Canadian Legal Publisher 2009 Price Trends

The Vendor Liaison Committee of the Canadian Association of Law Librarians (CALL) has compiled some preliminary information about price trends for Canadian law publications in 2009.

The information is not on the committee website but was made available to CALL members last week.

Here is a run-down of what is in store next year:

• Emond Montgomery Publications: marginal price increases. The backlist had a small increase.
• Irwin Law: no major increases planned. Backlist pricing has remained stable.
• Carswell: price increases will be proportionate to anticipated increases in costs such as but not limited to, editorial, materials, production, and labour. They continue to closely monitor freight rates, occasional fuel surcharges and other levies passed along to them by the major carriers. If the current lower fuel prices remain in effect for the mid to long term, they commit to reviewing and responding in an appropriate manner.
• CCH: Legal/Business subscription products will be increased to reflect the rising cost of doing business, therefore increase range will be in the 5-11% range. Some products will see a more modest increase of 3% while certain selected products that have received significant investment in substantial enhancements, will receive slightly higher increases. The price increase for books should be in the 5% range. Online products price increase is in the range of 4-5%. Shipping and handling will remain the same.
• Canada Law Book: 4% to 6% price increase across products with some products seeing higher increases, or no increases at all. Subscription based titles will vary based on the number of releases and the change in content. Online resources are anticipated to have no price increases for 2009, unless the content of the product changes significantly. Customers may see a standard 3% to 5% increase for shipping and handling in 2009.
• LexisNexis: Print products will increase on average in the range of 4-6% next year. Online pricing increases will be in the range of 3-6%. No plans yet to reduce shipping charges.
  
• SOQUIJ: average of 2.5% increase on publications; for online services, an increase in the range of 2.5% to 4% is expected.
• Wilson & Lafleur: Subscription renewal increases will be in the range of 1.5 to 2%. Current titles will be holding at 2008 prices. New edition titles will be comparable to last year.
  
• Éditions Yvon Blais: 4-5% tentative increase. The price for online services is still being reviewed.