Re: Reasons for freeing the primary research literature

From: Jim Till <till_at_UHNRES.UTORONTO.CA>
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 08:02:40 -0400

As is his custom, Albert Henderson has focused his attention on his own
perception of only one of the reasons (the "Library crisis") included in
my short list of major reasons why the primary research literature should
be freed (see below).

So far, no novel reasons have been mentioned. Are there any?

Jim Till
University of Toronto


On Thu, 16 Aug 2001, Albert Henderson wrote [in part]:

[ah]> on Sat, 11 Aug 2001 Jim Till <till_at_UHNRES.UTORONTO.CA> wrote:
>
[jt]> But, what about reasons WHY the primary research literature should
[jt]> be freed? Here's my first attempt at a summary of some of the main
[jt]> reasons:
[jt]>
[jt]> 1. It should be done:
[jt]>
[jt]> - Information gap: Libraries and researchers in poor countries
[jt]> can't afford most of the journals that they need.
[jt]>
[jt]> - Library crisis: Libraries and researchers in rich countries
[jt]> can't afford some of the journals that they need.
[jt]>
[jt]> - Public property: The results of publicly-funded research
[jt]> should be publicly-available.
[jt]>
[jt]> - Academic freedom: Censorship based on cost rather than
[jt]> quality can't be justified.
>
[ah]>[snip]
>
[jt]> What other important reasons have I neglected?
>
[ah]> The most important motive behind the self-archiving
[ah]> argument is that universities wish to unload the
[ah]> profit-sapping burden of conserving knowledge. They
[ah]> wish to reduce, perhaps eliminate, spending on
[ah]> libraries.

[remainder snipped]
Received on Wed Jan 03 2001 - 19:17:43 GMT