From: Kerry Velilla <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 08:12:57 -0500

Dear librarian community:

As a scholarly publishing consultant, I am posting this query on
behalf of a publications director of a major clinical research
journal. Our client offers print+online, online only, and print only
options and is interested in better understanding the reasons for
institutions continuing to subscribe to print.  Would you be willing
to answer the following questions?

1.       Why do institutions still subscribe to print? Is it only when
print is a less-expensive alternative? Are there taxes or other levies
that make online-only subscriptions less appealing? For archival
reasons, would an institution subscribing to print be more likely to
drop print if the publisher participated in Portico or CLOCKSS?

2.      Does your institution retain any print subscriptions to
journals that have an online subscription available? If your
institution retains any print subscriptions, do you also subscribe to
the online version?

3.      If you were unable to subscribe to print only but instead had
to subscribe to online in order to also subscribe to print, would you
just subscribe online only or subscribe to online and print? What kind
of price differential would make the difference for you?

4.      If print were no longer available, would you renew your
institution’s print subscription as online only? Would you expect a
certain price break? Or does your institution require a print copy
regardless of online availability?

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Kerry

Kerry Velilla | Associate
24 Aintree Road | Baltimore MD 21286
785 484 2970 office | 785 305 0826 mobile
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