Sleeping With the Enemy?
Philip Calvert,
Emerald Library Link,
Jan 16, 2003
This author is concerned that senior managers are beginning to "talk nonsense" about commercial journal publishers in public meetings. "Like most individuals and organisations on the planet we need other people to help us along the way, and commercial publishers provide libraries with services that we should value, not disparage." So what are these services? Circulation statistics from electronic collections. The "cost of an electronic archive, and the systems needed to support e-journal access." And finally, marketing and promotion. Oh yeah, that's worth hundreds of thousands a year! Well, it would be if I couldn't get exactly the same thing with a free Apache server, a thousand dollar computer, and an internet connection for a few hundred a month. Give me a break. Most of the costs cited by publishers of electronic archives have nothing to do with distributing content and everything to do with security and account processing, things that are necessary only because of the fee-based subscription model endorsed by those very publishers providing the service.
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