Re: The new Science site license

[Rick Anderson <rick_anderson@uncg.edu>]

Says David Goodman:

>In my view, for a publisher to offer libraries a one year window would
>only be appropriate for access to an electronic version supplied without
>extra cost, as a bonus for the print subscribers.  I think most of us
>would not pay for access to the current year only of a print journal.

Say I:

Hear, hear.  And this is something I've said to a number of online
publishers, most of whom have sounded surprised at the objection.  
Usually what I suggest to them is that we be allowed to create our own
archival copies, at our own expense, by printing out issues as they're
published online.  That makes the publishers very nervous, of course,
since it smacks of "systematic copying of significant portions" of the
content, but for them the result is essentially the same as if we had a
paper subscription.  Otherwise, it's like having a paper subscription and
having to send the old issues back every year.  Do they really think that
a research library is going to be satisfied with having access to the
information they publish for only one year at a time?

----------------------
Rick Anderson
Head Acquisitions Librarian
Jackson Library
UNC Greensboro
1000 Spring Garden St.
Greensboro, NC 27402-6175
PH (336) 334-5281
FX (336) 334-5399
rick_anderson@uncg.edu
http://www.uncg.edu/~r_anders

"History is an art -- like all the
other sciences."  
       -- Veronica Wedgwood