Good morning, fellow SERIALSTers.

Thank you to all who responded to my query of how other libraries are
dealing with this situation.  And thanks to Ashleigh Bell (from Taylor &
Francis) who clarified that perpetual online access would be available for
years in which a subscription was held (her full response is listed below).
Ashleigh is also to be commended for notifying the serials community
through this discussion list of the new print schedule for selected titles.

I received fourteen responses, all from academic libraries, including one
from Germany.  Two of the respondents were from the medical/health science
library of their institution.  Since we are a public research library, our
situation is somewhat different, but I appreciate all the responses.  They
will help me when I try to convince our administrators that we need to move
in the same direction.

As promised, here is a summary of those responses:

·     9     Yes – provide access to “free-with-print”
·     1     Yes – if there is no license agreement
·     1     Yes – if it is not also available in one of the aggregated
databases or if database has an embargo period
·     1     Yes – if access is available through ip recognition
·     1     No – do not provide access to “free-with-print”

   One respondent sent a detailed list of conditions for providing access
   for “free-with-print.”  Most notably, she does not add access for titles
   in aggregated databases, except for JSTOR which has a rolling wall
   embargo period.  Access is set up for titles prone to theft or when
   there is a significant lag time between the online version and the
   print, such as with selected Taylor & Francis titles.

Two respondents stated that they are moving toward online only where
possible.

Rationale for providing access:
·     Someone else may be using the print issue
·     Vols. are unavailable for weeks at a time while they are sent to the
bindery
·     Remote users have access to online version
      o  my comment: this works well in an academic setting; we are a
public library and can’t offer remote access at this time
·     usage statistics available
·     online access supports library's goal of meeting user needs

Notable comments:
·     that is what our users demand [my emphasis]
·     more and more the online content is up online before the print issues
reach us
·     free online is not as volatile as it used to be

Response from Ashleigh Bell (Taylor & Francis):
The reason we include online access 'free' with a print subscription is
if we attach a price to the online version then we must charge vat on a
proportion of the print plus online subscription cost which will have a
detrimental effect for our European customers and their library budgets.
We want to protect them from this expenditure.

If you take a print plus online, or online only subscription and should
cancel the subscription you will retain perpetual access to the volumes
where a subscription was held.  Your online access would not go away.

Thank you all once again for your responses.

Virginia

Virginia Taffurelli
Head of Technical Processing
Science, Industry and Business Library
The New York Public Library
188 Madison Avenue
New York NY  10016-4314
Phone: (212) 592-7234
FAX: (212) 592-7233
email: vtaffurelli@nypl.org