The Inbetweeners and me

1. The Inbetweeners and me Thoughts and lessons learned from dealing with publishers and their agents Niamh Lucey, St Vincent’s University Hospital

2. I’m going to talk about…. • Negotiating with Publishers • Licences • Subscription agents in the digital era • Experiences of SVHG Libraries

3. Acknowledgement • The following slides on negotiation and licences have been adapted, with permission, from the UKSG Licensing & Negotiation Skills for Librarians training course created by Sarah Durrant, Red Sage Consulting sarah@redsage.org www.redsage.org

4. UKSG Licensing & Negotiating Skills • http://www.uksg.org/event • Licensing & Negotiating Skills – London, June 13

5. Negotiating with Publishers • Negotiation is a conversation • Librarians negotiate all the time • Can (should?) be win-win • It’s not personal, it’s business! • Never accept first quote, see it as an invitation to negotiate Adapted from Red Sage Consulting Licensing & Negotiating Skills Course for UKSG, 2011

6. Preparing to Negotiate • Know who you are negotiating with • Know your own organisation • Know yourself • Know the product “successful negotiation is 80% preparation” - Clive Rich Adapted from Red Sage Consulting Licensing & Negotiating Skills Course for UKSG, 2011

7. Factors to consider • WTEs • Concurrent users • Usage statistics • Reduction in budgets • Cost per download • Other available models – PPV, ILLs etc • Consortia Adapted from Red Sage Consulting Licensing & Negotiating Skills Course for UKSG, 2011

8. Don’t tell the publisher • your total budget • how much you want it • how much you are willing to pay Adapted from Red Sage Consulting Licensing & Negotiating Skills Course for UKSG, 2011

9. The Licence • Licence = a contract, an agreement between two sides • Legally binding • Governed by law of country/state where company is registered Adapted from Red Sage Consulting Licensing & Negotiating Skills Course for UKSG, 2011

10. Contents of a Licence • Permitted uses – ie who can access (staff/students/external users) • Restrictions • Responsibilities of the Publisher • Responsibilities of the User • Concurrent users • ILLs • Access authentication methods – IP/Athens etc • Mobile devices – smart phones, tablets etc • Counter compliant/usage data • Archival access • Post-cancellation rights Adapted from Red Sage Consulting Licensing & Negotiating Skills Course for UKSG, 2011

11. Licence negotiation • Licence should be mutually acceptable • Can be negotiated (esp if you can’t get price down) • Request a copy in advance • Be clear about what you want to change and why • Be realistic Adapted from Red Sage Consulting Licensing & Negotiating Skills Course for UKSG, 2011

12. Putting the theory into practice.... Good publisher Bad publisher

15. Subscription agents

16. Do we need a subscriptions agent?

17. Subscription agent • An Agent is one who acts for, or in the place of, another, by authority from him; one entrusted with the business of another - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent (accessed 4/05/12)

18. What does a subscription agent do? Simplifies the purchasing and managementof (journal) subscriptions for libraries: • Renewals/invoicing • Claims /problems with access Doesn’t negotiate on price for us

19. Association of Subscription Agents & Associates • Helping libraries stay informed • Save time and money • Technical support • Consortia services • Decision support Members include: Ebsco, LM, Prenax, Swets http://www.subscription-agents.org/librarians (accessed 7/05/12)

20. Our story… 2010 • 30 years with same subscriptions agency • 79 subscriptions – mostly online • E-journal subscriptions shared with our sister hospital, St Michael’s • PROBLEMS…. • Bad customer service - poor communication/lack of follow up • Variance in prices from quote to final invoice • Supplementary invoices during year • Poor journal hosting site/lack of support

21. The breakup • Numerous emails unanswered to resolve problems with E-Journals hosting site • Company visited annually apologised for problems, took copious notes and…… nothing changed

22. A new beginning? • 2008 changed over to a better platform to host our journals • 2009 company actively sought our business

23. Making the move Received pitches from 3 prospective providers Existing provider – slow to respond, hard to interpret spreadsheet, did not fight for us (sob!) Alternative provider – quick response, simple format, no print management, not all titles held Courting provider – quick to respond, professional, proactive, reassuring..... ...... we were swept off our feet! (kind of)

24. The Honeymoon • Professional • Training • No interruption to our access • Available regularly • Lots of communication, personal visits

25. Teething problems • Access to electronic journals • Platform for journals hosting • Price fluctuations

26. What we like • Invoice consolidation • Payment to multiple publishers in multiple currencies • Pricing/licencing information available in one place • Process print claims • Process electronic claims – but often just a go-between with no

27. What we don’t like • They don’t negotiate on price for us • They don’t negotiate the licence for us • Some publishers don’t deal with intermediaries or offer discounts to deal directly • Hosting sites can be hit and miss • Prices not updated on database

28. In conclusion… • A subscriptions agency is only as good as your customer service representative • Managing the subscription agent and their hosting site is a full time job • And we are paying them for the privilege!

29. Bibliography • Durrant S (2011) Negotiating and Licensing Skills training, UKSG May 2011. • De Jong M (2009) Good negotiations: strategies for negotiating vendor contracts. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances. 22(2): 37-41 • Grogg J et al (2012) Gateway to good negotiation: from computer mediated communication to playing hardball. The Serials Librarian. 62(1):1-4 • Bussey H (2009) Best practices: considering a subscription agent? Here are some questions to ask when you interview prospective providers. Library Works. A special supplement to INFOcus September 2009. • Strader CR et al (2008) E-Journal access: a collaborative checklist for libraries, subscription agents and publishers. The Serials Librarian. 55:1-2, 98-116 • TonkeryD (2003) Rethinking the role of the subscription agent in the transition from print to digital collections. Publishing Research Quarterly, Winter 2003: 35-42.

30. Acknowledgements • Sarah Durrant, Red Sage Consulting • Anne Madden, St Vincent’s University Hospital Niamh Lucey St Vincent’s University Hospitaln.lucey@svhg.ieniamh.lucey@ucd.ie (01) 221 5032