Re: PlainZix RE: [SERIALST] Institutional versus personal subscriptio ns Pennington, Buddy D. 01 Jun 2006 19:37 UTC
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