[Libs-Or] FW: [alacoun] Request for comment or further info on the EBSCO exclusivity deal
Diedre Conkling
diedre08 at gmail.com
Fri Jan 22 00:19:41 PST 2010
I think that ALA will be addressing this issue. In fact, I would be shocked
if it is not addressed.
Here is more from the discussion on the ALA Council list:
1.
Bernard Margolis to kfiels, Carol, ALA, Aaron
show details 1:58 PM (10 hours ago)
Councillor Dobbs,
The EBSCO action is a sea-change! The ripple will impact every
library as exclusivity translates into exhorbitant costs for these exclusive
materials. There probably are restraint of trade and anti-trust issues
involved. An ALA complaint to the Federal Trade Commission or the Dept of
Justice is probably appropriate. I would think that PLA, AASL and ACRL might
be lead divisions in voicing concerns and that the Executive Board could
have ALA Counsel send a letter to both EBSCO and Time-LIFE raising concerns
about the issue.
Bernie Margolis
2. Michael Golrick to Bernard, ALA, Aaron, kfiels, Carol
show details 2:06 PM (10 hours ago)
I agree with the esteemed Councilor Margolis with one exception, I think
that the staff of the ALA Washington Office, both from OGR and OITP, should
offer input and advice. OGR will need to speak to the legislative and
executive branches about the implicit restraint of trade, and the OITP will
need to examine and report how this compares with other activity in the
provision of electronic access to journals other than through publishers.
I am tempted to make the analogy, what if the same group of publishers would
only do wholesale/jobbing through EBSCO and not allow Faxon and other
periodical wholesalers to place orders on behalf of any subscribers? That
would raise a huge hue and cry. One might even carry the analogy further
into book publishing.
I will note that some publishers sign exclusive agreements to record
specific titles, but I am certain that is protected under copyright and
therefore not an appropriate analogy.
Michael
Michael Golrick
Councilor-at-Large (most recently at microphone 8)
On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 5:01 PM, Rawles-Heiser, Carolyn <
Carolyn.Rawles-Heiser at ci.corvallis.or.us> wrote:
> I saw this on the ALA Council list and thought it was worth forwarding
> on. Our library received one of the "open letters" from Gale. It is
> pretty disturbing to see the titles.
>
> *Carolyn*
>
> *Carolyn Rawles-Heiser*
> *Library Director*
> *Corvallis--Benton County Public Library*
> *645 NW Monroe Ave.*
> *Corvallis, OR 97330*
>
> *(541)766-6910*
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* adobbs at gmail.com [mailto:adobbs at gmail.com] *On Behalf Of *Aaron W.
> Dobbs
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:49 PM
> *To:* ALA Council List
> *Subject:* [alacoun] Request for comment or further info on the EBSCO
> exclusivity deal
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've heard reports about the situation described in the email below from
> ALA Midwinter attendees who went to the EBSCO luncheon and I just received
> the email below, speaking from Gale's perspective on this exclusive contract
> to provide full runs of "major magazines" via EBSCO.
>
> Should ALA have a response to this?
> What should that response be?
>
> From a freedom of access point of view, there seems to be something
> suboptimal in exclusive content deals like this one. From a business
> perspective, they make sense.
>
> I've heard form several members and a former councilor on this issue, so
> far; asking if Council is considering this.
>
> Thank you for your thoughts
>
> -Aaron
> :-)'
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Corby, Kate <corby at mail.lib.msu.edu>
> Subject: Request for comment or further info EBSCO exclusivity deal.
>
> I am no longer on Council so I'm turning to you two for input and maybe
> access to Councilor eyes. I have not read all of the details of recent
> Council action but I didn't see this highlighted and wonder if it happened
> too recently to have attracted Council attention.
>
> I attended the EBSCO Academic Librarians lunch at ALA. What I heard at the
> luncheon was that a number of popular magazine publishers got together and
> decided to issue a single RFP which made exclusive access an integral part
> of the resulting contract. EBSCO was proudly announcing that they had won
> the bid for this effort and while prices might go up, they were now the sole
> electronic source for a wide host of popular magazines, including Time, U.S.
> News and World Report, Forbes, Fortune, Discover, Scientific American (which
> they granted could also be purchased from the publisher) and many many
> more. Given what I know of EBSCO's business practices (their efforts toward
> exclusive contracts are well known) I found their story somewhat hard to
> believe since a scenario such as EBSCO painted would clearly be an illegal
> collusion in restraint of trade.
>
> Now I been made aware of an "Open Letter" from Gale, which would seem to
> confirm the exclusivity of the deal. I'm thinking this is something
> Councilors would want to be aware of. EBSCO is I believe a major ALA
> contributor, as is Gale.
> *
> From:* Gale [mailto:gale.e-mail at cengage.com]
>
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 21, 2010 2:22 PM
> *To:* Dobbs, Aaron
> *Subject:* An open letter to the library community
>
>
>
> An open letter to the library community
>
> [image: Gale, part of Cengage Learning]<http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,1jfk,4iht,k8rl,4lr3>
>
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>
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>
>
>
> [image: An open letter to the library community]
>
> To our valued library partners,
>
> Last summer, Gale publicly expressed our concerns over exclusive licensing
> agreements (the practice of "locking up" a periodical publisher's content
> with a single information provider) and asked you to join us in a
> conversation about the impact on libraries and on those whom libraries
> serve. Many librarians expressed agreement, via blog, Twitter and phone
> calls.
