" In this scenario, why not contact the organization/pub, explain the
situation, and ask them?"
You have to make an actuarial calculation that 1.) it might not be in
their material interest to be straight with you and 2.) that their
material interest might trump their sense of fair play. It has been
known to happen.
Taking the donation might be an ethical violation if one in purchasing
the individual subscription understood himself to be agreeing to a
particular set of terms as a condition of the purchase and the
publisher's terms do not violate public policy. The terms would have to
be obtrusively stated to bind the subscriber morally (though perhaps not
legally) as such terms would be against the grain of common sense
understandings people have about their freedom to dispose of their
property.
One minor point:
The higher prices are not derived from the difference in the trade
elasticity of demand for the product, but by the fact that libraries and
individuals have systemically different utility functions. The utility
function also influences the value of the trade elasticity. The trade
elasticity refers to the consumers' sensitivity to price changes, not
the price the consumer is willing to pay for a given quantity.
Whenever you are negotiating over a purchase price, an effort at price
discrimination is taking place. IW
I. Woodward
Serials Office
Colgate University Libraries
201L McGregory Hall
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, N.Y. 13346
Ph.: 315-228-7306
Fax: 315-228-7029
-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Pennington, Buddy D.
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 3:37 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] PlainZix RE: [SERIALST] Institutional versus
personal subscriptio ns
It's probably unethical, but I don't know if I would say it is illegal.
I don't know what law is being broken here. Of course, I am assuming
that publishers have the legal right to refuse to honor personal
subscriptions to institutions.
As to differential pricing (great explanation, Steve!), there are some
examples of differential pricing for the same product. Airline tickets
and DVD/VHS videos are a couple. But there is a time element here. For
airline tickets customer demand becomes more inelastic the closer they
get to the travel date. So you can usually get a cheaper ticket way
ahead of time but you get screwed if it's a last minute thing.
With videos, the studios would release them at a high mark-up (for video
stores, etc.) and then at a later date they would drop the price to
appeal to individual consumers.
And of course, this is how sales work. Some folks buy at the full
price. Some wait until the sales. Libraries buy at the full price
because they have to.
Buddy Pennington
Serial Acquisitions Librarian
UMKC - University Libraries
800 E. 51st Street
Kansas City, MO 64110
816-235-1548
816-333-5584 (fax)
penningtonb@umkc.edu
UMKC University Libraries: Connecting Learners to the World of Knowledge
www.umkc.edu/lib
-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Skwor, Jeanette
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 11:35 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] PlainZix RE: [SERIALST] Institutional versus
personal subscriptio ns
In this scenario, why not contact the organization/pub, explain the
situation, and ask them?
That would answer the question and at the same time, avoid the problem
of getting each issue individually delivered to the library by the
donee.
Generally speaking, I also was of the opinion it is illegal for
libraries to have journals donated by those who pay an individual rate.
This discussion is really interesting, though - why journals & not
books/newspapers etc? And how is it that anyone (as far as I know) can
donate to libraries that have suffered disasters (Hurricane Katrina) or
those in poor areas of the world, if not country?
Good food for thought.
Jeanette L. Skwor
Cofrin Library
University of WI-Green Bay
(920) 465-2670
"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will
get you through times of no libraries."
Anne Herbert, The Whole Earth Catalog
-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Devereaux, MaryJo
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 6:49 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] PlainZix RE: [SERIALST] Institutional versus
personal subscriptio ns
What about when all physicians in the group obtain a copy of the same
journal because they are members of an organization and have one of
those membership journals sent directly to the library instead of the
office. For example, members of a GYN group who each get Am j of
obstet gynec and have that sent to us. [Which has been proposed], is
that an acceptable "donation"
since the journal comes with membership??
MaryJo Devereaux, M.L.S.
Community Medical Center
Physician's Library
1800 Mulberry Street
Scranton PA 18510
v. 570-969-8197
f. 570-969-8902
maryjo.devereaux@cmchealthsys.org
