Negotiating
Power: Online Journals and the Art Librarian
Moderator:
Cara List,
University of Oregon
Speakers:
Charly
Bauer, OhioLINK
Ron Miller, H.W. Wilson
Recorder:
Laurel
Bliss, Yale University
Charly
Bauer's presentation addressed the real and perceived problems of online art
journals, using his experience at OhioLINK. OhioLINK is a state-funded
consortium of seventy-nine public and private colleges and universities that
purchases over 3,500 online journals in a variety of disciplines. Arts-related
journals comprise the smallest number of available online journals, at a lower
cost per title than in other disciplines. Because there are fewer art journals,
there are fewer online. Bauer argues that we must balance principle and
practicality: is it better to have full-text without images than nothing at all?
He stresses the importance of being involved with the publisher in the process,
and monitoring standards. Bauer believes that it is vital to see these problems
within the context of other disciplines and to teach our colleagues about the
importance of images and image quality.
Ron
Miller's presentation focused on how vendors negotiate for full-text rights with
publishers. Above all, Miller stressed the importance of listening to the other
party. Major negotiating points that Wilson uses with publishers: their
databases include select journals recommended by an ALA committee; inclusion may
increase visibility of the journal and the number of subscriptions; Wilson can
exclude images if necessary; Wilson tries to avoid embargoes, believing that no
one is well served by them; Wilson now offers PDF in addition to
hand-keyboarding of full text; and Wilson is one of the few vendors who license
art journals. Other factors for the publisher to consider include sub-licensing
rights, exclusions (related to the Tasini decision), and royalties.
1. It is
difficult for non-profits to pay for databases. How can this be improved? Wilson
does offer consortium pricing, which should be less. Stating your requirements
and what your bottom line is should help in the negotiations.
2. After
the Tasini decision, how can we keep content? Let publishers know how vital it
is to have complete contents of a journal.
3. Without
the images, is the text useless? Can we put pressure on vendors and publishers
to have images and text in all cases? Not all people agree on this issue. PDF
format with both text and images is a good solution, but is not always possible.
Each institution must consider if full-text alone is worth it.
4. Is
Wilson working on retrospective additions to their databases? Wilson is looking
into it. They want to be sure to have full indexing and not just unindexed
scans.
5. Is
Wilson considering using OCR instead of hand keyboarding? Yes. Wilson currently
outsources this process and the other company believes hand keyboarding is more
accurate. Wilson is considering revisiting this choice.
6. Can
Wilson get text directly from the publishers? In some cases, but the differing
formats makes transfer problematic.
7. In
light of the Tasini decision, are text and citations being pulled from Wilson?
No citations are being pulled. Only nine journals have been affected thus far.
8. Who should pay for images—the library, the individual, the vendor, the publisher, or the museum? Certainly no one should be paying twice for images. Perhaps a solution is using lower quality scans to protect the copyright. The end of the chain (whoever owns the copyright) is the one making the decision.