E. Scott Wetzel forwarded the following anonymous quote:
>
> >I had hoped that one of the things to come out of the law-lib listserv
> >would be a sharing of the nature of our deals, so that companies could
> >not offer deal X to A, and deal Y to B, and deal Z to C, all the while
> >saying that's all there is, with no room for negotiation. In the spirit
> >of democracy, and having come from a "government in the sunshine" state,
> >I think that all deals should be available to all customers, with the
> >customer being allowed to choose what suits his budget and needs.
> >Unfortunately, everyone is very tight-lipped about their transactions
> >with West, desperately trying to hold on to their deals, afraid that
> >disclosure will mean no more special treatment, when in fact it would
> >actually mean "special" treatment for everyone, consistently.
Scott's expression of disgust is well taken. If this quote has any basis in
fact, it means that law librarians have forgotten the Golden Rule when
dealing with vendors; namely "He (or she) who has the gold makes the rules."
To those of you out there who are afraid to "out" your cozy little deals with
the publishers for fear of losing your privileges, let me put a simple
question to all of you: Just who are these publishers going to sell their
products to, if not law librarians, law firms, and academic libraries? Let's
face it, folks - the products of West, et al. are not exactly what you call
your regular New York Times best sellers. And just why do you think all the
publishers are scrambling to buy each other out, if not to try to eliminate
the items that would keep them (relatively) honest by giving us a choice of
competing products?
C'mon, people, get with it and get tough! If you have what you think is a
good deal from a publisher, post it here and let the sunshine in. Don't let
West and their ilk play that old "divide and rule" game with you or your
colleagues.
Ann Davidson
Davidson Library Services
dls@hslc.org
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