From: Tristan C Collier <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:17:26 +0000 Thanks for your invitation to comment on Library Advisory Boards. We at Cambridge Journals, (the subsidiary of Cambridge University Press), have had a library advisory panel for a number of years. We've found that our panel is a hugely useful resource, particularly for formulating pricing models and for development strategy for Cambridge Journals Online (CJO). With the launch of online products and Cambridge Books Online (CBO), we have now introduced several books colleagues to our panel and they too have found it very useful, particularly in terms of ebook pricing models. Our panel is divided into a wider global network of librarians who are consulted by phone or internet, and a smaller group of librarians who get together twice a year for face to face meetings. One of these physical meetings is usually held before the UKSG Conference in the UK and the other is often conducted where one of the panel members is based, which helps us to gather the views of panel members who might not be able to travel to us. Previous destinations have included Barcelona, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Cambridge. We usually try to include interesting visits during these trips, for example we went to the Black Diamond Library in Copenhagen and we had an exclusive tour of Emmanuel College Library in Cambridge (Emmanuel is the alma mater of John Harvard and other Puritans). The smaller library panel is made up of regular members who come from across Europe, with less frequent appearances by librarians from Asia and North America. Unfortunately, as a university press, we don't have the resources to fly large numbers of people long-haul. The more formal elements of the meeting usually follow a structure of presentations by Press staff followed by question and answer sessions and discussion. The subjects discussed are almost always informed by the technical or publishing developments which are underway at the time of the meeting. In recent years, because of the pace of list expansion at Cambridge, some conversations have also revolved around the journals which are new to Cambridge. The days always conclude with an evening meal and less formal conversation. It is probably worth noting that the panel is as much about relationship building as it is about consultation. Some of our panel members have been with us for a long time, and we value both their opinions and their company at events. I hope this helps with your research. Please let us know if you have any further questions. Kind regards Tristan __________________________________________ Tristan Collier Library Marketing, Journals Cambridge University Press University Printing House Cambridge, CB2 8BS England, UK http://www.journals.cambridge.org