Re: Multi-Site licensing language

[Syun Tutiya <tutiya@kenon.l.chiba-u.ac.jp>]

Dear Linda,

> I agree with Joan. Geographic restrictions are not relevant for 
> electronic resources. Some publishers cling stubbornly to 
> separate site fees, and a few remain convinced that access must 
> be limited to within 6 or so miles of the main library 
> building. Does anyone have insights on how that ridiculous 
> policy started?

Oh, is it history yet?  Years ago, when neither publishers nor 
libraries knew for sure how the transition from print to online 
could be financially and commercially viable, one of the issues 
being discussed fervently was the handling of historical 
duplicates.  In the days of print, there was obvious good reason 
for multiple subscriptions for the same title for remotely 
separated campuses.  In spit of the obvious fact, which you 
rightly point out, that geographic restrictions are not relevant 
for electronic resources, it seemed obvious to publishers that 
they could not allow the revenue from duplicate subscriptions to 
decrease due to the cancellations which librarians thought were 
obvious for the right reason you point out. Some bigger 
publishers came up with acceptable ideas for the plan for 
transition, such as special allowance for cancellation due to 
past duplication.  Some, mainly smaller ones, could not do 
anything except insisting that they wanted the same amount money 
as before.  So the official reason was that the pricing is 
affected by the number of "sites."  The "sites" here actually 
meant the number of the print copies which the same library of 
the same institution had subscribed for as many campuses of the 
same insitution.  Well, this is not insight, but a history from 
the print days.

Hope this helps.

Syun
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Syun Tutiya
Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences, Chiba University
Address: Faculty of Letters, Chiba University
1-33 Yayoicho, Inageku, Chiba 263-8522, JAPAN
(phone) +81-43-290-2277, 3027(office) 3550(IMIT) (fax) +81-43-290-2278(office)
(mail) tutiya@kenon.L.chiba-u.ac.jp (uri) http://CogSci.L.chiba-u.ac.jp/~tutiya/
(Institutional Repository:CURATOR) http://mitizane.chiba-u.jp/curator/