This is, indeed, distressing news, and I think it would do the library
community a lot of good if someone from Divine/Faxon/Rowe posted a reply to
this list so that news and plans could be verified and formulated.
If Faxon is in bankruptcy, it seems that many individual libraries acting
individually would be at the very very end of a line for refunds or credit
or consideration of any kind while a large group of libraries acting
together might command a bit more attention at least from the
powers-that-will-probably-be (in the case of insolvency proceedings).

Peter V. Picerno

Dr. Peter V. Picerno
Acquisitions and Serials Librarian
Nova Southeastern University Libraries
3100 Ray Ferrero Jr Blvd
Fort Lauderdale   FL   33314-7796
(954) 262-4662
FAX (954) 262-3946

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU]On Behalf Of Marcia Tuttle
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 1:54 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Faxon/Rowecom/divine

Reprinted from libsup-l with permission. -mt

From: Mary Niederlander [mailto:mary@wnyla.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 7:55 AM
To: libsup-l@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Divine/Faxon/Rowe.com Renewals Problem

Hi,

We had heard about a week ago, that the stock price for Faxon/Rowe had
dropped "a lot!!". And we also found out that 2 big libraries, The
University of Buffalo HSL and a Hospital Library, were scrambling to stop
payment on anything not paid to a publisher by Faxon, and were switching
(back) to Ebsco.  So we (a 4 hospital library system) also decided to see
if we too could "switch". We got a report from Faxon, which was supposed
to state the current status of payment, etc. for each title on our renewal
list.

I spent last Thursday, highlighting everything that I thought I could
"assume" was already paid for. This included titles marked, Invoiced and
EFT (which we were told, meant the publisher received payment via
electronic fund transfer). and I also highlighted titles that actually had
"check issued and cashed". I thought that anything left - would be the
titles we would have now "Ebsco" renew and pay for us.

Well! UB's HSL, did a little checking, and found that many of the titles
marked invoiced & EFT - HAVE NOT BEEN PAID by Faxon.

My suspicion is (and it is ONLY MY OWN Feelings)- that Faxon/Rowe, waited
until they had "money" in hand and renewals sent in, before letting out
the news of their company's financial status/or/problems.

We do have a bit of a MESS on our hands for next years journal
subscriptions. I don't know how it will all play out, but claiming, etc.
will be a problem as will access to online content, and the normal daily
problems associated with Serials folks, no matter which company you go
with.

Oh well, I look at things as job security - and all part of the "behind
the scenes" stuff, that goes on, while our patrons - blissfully think of
us as a well run "information machine".

We are supposed to be getting another "report" today - I'll share anything
new that comes along....

Mary Niederlander,
Buffalo, NY
mary@wnyla.org

Resource Links for Serials Specialists on LibrarySupportStaff.com
http://librarysupportstaff.com/jobhelp3.html