From: Tony Sanfilippo <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:36:55 -0500

Hi Rick,

I understand that efficiencies benefit the entire system, but
discerning the history of a particular piece of scholarship used to be
a part of the value that the distributor added to the process. Now it
is being asked of the publisher. It feels a bit like being asked to
bag our own groceries after first removing our own products from the
shelves.

I also think that many publishers fundamentally disagree with some
librarians about the value added in the revision and publication of a
book based on previous work. It is not actually my job to reduce
dissemination of the work we do, even if it saves libraries and
distributors money and makes the whole system more efficient. It my
job to disseminate the work of our authors, all of them, not just the
senior scholars working on their second or third book. While I may
technically work for the library here, my job is to champion the work
of our authors. I do not see in this scenario how communicating that
their book is based on their previous work benefits them.

I don't have a problem with communicating to our partners most of the
items on that list, but there is at least one item that I think hurts
scholars who also happen to be authors of a first book. Part of my job
is to ensure their work is treated fairly.

Thanks,
Tony Sanfilippo
Penn State Press



On Wednesday, April 17, 2013, LIBLICENSE wrote:

> From: Rick Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:23:44 +0000
>
> >On January 22nd I received the following set of guidelines from Baker
> >& Taylor/YBP concerning the presentation of our titles to our B&T/YBP
> >buyers. This is information they are now expecting publishers to
> >provide. I'm not quite sure what they thought our motivation would be
> >to provide this information, but they have asked.
>
> I can clear up this great mystery for you.
>
> YBP, like you, is interested in selling your books to libraries. This is
> why the heading above the criteria list says "Content/Format that
> significantly affect sales through YBP." (Note the key word "sales.")
> Libraries, for their part, are trying to buy those books that will best
> support the research and learning that take place on their campuses, and
> to avoid buying those books that will not. As someone who spent several
> years matching academic books to libraries' expressed needs and helping
> libraries adjust their approval profiles in order to maximize the
> profiles' fit to mission, and who has subsequently spent many years as a
> library collection development officer, I can tell you that a) libraries
> often wish to exclude particular classes of book (such as unrevised
> dissertations and periodical anthologies) from approval plan coverage, and
> b) vendors sometimes struggle to tell whether a particular book fits in
> one or more of those classes -- sometimes because publishers deliberately
> disguise the fact, but more often because every book is somewhat unique.
>
> If a publisher provides vendors with more information (such as that
> requested by YBP) about the books it wishes the vendor to sell on its
> behalf, then hopefully more books will be sold. This is why vendors hope
> publishers will feel motivated to provide it.
>
> Rick Anderson
> Interim Dean, J. Willard Marriott Library
> University of Utah
> [log in to unmask]