaffner                    <melanie@muse.jhu.edu>
Marketing and Sales Manager             Phone (410) 516-3846
Project Muse®                   Fax (410) 516-6968
The Johns Hopkins University Press      http://muse.jhu.edu
2715 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD  21218-4319