RE: Cost of Open Access Journals: Other Observations

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> Libraries don't typically make the end user pay (directly) at all, 

"Directly" is the key word there.  Just because they're not paying at the
door of the library doesn't mean they're not paying -- the illusion of
"free service" is made possible by the fact that libraries rely on
intermediaries to take the money from users and then pass it on to us
later.

> <...> and certainly not in any proportion relevant to 
> individually received benefit.

This is true for only a minority of the individuals who are actually
paying for the services; the rest pay just as much, but then choose not to
use the services, and thank heaven for that -- the current system of
library funding (both academic and public) is sustainable only because so
many potential beneficiaries choose not to benefit from it.  Imagine what
would happen if every tax-paying citizen or tuition-and-fees-paying
student actually made regular use of all the library services to which
they're entitled!

----
Rick Anderson
Dir. of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 784-6500 x273
rickand@unr.edu