Re: Does free lead to paid?

[Sandy Thatcher <sgt3@psu.edu>]

Not circulating doesn't mean that they aren't read or otherwise 
consulted, however. I rarely took a book out of the library 
during my undergraduate days. I did most of my reading right 
there in the library. Remember that in those days many books were 
put on reserve and could not be checked out during their use for 
a course.

>Heather,
>
>Is the important criterion that the book is read or that the book
>is written?  If the former, what are we to do with the many books
>that literally never circulate?  You perhaps have figures for
>your own institution that you would be willing to share.
>Librarians I have spoken to tell me that there is a large
>component of their collections of books that never circulate.
>
>Joe Esposito
>
>On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 2:37 PM, Heather Morrison <hgmorris@sfu.ca> wrote:
>
>>  As Sandy Thatcher has pointed out, there are significant
>>  differences between academic books and trade books.
>>
>>  The key difference, from my perspective, is the purpose of
>>  the book. For academic books, the purpose for writing, very
>>  similar to articles, is to disseminate new knowledge. The
>>  difference in access between open access and today's typical
>>  academic book print run of a few hundred copies is huge.
>>
>>  In other words, the important criterion for success of an
>>  academic book is not whether access is "paid", but whether
>>  the book is read.
>>
>>  Heather Morrison, MLIS
>>  PhD Student, SFU School of Communication
>>  The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
> > http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com
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