Comments on: On Vendor Swag

By: Ethics & LIS Vendor promotional goodies « Social Justice Librarian

Ethics & LIS Vendor promotional goodies « Social Justice Librarian — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:48:31 +0000

[...] promotional goodies Jump to Comments Last month, law librarian Sarah Glassmeyer wrote some blog posts about exorbitant LIS vendor giveaways that ignited no small controversy and conversation in [...]

By: sm579417

sm579417 — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:14:51 +0000

Late to comment but I work in a medical library and there are strict rules for all employees at the hospital about accepting gifts from vendors (i.e. pharmaceutical but all apply).

I understand that in other industries these practices are acceptable but vendors should know better where and when to use which tactics.

By: Jason the Content Librarian » Vendor v. Librarian – mega slam: Part 2

Jason the Content Librarian » Vendor v. Librarian – mega slam: Part 2 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:32:43 +0000

[...] what then, are we to make of vendor dinners, or sponsorship of events? Even Sarah Glassmeyer admits to being conflicted about what is and is not appropriate to accept from a ve…. But these particular benefits don’t seem to bother us as much. And why should they? I have [...]

By: Judith Siess

Judith Siess — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:54:10 +0000

Using this logic, law schools shouldn’t accept free Westlaw/Lexis searching for their students. It is done to “capture” students for their search service so they’ll demand it in the workplace.
If the didn’t get it free they couldn’t afford it at all and where would students be?

I’m not a law librarian, so maybe these are LL rules. I take whatever they send (under my organization’s rules), but can’t be bought for a trinket, free lunch, or whatever. I decide what to buy and recommend based on merit alone.

By: Jenica Rogers

Jenica Rogers — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:57:28 +0000

Mikhail, I’d suggest that you’ve hit on a crucial difference when you say “we all know we spend a lot on marketing to other people” — you’re discussing a subset of libraries in which that is perhaps true. It is not true for many of us, and so your assumptions, based on your for-profit worklife, don’t match ours.

By: jonbee

jonbee — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:09:23 +0000

I tried to post something on your chat space but don’t know if it went through, so I’ll make a comment. I’m a long-time attorney editor at West, and I don’t have anything to do with marketing. The only reason I heard of your comments is that someone sent around an email titled “Wondering where your raise went? Maybe a little too much marketing?” It does seem like the marketing might have been over-the-top, but I know the company wanted to make a big push this last week or two to get the word out. (I went to a demonstration of WestlawNext and was very impressed with it.) Your comments are thought-provoking. Thanks.

By: Mikhail Koulikov

Mikhail Koulikov — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:06:39 +0000

Ryan,

Maybe that’s the crucial difference. Past a certain level, we all know we spend a lot on marketing to other people, and also expect to benefit from others spending on marketing. This is why nobody says as much as a single word about sales people taking prospective clients out for dinner and drinks, or goodie bags at award shows and post-award-show parties.

I completely admit I am trolling a little, but that’s also because sometimes, the world is not all rainbows and flowers and such, and a reality checks is a useful kind of thing.

By: Ryan Deschamps

Ryan Deschamps — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:02:11 +0000

OMG Mikhail. I sincerely hope you are just being a troll.

I work outside the law librarian cocoon and totally see receiving a $150 gift as putting me in an inappropriate situation. $20 swag is the reasonable limit put on just about any Public Service ethical code. And that’s the way it’s been for a very very long time.

Working at a fee-based firm is a slightly different kettle of fish, because it’s not taxpayer dollars. But as a client, if I knew my doctor received $150 ‘gifts’ from Pfizer, I would be reticent to take his/her prescriptions seriously. Even if they were the right prescriptions – the damage is already done. I can’t trust that my medicine is the right stuff and I incur costs (research, second opinions, experimentations with other options etc.) because of it.

If it’s all ‘not such a big deal’ can I trust that you will disclose that you receive gifts of $150 etc. to your clients before you work with them? Sounds like it would be the only fair solution, right? Oh wait – that might not be in your personal self-interest right? And herein lies the problem – when personal self-interest eats away at decisions at the expense of clients/users then there is a ethical problem.

While someone can admit ‘I choose to be unethical’ and take their goods, they cannot say ‘it’s okay to participate unethical behavior.’ Large scale ‘gifts’ (of a value more than about $20) really put professionals in a hard position. There really isn’t a whole lot of ambiguity here. It’s wrong. Plain and simple. The fact that people do engage in unethical behavior and get away with it has no bearing on the issue.

By: Cheryl Niemeier

Cheryl Niemeier — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:54:43 +0000

If you win the IPod from your entry for it in a drawing is that acceptable??

By: Cheryl Niemeier

Cheryl Niemeier — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:47:56 +0000

I did not get an IPod, rather only a chance to win an IPod if I viewed their online video. Wondering how Thomson West decided who would get them directly and who would have to enter a drawing for a chance to get one. I feel left out.