Sandy:

I am very interested in the result of the analysis of the price. I would
appreciate it very much if you can let us know it when you finish the
investigation.

Tian Zhang
Serials Librarian
St. John's University Library
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, NY 11439
Tel. 718 990-5082
Fax. 718 990-5938
Email: zhangt@stjohns.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Sandhya D. Srivastava
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 8:40 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Price increases for 2005 (Sandy Srivastava)

Hi Kim

Just to keep the conversation going -- I have a list of 227 titles which
have increased more than 10% for 2005.  We are doing an analysis
ourselves since our vendor cannot provide the price history until mid
2005.  We are looking at each title individually and I think that it is
going to be necessary for publishers to explain exactly how changing
their pricing model is a true reflection of what the price should
actually be.

Sandy

>>> kmaxwell@MIT.EDU 11/16/2004 5:08:19 PM >>>

Hi Sandy,

I think you need to look at the individual price increases, rather than
lumping them all together.  Here is some quick research on the titles
you
mention:

Harvard Law Review
For years, we've paid about $50, most recently $55 last year.  Now, our
cost is $200. I suspect HLR has instituted an individual vs institution
subscription price recently, though I can't tell for sure from their web
site; if you have access to the actual issues, compare the statement on
the verso of the title page.  However, the web site also says that
"Nonprofit institutions may receive a discounted annual subscription for
$95." My guess is that your subscription agent and my subscription agent
are unaware of this special price, and should be made aware of it.  See
http://www.harvardlawreview.org/order.shtml#subscriptions for more
details.

Personnel Psychology
I think this title just switched to Blackwell Publishing; they only have
v.57:no.3 (2004:Sept.) up on their web site, and I seem to recall it
used to be published without the benefit of a commercial publisher.
We've been paying $70/year for several years now.  Prices are now at
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/subs.asp?ref=0031-5826.  For an
institution, the cost for 2005 will be around $300, depending upon what
kind of subscription you want (premium print plus online, standard print
plus online, or online only).

We don't subscribe to the other title you mention, so I can't comment on
that one in terms of our own price history.  Based on these two
examples, I think you need to look at changes in publisher and changes
in subscription models.  That should give you a clearer picture of why
certain titles are increasing more than you might expect.

Kim
_______________________________________
Kim Maxwell
Serials Acquisitions Librarian
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT Libraries, Room 14E-210
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
phone: 1-617-253-7028
fax:   1-617-253-2464
email: kmaxwell@mit.edu

At 04:39 PM 11/16/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Serialsters:
>
>I just need to ask -- has anybody else noticed that some subscription
>prices have skyrocketed to over 100% or higher on their invoices?  I
>just wanted to confirm that everyone else has seen these as well i.e.
>Harvard Law Review, Marriage and Family Review, Personnel Psychology
and
>I have a growing list I could put up here.
>
>I am used to price increases of 7-10 % but this is just crazy --?  Is
>anybody else experiencing higher than usual increases on
subscriptions?
>Are the publishers having a free for all now?
>
>Sandy Srivastava
>
>Sandhya D. Srivastava
>Assistant Professor
>Serials Librarian
>Hofstra University
>Axinn Library
>123 Hofstra University
>Hempstead, New York 11550
>Telephone: (516) 463 - 5959
>Fax: (516) 463 - 6438
>Email: librsds@hofstra.edu <mailto:librsds@hofstra.edu>