Re: Cost of Open Access Journals: Other Observations

["Fytton Rowland" <J.F.Rowland@lboro.ac.uk>]

This situation is the reason why the scholarly journals "market" doesn't
work, whatever publishers may say.  The actual consumers neither know nor
care what the price is, and those who pay (and are short of funds to do
so) often don't have the right to decide whether or not to buy.

Fytton Rowland, Loughborough University, UK.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 6:14 AM
Subject: RE: Cost of Open Access Journals: Other Observations

> > 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
> rickand@unr.edu