RE: Cost of Open Access Journals: Other Observations

["D Anderson" <dh-anderson@corhealth.com>]

In a broad sense, a University library receives funds from the University,
which receives funds from a wide range of sources including students,
nonprofit organizations, and commercial entities, all of which potentially
benefit from the library's services. The funds also cover various
freeriders. The argument here is whether some or all of the cost of
publication should be shifted to the producers of information (who also
are users) from other users of information. More specifically, should
departments within research institutions bear a greater burden of the cost
of providing access to other users?

Dean H. Anderson

-----Original Message-----
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu]On Behalf Of Carl Anderson
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 9:43 PM
Subject: RE: Cost of Open Access Journals: Other Observations

> Economists would argue that the end users of the information, the ones who
> ultimately benefit from that information, should provide compensation
> commensurate with the benefits they receive.
>
> Dean H. Anderson

Apart from any broader considerations of what economists might argue or
any narrower response on the issue of subsidizing access - I can't help
but take this one on!

Libraries don't typically make the end user pay (directly) at all, and
certainly not in any proportion relevant to individually received benefit.
That's sort of how and why libraries came about, isn't it?

The only model that sensibly matches Dean's prescription is individually
negotiated pay-per-view transactions between publishers and end users.

Carl A. Anderson
Carl.Anderson@drexel.edu