Open Letter to Wiley Prompts Quick Response

Postings on some email lists have taken the open letter to its most direct level yet

Josh Hadro -- Library Journal, 06/11/2009

• Dispute between library and vendor taken to public forum
• Wiley clarifies policies with quick response
• Open letters and statements to publishers have proven effective

The most recent academic season has been an epistolary one. In the past few months a variety of library organizations, ranging from the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) to the single system of the University of California libraries, have expressed their concerns over the down economy via publicly issued open statements. These have been broadly directed at publishers and vendors seeking understanding and flexibility in terms of pricing and licensing negotiations for the upcoming 2010 purchasing cycle.

Why go public with these statements and letters? "For several reasons," said Ann Okerson, associate university librarian at Yale, coordinator of the NERL consortium, and moderator of the Liblicense email list. "[T]o drive the point home, to reinforce the messages others are sending, and to challenge further the publishers to really do what several have promised us, i.e., to work with their customers in tough times as we've worked together in good times."

Open letter to Wiley
Recent postings, however, have taken this idea to its most direct level. On May 26 Linda Hulbert, associate director of collection management and services at the University of St. Thomas (UST), MN, wrote a public message to the liblicense and Serialist email lists including an open letter aimed directly at Wiley-Blackwell management and its board of directors after apparently getting little response to direct inquiries.

A quick reponse
At issue were details mostly unique to licensing and pricing agreements in effect at the University of St. Thomas, as well as interpretations of terms governing perpetual access to journal content and the collection of usage data. 

"I went public to warn people that this was happening," Hulbert told LJAN of her library's concerns that they were being treated unfairly. But the letter's release into a public forum seems to have elicited the desired direct response. "While I was not surprised to hear directly from Wiley, I was surprised at the speed," she said. "And, of course, I am pleased with their decision."

According to her followup message to the email lists, Wiley reprentatives responded less than a day later, working with her to clear up the school's eligibility for Wiley's various license options.

Wiley's take
In a note to LJ, Wiley-Blackwell VP of sales and marketing Reed Elfenbein acknowledged "a very challenging couple of years as we have worked to merge Wiley and Blackwell publishing programs, online offerings, customer records and business models. This has created some confusion and frustration in the marketplace and placed unusual stress on our service and sales operations, and we want to thank our customers and the journal subscription agents for their patience and cooperation."

License points clarified
Moreover, Hulbert's open letter prompted Wiley to clarify licensing term that had many librarians confused stemming from the fact that "Wiley and Blackwell previously had different policies," but that the following now apply to all license types:

Perpetual access to “paid for” content: Wiley will provide customers with perpetual access to the Licensed Electronic Journals for which the Licensee has paid for access, either by continuing online access to the same material on Wiley’s server or in an archival copy in the electronic medium selected by Wiley, at a reasonable cost-based fee.

Usage statistics: Wiley will provide customers with aggregate usage statistics that are compliant with COUNTER Codes of Practice or conform to the then-prevailing industry standard about the use of the Licensed Electronic Journals by the customers’ authorized users, consistent with applicable privacy laws and confidentiality requirements.

Along with news of Wiley's response, Hulbert posted excerpts from 19 reponses prompted by her original open letter. While many of the comments aired similar frustrations with vendors, several applauded Hulbert for publicly taking a stand.

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