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Elaine Ansell: Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
Introduction
The Net Book Agreement was a simple agreement between most significant publishers that their books should be subject to a minimum or net price in bookshops and other retail outlets, assuring the bookseller that the value of his stock would not be undermined by price cutting by other retailers, drawn up as a result of the chaotic state of the book trade at the end of the nineteenth century. It was examined by the Restrictive Practices Court in 1962, and found not detrimental to the consumer, but by the 1990s, growing numbers of publishers and booksellers were abandoning it, until its final collapse in late September 1995. It was formally abrogated by the Restrictive Practices Court in March 1997 ("NBA passes into history books", 1997). The collapse of the Net Book Agreement has had considerable effects on book supply to both public and academic libraries, apart from its effect on the book trade in general.
Predicted effects of the collapse of the Net Book Agreement
Mr Justice Buckley, presiding over the Restrictive Practices Court in its examination of the Net Book Agreement (NBA) in 1962, (Barker and Davies, 1966, p. 34) predicted four effects of the abrogation of the NBA:"
the number of stockholding booksellers in the country would be reduced; the stocks held by surviving booksellers would be less extensive and less varied; although in rare cases purchasers might be able to buy particular titles more cheaply than if the Agreement remained in force, the retail price of most books would be higher; fewer titles would be published, and those which failed to find a publisher... would include works of probable literary or scholastic value."
Three years after the collapse of the NBA, it is interesting to examine if those predictions have been fulfilled. The findings are based partly on research carried out at Liverpool John Moores University during 1997-1998.
Numbers of booksellers
The number of stockholding booksellers has fluctuated since the demise of the NBA; between the end of 1995 and April 1997, there have been 239 withdrawals from membership of the Bookseller's Association, and 195 new enrolments, but this could not be considered a serious drop in numbers (Newton, 1998).
Stockholding...