Re: Clinical Emergency Clause / Humanitarian Crises

[Heather Morrison <heatherm@eln.bc.ca>]

One of the (many) nice things about open access is that, in an emergency,
there is no need for so much as a split-second of the time of specialist
professional (medical. librarian, or other)  to even think about
permissions.  All of the time of these busy professionals can be devoted
completely to the search for information per se - more than sufficiently
challenging given the amount of information out there nowadays.

How many people have hesitated to even ask or look for information, not
sure whether they had access to or could afford it?

One of the comments brought up in this thread related to the recent
tsunami disaster / relief effort.  In a humanitarian crisis like this,
most of the world rallies to provide support to the affected areas, as
well as helpers.  What would make sense to me in terms of information
provision is that publishers would rush to ensure that those affected
faced no barriers to any information that might be helpful, whether by
extending programs for developing countries to ensure the inclusion of
affected areas, or letting clients in wealthier countries know that they
should not concern themselves with such things as clinical emergency
clauses, but rather under the circumstances simply provide the best help
in the form of information they possible can.  Perhaps this has already
quietly happened, and I simply haven't heard?  Or perhaps this is a future
direction that no one has thought of yet?

Thoughts?

- a personal view by -

Heather G. Morrison
Project Coordinator
BC Electronic Library Network
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Phone: 604-268-7001
Fax: 604-291-3023
Email:  heatherm@eln.bc.ca
Web: http://www.eln.bc.ca