----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Dear ARLIS members, We at Grove are reviewing our pricing policy for The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, and planning our pricing model for next year's launch of The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians Online. Since the pricing models established by online journal vendors do not work for "content" databases like ours, I'd like to enlist your help in evaluating the pricing model we are using for The Dictionary of Art Online, and to get your views on alternatives . For those of you who may not be familiar with the pricing model we are currently using for The Dictionary of Art Online, we offer a site licence with a base of 1-5 concurrent users. Subscribers can choose higher usage levels in increments of 6-10, 11-20, 21-30, or 31+. We require academic institutions with 5 or more libraries to select 6-10 as their basic usage level. We use Carnegie Classification as a guide to define an academic institution as a site. We offer single user/single workstation access only to high schools and to individual subscribers. For public libraries with networked branches, the main library subscribes, choosing a usage level appropriate for the main plus branches served, and there is an additional per-branch access charge. For 5 or more branches, we require a minimum of 6-10 usage level. I'd be very grateful if you could share your views on this model, and your opinions of the models below, or others you are aware of: FTE Weighted FTE Site License with concurrent users Single user/single workstation Renewal pricing--are you in favor of either: A relatively constant annual access fee A larger upfront payment, with lower annual access/maintenance fee? Also, are those of you in academic institutions aware of the Carnegie Classification? If so, do you think it is an appropriate method for identifying your institution? For those of you who may not be familiar with Carnegie Classification, here is the URL http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/cihe/ Thanks in advance for your help! Please reply on or off-list to: Eileen Sutter Director of Marketing & Sales The Dictionary of Art Grove's Dictionaries [log in to unmask] phone: 212-689-9200, ext. 202 fax: 212-689-9711