RE: NEJM

["Rickerson, George" <RickersonG@umsystem.edu>]

Greetings -

> From: Rick Anderson [mailto:rickand@unr.edu]
.................
> Libraries "giving it [NEJM] away for free" does not 
> necessarily equate to less subscriptions for NEJM or any other journal.
> 
> It doesn't necessarily in theory, but in practice it almost certainly
> does.

I believe this is an oversimplification.  How many personal subscriptions
exist as a result of a first encounter with a publication in a library?  
I doubt that you or anyone else knows, but I certainly believe that the
answer is considerably greater than zero.

Libraries, by existing, encourage the production, sale and use of
published information.  If libraries subscribed to no publications,
publishers would be hurt not just by the lost sales to libraries but by
the reduced exposure of their publication to potential subscribers.

Thanks,
George Rickerson
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George Rickerson
Assistant Vice President for Library Systems
UM System
Executive Director
MOBIUS
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rickersong@umsystem.edu
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