Keeping Track of Vendors & Representatives

Consider using a spreadsheet to keep track of your sales representatives, their contact information, and the companies they work for. Be aware that one vendor may have multiple representatives who represent different products. Additional contacts (e.g., technical support representatives) could also be included if you might need to get in touch with them more than once. Your contacts at a given vendor will change over time due to mergers and acquisitions or sales representatives being hired to work with a different vendor, and so regularly maintaining this list will be helpful.

Use your email client to your advantage. Create a folder structure organized by vendor and keep communications in there such as price quotes. You never know when you’ll need to refer back to an email from several years ago!

Communicating with Vendors

Communicating with vendors can be stressful, especially for new collections librarians. It is important that you know your role and be able to articulate it. Do you recommend purchases; recommend and get quotes; or recommend, get quotes, and provide invoices and/or have signatory authority? Be clear about what you want, your role, and your expectations for communication from the vendor (e.g., frequency of contact and whether to reach you by email or telephone). A vendor may request to record or already be recording your virtual meeting when you join. You may request that your conversation not be recorded. You can choose to leave the meeting if they will not comply with your request.

You will find a communication style that works for you as you gain more experience. If you can, find a mentor to help you – especially at the beginning – to understand productive and professional ways to communicate with vendors. “No” is a complete sentence, and you do not need to give any other details to a vendor about why you do not wish to get or renew a product.

Exercise caution when providing information to vendors, and be clear on what kind of information you and your organization are comfortable sharing. For instance, should you keep private information about your budget, carry forward (unspent money from the current fiscal year that can roll over into the new fiscal year), options for end-of-year purchases, and patron contact information? You should also be aware that, unless you say otherwise, telling vendors in writing that you like their product could be considered an endorsement, so it is important to know if your organization is okay with being included in marketing materials.

Asking your supervisor questions is important. You should never make assumptions about what the vendor knows about your institution or what you are able to share with them. Do not over commit in writing before discussing potential purchases or subscriptions within the appropriate approval structures in your library. Always get quotes in writing and make sure they include any special addenda or terms, access length, and the annual renewal percentage if applicable. Do not hesitate to ask the vendor questions if you find anything confusing. It’s important to make sure you clearly understand what’s being purchased and under what terms.

Know the Details of Your Offers and Quotes

Depending on your organizational structure and role, you may not be the one who should be asking questions about a quote or contract – for instance, it could be a lead acquisitions specialist who is in charge of negotiating and finalizing the details – but it is good practice to know the basics of what needs to be discussed. If you are the person in charge of managing the quotes and contracts, however, you must ask clear, direct questions in order to negotiate the best deal possible, and to obtain information that may not be readily shared. Examples of important information you should ask for include but are not limited to:

• Contract length
  • Perpetual access, 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year terms are most common.
• Pricing, including annual increases for subscriptions
• Access modality
  • E.g., individual patron logins vs. group passwords vs. IP authentication/Single Sign On. For an overview of common authentication and authorization mechanisms used in academic libraries, see Carter and Hanson’s white paper and webinar recording (2022).
• Embargo periods for any subscription-based license, not only e-journals
• Moving walls
  • Publishers may only allow access to their most recent content, such as the last 2-5 years from the most current date, with older content lost over time. This is referred to as a “moving wall” or “rolling access.” Whether a subscription involves a moving wall will be explicitly stated in the contract.
• Perpetual access
  • Especially consider post-cancellation access to journal backfiles. CLOCKSS is only an option if the journal ceases publication.
• Interlibrary Loan (ILL) permissions
• Platform fees, license fees, other fees
• Digital Rights Management (DRM)
• Accessibility plans
• If applicable, the options for product updates
  • Are they included in the purchase/subscription price or are they an additional annual cost?
  • How is the pricing determined?