With apologies for cross-posting.  Below is a press release with an
update on the UKSG TRANSFER Code of Practice - twenty publishers with
8,000 journals have now endorsed the Code which was released at the
end of 2008.  This is a good start but we want to get more publishers
to endorse the Code so we are encouraging libraries to exert some
(friendly) pressure.  Regards,  Ed Pentz

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Oxford, UK – 24 March 2009. UKSG is pleased to announce that 20
publishers have now signed up to its TRANSFER Code of Practice, which
provides best practice guidelines and outlines responsibilities to
ensure that journal content remains easily accessible in the event of
a change of ownership. This means that library and reader access to
over 8,000 journals will now be protected in transfers between
publisher signatories.

Major signatories to the code include Elsevier, Nature and Wiley, but
it is equally appropriate to smaller publishers – those signed up so
far include the American Diabetes Association, Earthscan and the Rural
Sociological Society. UKSG’s objective is to persuade all publishers
of the importance and value of endorsing the TRANSFER code.
“Librarians must be increasingly rigorous in assessing the merits of
journals and journals packages for renewal or purchase,” said Joan
Emmet, NERL Program Librarian. “TRANSFER endorsement is a signal that
a publisher understands its customers’ needs and is committed to
providing a good level of service even in complex circumstances. By
implementing standards of practice for the treatment of transfer
titles, the job of keeping track of these titles becomes easier both
for publisher and customer. The publisher who puts the code into
practice will help set apart a journal/journals package when we are
reviewing our collections.”

The TRANSFER Code of Practice was developed by a cross-party working
group to resolve problems encountered by subscribers when journals
move from one publisher to another. Many critical issues, such as
continuity of access during a transfer or perpetual ongoing access to
archives, were previously a grey area in journal sale agreements; this
resulted in frustration for end users and librarians as key e-journals
became temporarily or even permanently unavailable despite licence
terms.

“The TRANSFER code has been extensively fine-tuned to balance the
interests of its multiple stakeholders,” said Ed Pentz, TRANSFER
Working Group Chair. “Libraries and their users benefit from minimal
disruption during a transfer – and publishers benefit from the
simplified workflow and associated reduction in costs of a
standardised process. We’ve also taken great care to protect
publishers’ competitive interests. The overall success of the Code
depends on widespread adoption by publishers so we hope that many more
will soon show their support for their customers by signing up.”

For more information, and to sign up to the TRANSFER Code, visit http://www.uksg.org/transfer
  or drop by the UKSG Projects stand (85) at the UKSG exhibition in
Torquay, UK from 31st March to 2nd April 2009.

For more information, contact:

Ed Pentz

Chair, TRANSFER Working Group

epentz@crossref.org