>
> Nevertheless, another information provider, EBSCO, persists in a practice
> that drives up costs while limiting access to information, and chooses to
> mislead libraries as to their purpose. We'd like to set the record straight:
>
> - EBSCO has a long history of proactively approaching publishers and
> offering to pay a premium for exclusive rights to distribute their
> publications in libraries, having done this for more than a decade with
> academic journals.
> - Now EBSCO is pursuing the same strategy with mainstream news and
> business publications, having recently paid a premium to secure full control
> over the distribution of two major periodicals publishers: Time Inc. and
> Forbes.
>
>
> - Contrary to statements from EBSCO, Gale did bid for this content,
> offering proposals consistent with our policy against exclusivity. In both
> proposals, Gale included language that would allow all information providers
> to retain these titles in their products. Gale also submitted bids well in
> excess of the publishers' asking price just to keep the content available
> for all libraries. As stated in our bid<http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,5h66,407r,k8rl,4lr3>,
> our intent was to license to all vendors with equal terms, without creating
> an advantage to Gale. EBSCO bid higher, as they were intent on securing this
> content exclusively for their own products.
>
> [image: Time Inc. bid]<http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,5h66,407r,k8rl,4lr3>
>
> *Click on the image above to see excerpts from our Time Inc. bid from last
> August.*
>
> - EBSCO made its bid contingent on having the right to exclusively
> distribute the content in the library market and, as they have stated, they
> will now be the only provider of these titles, raising the entire cost
> structure for periodical resources. It should be clearly noted that the
> publishers did not require this and were happy to allow Gale to sublicense
> their content to any other information provider, but EBSCO sought
> exclusivity and was willing to bid a higher price to get it.
>
> *What does this mean to you?*
>
> If you currently receive Time Inc. or Forbes periodical content
> electronically from Gale or any provider other than EBSCO, you and your
> patrons will lose access to that content over the next year. While there
> will remain alternative, high-quality titles in all information providers'
> products, there will be an impact on users, especially those who access
> content through long-term statewide subscriptions.
>
> During this time of economic distress, Gale strongly believes that vendors
> should support libraries with advocacy efforts and sponsorships, and provide
> tools to increase usage rather than engage in practices that raise the
> entire cost structure of electronic resources. In the end, information
> providers who artificially drive up content licensing fees will have to pass
> those costs on to their customers. Gale believes this is fundamentally
> wrong.
>
> We believe the practice of restricting access to information is in direct
> opposition to the core values of libraries. And given the current,
> unprecedented pressure on library budgets, we believe these actions are
> particularly ill-timed.
>
> *What you can do*
>
> Here are three things you can do to oppose exclusive licensing agreements:
>
> 1. *Raise your voice*. Join the Facebook group "Librarians for Fair
> Access to Content<http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,ep0k,2pl5,k8rl,4lr3>."
> Tweet<http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,crl6,2zcl,k8rl,4lr3>.
> E-mail us at fairaccess at cengage.com. Call publishers and information
> providers and share your library's mission; tell them why these licensing
> practices are bad for libraries.
>
> 2. *Pass this message along* to other librarians and those who make
> decisions regarding your funding levels. Get others involved. There's
> strength in numbers.
>
> 3. *Don't reward the behavior*. Work with information providers who
> support your mission and understand your needs.
>
> As the cost of licensing content increases artificially, prices will go up.
> If you worry about information costs going up, we ask you to take a stand.
>
> If you feel strongly about providing your users with ongoing access to
> information, we encourage you to take action.
>
> Thank you for your interest and participation.
>
> Yours in partnership,
>
> [image: John Barnes]
>
>
> <http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,9f8h,f50u,k8rl,4lr3&EMAIL_ADDRESS=awdobbs@ship.edu&MLM_UNIQUEID=e69613471f&MLM_MID=2197896>[image:
> Forward to a colleague]<http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,9f8h,f50u,k8rl,4lr3&EMAIL_ADDRESS=awdobbs@ship.edu&MLM_UNIQUEID=e69613471f&MLM_MID=2197896><http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,9f8h,f50u,k8rl,4lr3&EMAIL_ADDRESS=awdobbs@ship.edu&MLM_UNIQUEID=e69613471f&MLM_MID=2197896>
>
> John Barnes
> Executive Vice President, Marketing & Business Development
> Gale, part of Cengage Learning
>
>
>
> Gale, part of Cengage Learning
> 27500 Drake Road
> Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535
> 1-800-877-GALE
>
> [image: Power to the user]<http://www.uptilt.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=4rs,1b3wo,2vvp,awoe,m8xk,k8rl,4lr3>
>
>
>
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--
Diedre Conkling
Lincoln County Library District
P.O. Box 2027
Newport, OR 97365
Work phone & fax: 541-265-3066
Work email: diedre at beachbooks.org
Home email: diedre08 at gmail.com
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