Vendor Update
Bob Noel Sponsor: Thomson ISI
The theme was the "Economics of Journal Publishing and the Future of Paper." The meeting started out with a brief update from Sean Serany, an Engineering Key Account Manager at Thompson Scientific; he spoke briefly on the expanded functionality of ISI Web of Knowledge, the new Derwent Web of Nanotechnology, and the Thomson Patent Store.
Morna Conway from the Conway Group led off by giving a comprehensive overview of "Subscription and Site License Pricing --the Whys and Wherefores." Dr. Conway traced the history and gave context to how site licenses have evolved over time, but she also shed light on many factors contributing to the current serials crisis. Walter Peter, senior VP at Cadmus Communications, http://www.cadmus.com, spoke next. Cadmus is the world's largest service provider to the STM publishing community, and the fourth largest periodical printer in North America. While their activities are directly related to libraries and scholarly communications, many librarians were unaware of their role until recently.
Unfortunately Terry Ehling (Director of Electronic Publishing, Cornell) was unable to attend the Vendor Update, but we appreciate her willingness to participate leading up to the conference. Mathematics librarians were able to hear her colleague, David Ruddy, speak later in the conference at the Mathematics Roundtable about Project Euclid (SPARC, a partnership of independent publishers of mathematics and statistics journals). Ehling has a rich and varied background, and currently her interests "lie at the intersection of scholarly publishing, academic libraries, and on-line learning initiatives." It will be good for PAM to continue to try to get Ehling to participate in future roundtables and conference events—-she brings much experience and an insider's perspective to SPARC initiatives and to scholarly communications in a broad sense.
Ed Hueckel (Elsevier Science representative) wrapped up the session by a giving an update of Elsevier publications, particularly backruns in mathematics and physics that are available to research institutions. Hueckel also talked briefly about the new "Elsevier Foundation," though this new initiative turned out not to be what many science librarians had hoped for. More information about the Foundation can be viewed at http://www.elsevierfoundation.org/.
rnoel@indiana.edu
