Lancet November 8th issue on Open Access

[Jill Emery <Jill.Emery@mail.uh.edu>]

I want to disagree with Liz about this matter but can only make a tenuous
argument at best.

Since we do not know the actual intentions of the copyright holder from
withholding the electronic access rights of this image, the best we can do
is postulate as to why the image was withheld.

Given this caveat, I pose that the image was probably withheld due to the
general lack of security in the electronic environment when it comes to
images, as opposed to the fact that it was being used in a for-profit
journal. It doesn't matter whether the image was to be used in an open
access journal or a for profit journal, the risks to the copyright holder
would more than likely be equivalent.

Just for fun and to see what would come up, I did a Google(TM) search
under the Images tab for "Saint Jerome, patron saint of librarians" which
resulted in no images being found. However, I was able to find a half
dozen images when searching Jan van Eyck and Jerome. Two of the images
were from .edu domains, 2 from .org domains and 2 from .com domains.

In the end it's difficult to ascertain whether the open access status
would have made a difference to the copyright holder or whether the half
dozen images currently on the web are there legally or not.

Cordially, 

Jill Emery
<Jill.Emery@mail.uh.edu>


>Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2003 08:27:54 -0500 (EST)
>From: Elizabeth_R_Lorbeer@rush.edu
>Subject: Lancet November 8th issue on Open Access
>To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
>Reply-to: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
>
>Dear LibLicense-L List
>
>In the November 8 issue of The Lancet, there are three articles on Open
>Access. (see:
>
><http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01406736> or
><http://www.thelancet.com/>
>
>Ironically, two of the articles contain the following message for the
>digital image: "Rights were not granted to include this image in
>electronic media. Please refer to the printed journal." Ha! The caption of
>the image reads: "Saint Jerome, patron saint of librarians. Jan van Eyek,
>circa 1435". Though, had this article been published in an Open Access
>journal, would electronic rights been granted?
>
>Respectfully,
>Liz Lorbeer
>Email: Elizabeth_R_Lorbeer@rush.edu