A letter received today from the William S. Hein Co. illustrates why
keeping up with some legal publishers and their practices is a
never-ending battle. Hein notified its customers that it will no longer
be able to supply individual supplements to A.S. Pratt titles because
Pratt will no longer sell Hein quantities of individual supplements.
Pratt, of course, converted all or most of its titles to an annual
subscription basis in 1997, shortly after it acquired them from Warren,
Gorham & Lamont. Placing subscriptions with Hein was, until this recent
development, the only solution for libraries which desired only one
cumulative supplement per year since those dealing directly with Pratt
had no choice but to accept the annual subscription. Now even this
technique has been foreclosed by a company which appears to be acting in
complete disregard of customers wishes and years of past practice.
Many of you may recall that it was back in the mid-1980s that many of us
addressed the high cost of maintaining WG&L titles by adopting the
technique of purchasing only the first, or third, cumulative supplement
per year. This technique allowed libraries to buy the level of
supplementation appropriate to their needs and save significant dollars
in the process.
Coincidentally, I just heard from my RIA representative regarding his
company's plan to do the same with many of its titles (e.g. Bittker &
Eustice, etc.). Both of these developments are anti-consumer because
they attempt to dicate the terms under which customers may acquire their
products rather than allowing the customers to choose.
In addition to protesting these policies to management, I would suggest
a new twist on the old "write-for-order" program. Simply enter a
subscription for one year, then allow the subscription to lapse for a
year, or two, depending on your requirements. Allowing the subscription
to lapse for a year to a year-and-a-half will achieve almost the same
cost savings as the old one supplement per year plan.
I think the Pratt and RIA Group management will discover that you simply
cannot make decisions in a vacuum and that policies such as these will
only force consumers to respond in ways to protect their own financial
interests.
Ken Svengalis
R.I. State Law Library
ksven@ids.net
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