SERIALST readers:

          Another reader posted the following question to me so
          it's possible that others among you may have likewise
          misinterpreted my original message.

          *********************************

Dave, I was interested in your Springer study, which appeared on
Serialst. I have a question for you, though: the current Faxon
catalog that I have is the 1993 catalog. This was printed in
spring 1993, before publishers set their 1994 rates, so it
presumably includes 1993 prices. These prices therefore should
definitely be just about exactly what you paid out in 1993.

Do you have a newer 1994 catalog? Or is this a price list
that Faxon provided to you other than the large catalog they
ship out in the spring each year? I wanted to pass your data
on to the Administration here but first wanted to be sure I
could explain it!!

         ***********************************

          I should have been more explicit in my posting concerning
          1994 prices for Springer-Verlag journals. The catalog prices
          I checked were from the newly received Springer-Verlag
          Journals 1994 price list, not the 1994 Faxon catalog which,
          if precedent holds, shouldn't be released before next
          spring. Our 1993 prices were taken from our payment records,
          not the 1993 Faxon catalog, and they include initial and
          supplemental billings, if any, but no service charges or
          sales tax.

          I have a copy of a Wall Street Journal article dated
          10/14/92 titled "A stronger dollar is heading this way" to
          remind me that the dollar was being quoted at 1.4645 marks
          on 10/13/92. We failed to reach the heady realms of a 1.80
          mark/dollar which some analysts had predicted a year ago,
          but Springer pegged the dollar at 1.60 marks when compiling
          their 1994 price list in July and it was being quoted at
          just a fraction under 1.60 marks on this morning's news, a
          point it has floated at or near for several months now.
          Three cheers for the stronger dollar!.

          Dave Fisher
          Head, Acquisitions
          Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library
          dfisher@ucsd.edu
          (619) 534-1221