“Coordination” & Monopoly" RE: [NHC List] Elsevier to discontinue WebEditions

[Thomas Moritz]

And...

“…major commercial journals appear to enjoy substantial monopoly
power despite the absence of obvious legal barriers to entry by new
competing journals. …   journals achieve monopoly power…
by  a 'coordination game' -- the most capable authors and referees are
attracted to journals with established reputations... and by copyright
law -- restricts competitors from selling ‘‘perfect
substitutes’’ for existing journals by publishing exactly the
same articles. (in contrast, sellers of shoes or houses are not
restrained from producing nearly identical copies of their
competitors’ products.)"

Carl T. Bergstrom and Theodore C. Bergstrom, “The costs and benefits
of library site licenses to academic journals,”  PNAS, January 20,
2004, vol. 101(3):897. http://www.pnas.orgcgidoi10.1073pnas.0305628101 

Tom Moritz
Associate Director and Chief, Knowledge Management
Getty Research Institute
1200 Getty Center Drive Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California 90049
United States of America
1 310 440 6363 [voice]
1 310 440 7781 [fax]
<tmoritz at getty.edu>
GMT -8

>>> "Wong, Catherine Prof." <Catherine.Wong at quinnipiac.edu> 3/16/2007
6:41 AM >>>

Amy, This is the best post I've ever read on this list and I'm glad you
said what you said.  The greed disgusts me.  The way things are is not
always the way they should be in this world.   Warmly, C.J. Wong


-----Original Message-----
From: nhc-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu on behalf of Amy Schuler
Sent: Thu 3/15/2007 2:58 PM
To: nhc at u.washington.edu 
Subject: RE: [NHC List] Elsevier to discontinue WebEditions
 
Steve and everyone,
You are right - on the one hand, the 1 year limit (so strictly
enforced)
is limiting.  And yet, for those of us who cannot afford the big deal
option, Web Editions was at least partially satisfying.

Now please excuse me as I vent, but someone needs to say it:  Do you
know what I find so incredibly frustrating and demoralizing is that
these smooth talking, smarmy Elsevier reps (and Springer,
Blackwell...)
come to our conferences, talk about how they sympathize with
librarians
over shrinking library budgets, bundling, licensing etc.  And then
these
companies STILL have the audacity to take away the little bones they
throw us now and then (like Web Editions) just to make a d@$! buck. 
And
then I receive the flashy, over-packaged nothing-but-fluff "Library
Newsletter"-type materials from said publishers once a month, and I
think to myself, "why don't you redirect the money you spend on this
worthless piece of junk to your real publishing initiatives so that
you
don't have to charge us libraries an arm and a leg for a journal
subscription?!" Honestly, all of this just makes me want to scream. 
And
frankly, it is one of the reasons why I am often turned off by the
library conferences (or at least, the publisher panel sessions).
Because as far as I can see, none of the - again, it has to be said -
money-grubbing commercial publishers has done much to give us a break.


I hope I have not alienated any of you wonderful fellow librarians and
other library/information staff out there.  You are terrific people. 
I
wish you luck with your patron base, libraries, and budgets in this
atmosphere of publisher greed! 

Amy Schuler
Manager of Information Services
Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Millbrook, NY


-----Original Message-----
From: nhc-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu 
[mailto:nhc-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Johnson,
Steve
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 2:22 PM
To: nhc at u.washington.edu 
Subject: [NHC List] Elsevier to discontinue WebEditions

Earlier today I received an email from Elsevier announcing the end of
Webeditions after the 2007 subscription year.

I thought others on this list might have an interest in the subject
and
might not receive the note as an Elsevier contact.

Information on the change and links to Elsevier's new plans are at:

http://www.info.sciencedirect.com/Webeditions/ 

Though we subscribe to few Elsevier titles, those titles do include
Biological Conservation and an increasing number of titles which have
not yet made it into Web editions (Journal for Nature Conservation,
der
Zoologische Garten). I will try to keep an open mind on this subject.
The one year limit on web edition content has been unpopular with
library users and we have been unwilling to make a "big deal" purchase
from Elsevier.


Steve Johnson
Manager, Bronx Zoo Library
Wildlife Conservation Society
sjohnson at wcs.org 

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