Karen Albert  asks   Can librarians get publishers to lower journal prices?

> My administration recently agreed to increase my serials budget to
> accommodate the 14.5% estimated price increases in 1996 subscriptions.
> However, they made it clear they expect to see librarians, and especially
> me, doing something to lower the prices of journals.  They feel that
> group purchases of specific titles, boycotts, or other organized approaches
> by librarians and their organizations would encourage publishers to
> lower prices.  [snip]

Twent-five years of cancellations has cut the unit sales of research journals
and books in half, leading only to higher prices and a tremendous bottleneck in
communications. In the U.S., 500 universities (15% of the higher education
market) account for 70% of library materials spending and must bear direct
responsibility for the higher prices. Publishers, including those subsidized by
page charges and tax exemptions, still must pay salaries, postage, utilities,
rent, and the printer. Costs incurred for "the first copy" must be shared by
fewer customers.

The only surprise is the continued indifference to the burdens placed on
researchers and librarians by an administrative bureaucracy that has balanced
its own growth by cutting the library and instruction. I am told the latest
trick in this shell game is to mask library cuts by adding in expenditures for
the computer center.

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY
INTERNET:70244.1532@compuserve.com