on 9/22 Paul M. Gherman, INTERNET:Gherman_at_LIBRARY.VANDERBILT.EDU wrote
> As a library director, I second Steve Harnad's
> observation that libraries will not quickly cancel
> journal subscriptions because of lanl or other
> self-archiving ventures.
The problem is not the library but the financial support of the
library. Our history indicates that universities constricted their
library budgets nearly 30 years ago, forcing many libraries to cancel
subscriptions. Over recent times, with a robust economy, 20 to 30
members of the ARL each year report having less funds than the year
before. Universities cut library spending even while reporting hundreds
of millions of dollars excess revenue to the IRS!
Universities have been known to ignore page charges also, so what
reliable financial basis is there other than subscriptions?
The fact that APS hasn't noticed many cancellations attributable to
LANL suggests only that universities are willing to sacrifice small fry
physics as bait for a big kill in the life and social sciences.
Albert Henderson
Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY
<70244.1532_at_compuserve.com>
Received on Wed Feb 10 1999 - 19:17:43 GMT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0
: Fri Dec 10 2010 - 19:45:36 GMT