Re: Message from Pat Schroeder re: Librarians

[David Goodman <dgoodman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>]

The rights of the authors, most certainly. The rights of the publishers,
also, provided they do not harm the rights of the authors or the public.
It is an open question whether in scientific journal publishing the
publishers have not used their role at the expense of the rights of the
authors and the public.

Now that there are ways of distributing research that do not depend upon
conventional publishing, this changes the  position a good deal.

I agree with Pat that a cooperative approach is to our mutual benefit, if
everyone involved remains aware of the implications of technology change
and does not insist upon maintaining obsolete solutions. This applies to
the academic community as well, not just the publishers and librarians.

Copyright exists for the benefit of the authors and the general public,
not for the benefit of libraries, or publishers, which are only agents of
distribution. Their existence depends upon being useful and economically
efficient agents: there is no truly fundamental necessity for any of them.
Personally, I think -- but cannot prove -- that the transfer of
information will go much better with them than without them.

Dr. David Goodman, 
Princeton University Library
dgoodman@princeton.edu            
609-258-3235

_____

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 18:17:36 -0500
> From: Barbara Meredith <bmeredith@publishers.org>
> To: "'aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu'" <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>
> Subject: Message from Pat Schroeder re: Librarians
>
> Ann - Given there has been discussion on the liblicense-l list about the
> 2/7 Wash. Post article on Pat Schroeder, I am sending Pat's response to
> you for posting on the list.  Thank you.
> Barbara Meredith
> _________
> We're a bit surprised at the uproar produced by last week's Washington
> Post story in which I talked about the book publishing industry'
> continuing copyright disputes with the library community.  This is, after
> all, not exactly breaking news.  While publishers and librarians agree and
> work together on any number of issues, including literacy and freedom of
> expression, we have traditionally disagreed over the boundaries of fair
> use.  Anyone who has been following recent legislative and regulatory
> developments knows that these disagreements have become more complex as a
> result of new laws that support publishers' use of technology to protect
> copyrighted works against online piracy.  Publishers and libraries do not
> see eye-to-eye on a number of issues, particularly key provisions of the
> 2-year-old Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
> 
> However, as both communities advocate their views before Congress and the
> Copyright Office, we continue to talk with one another in the hope that we
> will be able to reach some workable compromises in the future, as we have
> in the past.  We understand the many problems that libraries face.  New
> solutions and business models are being developed that can provide
> answers.  But until they're ready, we must do everything we can to
> protect the copyrights of the authors and publishers whose livelihoods
> depend on those rights.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Pat Schroeder
> AAP President & CEO