Re: Science Online

[David Goodman <dgoodman@Princeton.EDU>]

Mr. Spinella is surely aware that I and my colleagues here certainly do
consider Scence Online to be of value--indeed the Princeton library has 10
workstation online subscriptions for 1998, and will undoubtedly renew all
or almost all of them. A premium of $25 for online access added to a $295
subscription seems reasonable to me.

But AAAS seems to be interested in selling SCIENCE ONLINE as a general
science information service, of which the printed periodical and its exact
on-line equivalent is only a small part. I accept that the relevant and
appropriate pricing for such services is probably not the same as for
scholarly periodicals. However, the current model for the financial
support of academic libraries does not cover the provision of this and
similar services; it at most hopes to cover the cost of providing the
scholarly primary literature and the necessary secondary indexing
services--and it is certainly hard pressed even so.
 
I would not think it inappropriate for academic libraries to take a more
general information role, but apparently those who fund us have provided
funding levels which do not make it possible for us to pay for that. Given
this constraint, I wonder that the institutions who might be subscribing
really think it more valuable to do so than other possible uses of the
money--like additional journals or monographs.
 
This represents my own views of course, not necessarily those of my
colleagues or my Library.

-- 
David Goodman 
Biology Librarian, Princeton University Library 
dgoodman@princeton.edu         http://www.princeton.edu/~biolib/
phone: 609-258-3235            fax: 609-258-2627