Recently certain subscription agents along with office bearers of the Goods Office Committee (GOC) have given a directive to its member subscription agents not to offer any discount on publisher’s prices to the libraries and not to give libraries any bank guarantees or security deposit, which is mandated by the accounts and audit departments of most Institutions today.
The GOC has also instructed its members not to participate in tenders and quotations floated by various Institutions. This has already been done in 10-15 cases and as result libraries have not been able to subscribe to journals and their budgets has gone waste. This move by the GOC has put the librarians of these Institutions in a very embarrassing situation as on one side we keep asking the administration for more budgets and on the other side, we are not able to utilize these funds when they are allocated for the library.
These moves by certain subscription agents and the GOC are definitely anti-library and have been clearly orchestrated by subscription agents to come together and blackmail the Libraries in forcefully accepting those terms and conditions which are favorable to the subscription agents and not to the libraries at large. Needless to add it will raise cost of Journals for all Libraries in these hard times. May I ask as to why agents will not give discounts and accept subscriptions on bank exchange rates, which has been provided in the past. It is pertinent to add that Libraries are now increasingly buying online Journals, which greatly reduce operational cost of agents/Publishers, and under the circumstances such a move is highly condemnable.
We should resist this move by GOC unequivocally and not succumb to such blatant blackmail, which in any case is against the law of the land. This is also a clear case of violations of guidelines laid down by the Competition Commission of India and is also against open and fair trade principles.
Please See in Details: Goods Office Committee
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