Comments on: The Deals Just Get Worse

By: Susan Riley

Susan Riley — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 20:44:36 +0000

I’m not sure that a 1 year cutoff will be such a bad thing. It will give libraries the opportunity to purchase newer titles that are in more demand. If prices are reasonable, this would be a win-win for both publishers and libraries alike.
Susan Riley, Director, Mamaroneck Public Library, NY

By: J

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 03:48:59 +0000

Perhaps the Director can find enough wiggle-room in her budget for a SUNY-sponsored remedial math MOOC?

By: Tired Librarian

Tired Librarian — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:07:34 +0000

Perhaps Ms. Rogers should consider a career change -politics.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:04:55 +0000

Actually, the expiration makes a kind of sense too. Unlike a sale, the publisher is entering into an enduring commitment, and probably would like to be able to adjust that commitment from time to time as conditions change. That’s one reason why contracts expire. This is certainly not ideal for libraries (which tend to take a much longer view than publishers) but I like it better than most consumer contracts these days, in which the provider can make any changes he wants anytime while the consumer is bound to whatever the terms have become today, his only recourse being to break the relationship.

In short: it’s a reasonable deal but not a very attractive one. Library systems should be making counter-offers: this is what we want — how much would you need for that? (Of course, be prepared to negotiate down toward what you think it’s worth!)

By: Librarian_ish

Librarian_ish — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:47:15 +0000

I’d expect the one-year deal to become more standard, considering how many books are becoming movies. It takes time to rewrite a book into a screenplay, so the movie provides publishers with a second opportunity to make money off their back catalog a little later. It’s a solid business move, no matter how much it sucks for libraries.

By: PremproPosse

PremproPosse — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:15:09 +0000

Well, by now we all know that MLSers cannot count. Case-in-point is Jenica P. Rogers, Director of Libraries at SUNY Potsdam – around whom much echo chamber noise was made surrounding her ideologic ballyhoo against the American Chemical Society subscription package which cost was claimed by Rogers to have increased by 71% in 5 years with the 2013 proposal representing 10% of her entire acquisitions budget which perforce caused her to take a “tough stand” by cancelling that University’s subscription. Not a peep was later heard from her fellow arithmophobics when Rogers – calling into question ACS’ mission and business model- later retracted those misrepresented figures (which were incorrectly quoted to SPARC and summarized by many others) down to 48% (from 71%) and was compelled to apologize about other errant data. Her misleading calculations also included a falsely – yet loudly – proclaimed number of SUNY Potsdam majors (68? according to Rogers’ creative “new millenium” math method).

By: Midwest SciTech Librarian

Midwest SciTech Librarian — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:40:24 +0000

The question is whether she will be over-One-World-Trade-Center excited when it is completed in 2013 and officially becomes the tallest structure in NYC — just about when those first Penguin purchases start to expire…