RE: Should university presses adopt an OA model

["Irving Rockwood" <IRockwood@ala-choice.org>]

Thanks to Heather for the kind remarks about CHOICE and the ACRL
Journals. College & Research Libraries ("the Journal" as it is known
in-house) is, I think, a particularly outstanding bargain. Nonetheless,
even as this message is being written, we can safely assume that several
more academic libraries are cancelling their C&RL subscriptions. A sign
of the times...

Somewhat to my chagrin, I have concluded that, if the virtual silence
that has descended since is any indication, my post of 5 December
appears to have been a highly effective conversation stopper. That
wasn't my intent, and I apologize to one and all for apparently halting
what even I found a useful and interesting conversation.

In response to Heather's post, I would simply say two things. The first
is that I am entirely in favor of efficiency and the elimination of
unnecessary expense in all arenas, including scholarly communication. It
could hardly be otherwise for one who grew up in a New England household
where the mantra was, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without".

The second is that I continue to be concerned about the paucity of
discussion of what seems to me to be "the elephant in the room," namely
the steadily declining share of society's resources available for the
funding of things like scholarly communication and academic libraries.
When we say things such as "For a healthy scholarly communication system
into the future, libraries should support these affordable options" we
are implicitly making a number of assumptions, and positing a vision of
the future. Unless we wish them to become self-fulfilling prophecies, I
believe those assumptions and that vision warrant further discussion.
But perhaps not on liblicense.

Regards,
Irv Rockwood


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Heather Morrison
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 5:03 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: RE: Should university presses adopt an OA model

In brief, the point of this post is that there is a very great
range in efficiencies of existing publishers.  There are
top-quality journals produced by the not-for-profits (society and
professional associations, university presses) at minimal cost.
For a healthy scholarly communication system into the future,
libraries should support these affordable options.