Principle 2 of the Guide appears to support Thomson-West's position.
("Principle 2: Disclosure. Publishers should provide full disclosure
about their products, services, prices, and transactions insofar as
allowed without violating contractual agreements or revealing
proprietary information.") Unless the "contractual agreements" exemption
admits of a reasonable, alternative interpretation, the underlying
practice condoned - confidentiality clauses - deserves express
repudiation, or at least some other equally debatable remedy, to answer
the concern that Susan raises.
I do not know whether the issue was raised in comments on the draft
Guide
(http://www.aallnet.org/committee/criv/publisher_communication/gram2002/
061902.htm) or discussion at the 2002 Annual Meeting in Orlando. In its
series of explanations, the AALL Fair Business Practices Implementation
Task Force did not consider the implications or likely consequences of
the "contractual agreements" exemption. (See the January 2004
explanation of Principle 2 at
http://lawlibrary.ucdavis.edu/lawlib/Jan04/att-0516/01-AALL_Guide_emails
_Part_4.pdf) Perhaps the Task Force considered them elsewhere?
I am representing just my opinion as a law librarian. This communication
has no other affiliation.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On
Behalf Of Susan Nevelow Mart
Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 2:46 PM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu; bounce-pll-sis-45746@aallnet.org;
bounce-sccll-sis-48977@aallnet.org; bounce-all-sis-43097@aallnet.org;
Anne.Ellis@thomson.com
Subject: Re: A Message from Thomson West
Since it is West that puts confidentiality agreements in its contracts,
I find the response somewhat disingenuous. Confidentiality clauses
should be negotiated out of contracts, as the confidentiality clauses
clearly aren't benefiting the library community.
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of Thomson West, here is a message from Chip Cater,
Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, West, in
response
to recent listserv discussions:
To our customers and partners in the librarian community:
West appreciates efforts to provide clearer insights into pricing and
collection management issues raised by librarians. We know that
these
are important issues for you, and would like to address recent
listserv discussions to provide more insight into our policy and
approach to the market.
Q: Is West in violation of the Guide to Fair Business Practices for
Legal Publishers?
A: We recognize that there has been a good deal of discussion
around
this point. We are in compliance with the Guide. The Guide states
that "publishers should provide full disclosure about their products,
services, prices and transactions insofar as allowed without violating
contractual agreements or revealing proprietary information."
Disclosing the prices paid by individual customers would both violate
contractual agreements and reveal proprietary information.
Q: Why doesn't West disclose detailed pricing information for
third-party reports?
A: Third-party pricing reports or price indices purport to give
librarians an accurate view of book prices, and help them plan
budgets
for maintaining their print collections. It follows that the value of
such a report or index hinges on the accuracy of the information it
presents. We provide new purchaser pricing on our Web site. But
West
does not view print pricing in isolation, and instead structures
individual pricing plans for each customer based on their print and
online research needs. Thus, a "one size fits all" model simply does
not provide an accurate picture, as contract pricing will generally be
lower than new purchaser prices.
We know pricing is an important issue for you. We've developed a
number of initiatives including a new library maintenance program
that
provides predictable, year-to-year pricing and that many of our
customers are now using to better manage collections, resources
and
budgets, and control costs. This is part of our commitment to
provide
you with the best products, support and value.
We are proud of our longstanding relationship with AALL and the
librarian community, and believe that open communication and
support
of professional programs is the best way to sustain and strengthen
this relationship. We're honored to support scholarships,
professional
development and networking programs, and are committed to
providing
the best Librarian Relations and Reference Attorney programs in the
industry to support the success of each librarian who uses our
products.
We appreciate the opportunity to answer your questions, and look
forward to continuing this dialogue in a productive manner.
Best regards,
Charles B. Cater
Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, West
Anne V. Ellis
Senior Director, Librarian Relations
Thomson West
610 Opperman Drive
D5-N104
Eagan, MN 55123
anne.ellis@thomson.com
651-687-5019
651-848-2737 (Fax)
Susan Nevelow Mart
Reference Librarian
University of California - Hastings College of the Law
marts@uchastings.edu
415.565.4759
____________________________________________
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