Re: Librarians who pay for nothing (Re: Economics of Green OA)

[Sandy Thatcher <sandy.thatcher@alumni.princeton.edu>]

Never said it was a solution to ALL problems, Joe. But it is a 
perfect solution for a project like the SEP, which is an ongoing, 
continually updated reference work of very wide use not only for 
academics but for the general public as well.  if every field had 
its counterpart to the SEP, the world would benefit greatly.

Sandy Thatcher


At 9:44 PM -0400 8/24/11, Joseph Esposito wrote:
>An endowment is a great idea.
>
>Now let's do the numbers.  Typically you can take out about 4% of
>an endowment each year.  This means that the endowment must be 25
>times each year's operating expenses.  You also have to build in
>margin for capital improvements.  Now let's add up the operating
>costs of all the scholarly communications projects that are not
>supported by an endowment already.  Multiply that figure by 25.
>
>How many billionaires does it take to screw in a light bulb?
>
>The endowment model is a niche strategy.  It does not scale.
>
>Joe Esposito