From: "Hosburgh, Nathan" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 15:43:22 -0600

Access/hosting/maintenance fees are fairly common after purchasing a
digital archive.  Sometimes the fee is specified in the
license/agreement; sometimes it is mentioned vaguely and no actual
cost is specified.  It's worthwhile to clarify whether a hosting fee
will apply and get an exact figure before finalizing an archive
purchase.  Otherwise, you could be paying exorbitant fees that you
didn't anticipate.

GBP £450.00 doesn't seem exorbitant, but it depends on how many titles
you are accessing.  If hosting fees were never mentioned in any sort
of agreement, then you would have more leverage for pushing back
against the fees.  If you don't get anywhere initially, you might
escalate the issue within the publisher's management structure.

Nathan Hosburgh
Electronic Resources Librarian
Assistant Professor
Montana State University Library
Bozeman, MT 59717-3320
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-----Original Message-----

From: Houeida Charara <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2013 09:06:24 +0000

Hi All:

We are subscribing to the core online journals from publisher X and
renewing our subscription regularly. Last year we purchased their deep
backfiles. I was surprised to receive this year an invoice in which
they requested the payment of hosting fees; and when I asked them to
waive the said fees since we are paying for the platform to access our
journals (as a common practice) they sent me the following answer:

"Unfortunately, the publisher did not accept to remove the hosting
fees for X Deep Backfile. In order to maintain access to purchased
backfile content, I am afraid you will need to pay the hosting fee GBP
£450.00".

Did you face a similar case? If yes did you accept to pay the hosting fees?

Best regards,

HKC

Houeida Kammourié-Charara,
D.F.A.P., MScEcon
InfoCommons Librarian
Library Liaison Communication Arts