Search

Reports on the campaign for publishers to use alkaline papers to preserve books. Deterioration of published materials using woodpulp; Preservation of the priceless publications.

The article highlights the resolution issued by the Academic Interest Group of the Pacific Northwest Library Association (PNLA) on the cost of serial subscriptions, reflecting a concern for the continuing rise in subscription costs. The resolution states that the costs of maintaining serial subscriptions are spiraling and that library budgets are shrinking. It continues therefore let it be resolved that PNLA strongly urges libraries to oppose this trend by every means possible including the termination of subscriptions and be it further resolved that PNLA disseminates this position to the appropriate professional and trade organizations. The association also issued a resolution urging publishers to use permanent paper for publications of enduring value and to so indicate its use on the verso of the title page, on the masthead of a periodical and in bibliographic references.

The article presents a list of fiction and nonfiction books to be published in 2014 including "Paper Lantern: Love Stories," by Stuart Dybek, "The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book," by Peter Finn and Petra Couvée, and "The Girl Who Was Saturday Night" by Heather O'Neill.

Reports on rising publishers costs, which get passed on in the form of higher prices to their customers, for 1989. Specific costs; Paper market; Stabilized bookbinding prices; Re-forecasting the future.

This article focuses on publishing and digital media. The article explains that because the Internet enables publishing without the use of paper, publishers have adopted creation of both print and digitized copies of material. Also included are the marketability of electronic versions of material and ways they are being utilized.

The article reports on the move by copyright experts to build a framework for controlled digital lending (CDL) with the publication of a white paper and an official position statement initially supported by 40 individuals and 24 institutional signatories. Topics discussed include benefit of a CDL to a library if properly implemented, basic concept of CDL, and titles that would benefit from CDL including those that are out of print, orphan works or in-copyright works that were not digitized.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Sci-Hub Controversy Triggers Publishers' Critique of Librarian" by Lisa Peet which appears in a previous issue of the journal and addresses the roles of publishers and the costs associated with the research paper peer review process.

This article focuses on a paper written by Cornell University librarian Phil Davis, which suggests that the Emerald Publishing has reprinted content. In the hottest story to come out of the 24th annual Charleston Conference, held November 3-6 in Charleston, SC, Cornell University librarian Phil Davis presented a bombshell paper that detailed a pattern of republishing content without attribution at Emerald Publishing, formerly known as MCB University Press. Many of these articles, Davis noted, were published simultaneously in journals within the same or similar subject disciplines. The paper will be published in Library Resources & Technical Services next spring. Davis's work was prompted by Chuck Hamaker, a librarian at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who, while searching an Emerald database, learned that one article citing him was published in two different Emerald journals. He also notes, however, that library customers do have a significant complaint, since libraries pay subscription fees in advance for content they generally assume to be original.

The article presents an outlook on changes in book prices in the U.S. from 1987 to 1992. The costs of the inputs into the production process determine the price. In the book publishing industry, these inputs include paper and ink. Yet despite decreases in the prices of paper, producer prices of books remain high. The producer price index for books increased 6.2% in the first eleven months of 1990. This gain comes on the heels of a 6% rise in 1988 and a 6.6% increase in 1989. In contrast, general inflation stands above 5% at an annualized rate. The gross national product growth of 4.5% in 1988 added pressure to prices and justified the Federal Reserve Board's fight against inflation. Over the past three years, when book prices increased at an annual rate of 4.3%, consumers' prices rose only 2.5%. The rising number of discount bookstores contributed to this difference in price gains. Since the middle of 1990, consumer book prices began increasing and headed for a 6.4% gain for the year. Real consumer spending on books increased in an average 4.7 per year. This trend is expected to continue as the aging of the baby boom population, the increasing educational attainment levels, and the boom in export activity boost demand for books. The producer price index for books is expected to increase 6.2% in 1991 and 4.8% in 1992. Prices of professional and technical books rose 3.1% in 1990. Prices of trade books increased 4.2% and prices of general reference books increased 2.6%. Book buyers face more of the same in 1991 before book prices ease in 1992.

