Dear All,



Further to the FIL workshop in Cardiff last week I promised to report back to the list about the end of the BL subscription service.

Kate Ebdon fielded questions with good humour and noted the concerns expressed by the group regarding the forthcoming changes.  These will be passed back to BL management.

There was an assurance that the “banker” function will continue to be offered by the British Library, although the charge per transaction was not yet known (currently included within the subscription model). 



The British Library also invites individual libraries to contact them directly if they would like to express views on the proposed changes.

Contact: [log in to unmask] and please cc [log in to unmask]





Kind regards

Caroline Rauter

Swansea University











-----Original Message-----

From: For interlibrary-loan and document supply services. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Allison, Sue

Sent: 01 May 2012 15:47

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: End of BL's subscription service



Dear Nik et al,



I am sorry to hear of your surprise and disappointment at the BL's reluctant announcement that we will not be renewing Document Supply Subscriptions when the current contract period expires at the end of July 2012.  When the subscription was launched in 2009 it was initially for a 2 year period and was always intended to be subject to review to ensure that cost recovery was maintained.  



Unfortunately the subscription model in its current format is unsustainable. The level of subscription required for the BL to maintain cost recovery  exceeds the savings Subscribers are able to make on the basis of their current transactional volumes. For example, to make the current model work we would probably have to double the subscription fees for a significant number of high volume users. 



The difficult decision not to continue with the subscription service is independent of recent changes within the Document Supply & Information Services Sales Team. We believe that withdrawal from the subscription model at this time will provide us with opportunity to fully explore alternative pricing models as the benefits of BLDSS begin to emerge. 



Transactional Service pricing for HE's, NHS organisations and Public Libraries from 1st August will be:



	Electronic Delivery		£6.25 + vat 

	Mail delivery			£7.75

	Loan 				£ 11.60



These prices continue to give you a substantial discount of over 40% on our standard services and reflect the benefit we derive from mutual collaboration and your continued support for this national resource. The benefits of the UKRR Subscription are unaffected by this change.



Kind Regards

Sue Allison

Customer Services Team Manager





The British Library

Boston Spa

WETHERBY

West Yorkshire

LS23 7BQ

www.bl.uk

	 

T +44 (0) 1937 546051

[log in to unmask]