Re: National Online: Nature and Others... (like SCIENCE)

[Ivy Lee Anderson <ivy_anderson@harvard.edu>]

While I think that Rick Anderson makes many valid points on this list, the
logic used to argue that Science is a bargain is surely looking through
the wrong end of the telescope.  Leaving aside whether Science Online is
or is not a good deal, by that argument, doubling or quadrupling (or more)
our expenditures for every resource that moves from print to sitewide
online access will always look like a bargain because the cost per
institutional user (real or potential) will always be less than the cost
of an individual print subscription.  That's simply not a sustainable
equation.  We need to establish a new cost basis as online publishing
becomes the norm.  A more pertinent analysis would ask: how much does it
cost to publish online (and how much should it cost when appropriate
economies are applied), and what is a reasonable return on that
investment?  And those questions must be answered within the context of a
more fundamental question: how can the costs of online information be
contained at sustainable levels that will allow us to fulfill our
institutional mission to provide scholars with ready access to an
ever-increasing breadth of published output?  We won't begin to address
that larger question by applying print-based metrics to new publishing
modalities.

Ivy Anderson
Coordinator for Digital Acquisitions
Harvard University Library

Rick Anderson wrote:

 > > You are basing that calculation on the assumption that all of those users
 > > represented by the library will actually use the resource.
 >
 > No, I'm basing it on the assumption that all of those users have the
 > _opportunity_ to use it.  Granted, not all of them will take advantage.
 > But at UNR, we break even at 46 users -- every user beyond that number is
 > getting access for less than $77 of the library's money, and many of those
 > users will be faculty members (who would have had to pay $127 for an
 > individual subscription).  There's simply no way to reasonably construe
 > institutional access to Science Online as anything less than a bargain for
 > most institutions.  (Nor, I maintain, is there any reasonable way to
 > construe the existence of a higher-priced premium service as
 > "discrimination.")
 >
 > -------------
 > Rick Anderson
 > Electronic Resources/Serials Coordinator
 > The University Libraries
 > University of Nevada, Reno
 > 1664 No. Virginia St.
 > Reno, NV  89557
 > PH  (775) 784-6500 x273
 > FX  (775) 784-1328
 > rickand@unr.edu