This article presents the U.S. library market outlook as of April 1990. Reflecting the mounting inflationary pressures throughout the economy, book prices soared in 1989, 4.8 percent above the year before. Consumer prices also saw a double-digit jump in January 1990. Book publishers continue to pass along their higher supply costs in the form of higher book prices. It is important to note that the category of books that saw the greatest price increases is of little concern to librarians; textbook prices rose an average 6.6 percent per year from 1984 to 1989. What accounts for the price variance between different types of books? In some cases, the greater the demand for the type of book, the more a publisher can pass along the production costs to the customer. More importantly, however, is the grade of paper and technical aspects of the production process that determine the price of a book. Due to an oversupply situation, paper prices fell steadily in the last quarter of 1989 and will remain soft through at least the first half of this year. Cahners Economics expects paper prices to decline in 1990 before rebounding in 1991. This easing in paper prices should take some pressure off book publishers and their prices.

This article reports on the declaration signed by authors and publishers at the New York Public Library in March 1989 to support book preservation. The moving force behind the commitment was author Barbara Goldsmith, who gave $1 million to the library for the Goldsmith-Perry Preservation Laboratory. Goldsmith then noted her plan to enlist authors in her crusade to save future generations from the need to spend more money on preserving books. The problem can be alleviated by printing books on permanent paper. Tom Wolfe read off the list of writers who had signed the declaration, and they included Frances Fitzgerald, Susan Isaacs, George Plimpton and Maurice Sendak. Robert Bernstein of Random House noted that 98 percent of Random's first printings are on acid-free paper. Jeremiah Kaplan of Simon & Schuster announced the publishers who had signed. Permanent, acid-free paper will last a minimum of 300 years, in contrast to acidic paper, which becomes brittle and dark after about 30 years. About 30 mills produce permanent paper in the U.S. Prices are comparable, and nonacidic paper production is less harmful to the environment. Two paper mills can produce permanent paper from recycled paper and the biological decomposition of permanent paper is comparable to acidic paper.

This article discusses The Greenaway Plan, a contract plan worked out by the Free Library of Philadelphia with the J.B. Lippincott Company to receive before publication date one copy of each trade title published. At this time the Free Library has entered into agreements with a number of publishers and intends to continue as long as the publishers are willing to do so. This contract plan was designed to get new publications into the library for review purposes as far as ahead as publication date as possible. Public libraries for years have attempted to secure review copies of books prior to publication date in order to complete the library process as close to publication date as possible. From the publisher point of view, the number of duplicates order is of great interest, therefore the contract plan is only advantageous to them when the library can purchase multiple copies of a given title. Under the contract plan much paper work is eliminated. The reduction of clerical routine and elimination of time consuming problems saves money for the publisher. However much time is saved or cost of operation lowered, the test of the contract plan is whether new titles are being made available to the public more rapidly than previously.

The article examines how Phil Davis, life sciences bibliographer at Cornell University, is shaking up the scholarly community with his discovery of duplicate articles in Emerald/MCB University Press journals. According to Davis, he has found hundreds of examples of the same article published in more than one journal in at least 73 Emerald/MCB journals over 30 years. In response to Davis's allegations, Emerald undertook its own study and identified 560 republished papers from 1989 to 2004, about 1.1 percent of its total database content. Emerald promises it is "updating the database to ensure all attributions are fully visible [including] notification of subsequent publication as well as first publication" and has addressed in-depth Davis's findings and allegations.

Focuses on how inflation has affected libraries. Discussion of the policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board to pursue an anti-inflationary policy by increasing interest rates to slow economic growth and take pressure off prices; Economic data which indicate that the threat of high inflation has passed; Outlook for prices to increase at a more rapid pace; Prices of books and periodicals, which have increased faster than prices of all consumer goods due to high paper costs; Idea that the growing demand for books has also caused publishers to increase their prices; View that higher prices are unfortunate because many public libraries are faced with budget problems.

Reports that "Library Journal" has added several columns to the News section. Description of the columns Book Notes, Professional Reading, Reviews, the Permanent Paper Honor Roll, and Automation Roundup; Statement that more publishers and vendors will appear in the journal's News pages.

Reports Columbia University Press' creation of Columbia International Affairs Online. Publication of journal articles and electronic monographs, conference proceedings, working papers from 40 institutions and books in full text; Use of the technology to help solve the crisis in scholarly publishing; Comments from editor Kate Wittenberg.