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Re: Perpetual Access
For the benefit of liblicense-l subscribers who are not familiar with
the tradition in libraries, and for Bede Ireland's benefit, I would like
to reply with an emphatic yes! that libraries do indeed expect to have
access in perpetuity to information after the term of license has expired.
Librarians are coming from the print world (actually a mixed media world
in which print is still the dominant format), and when we drop a
subscription to a print resource we do not expect to gather up the issues
paid for and return them to the publisher. Even though we continue to be
bound by copyright limitations, we in fact own the artifact (i.e., paper
issue). Publishers would like to limit fair use provisions of the US
Copyright law, so it is no wonder that they have taken the "lease"
approach we see with electronic publications. It is their right to take
that position, and it is entirely understandable given that they exist in
a profit making environment. It is also entirely understandable that
librarians should resist those efforts and propose other licensing
provisions that protect access once paid for. Any commercial vendor that
fails to understand the library position and find mutually accommodating
compromises will fail to succeed in the library marketplace.
Gordon Fretwell
Associate Director for Public
Services and Systems
University Library
405 DuBois Library
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003-4710
Phone 413-545-0284
Fax 413-545-6873
Home Phone 413-367-9573
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