Re: copyright expiration as a spur to creativity

On Sun, 16 Aug 1998, Anne Klinefelter <aklinefe[_at_]law.miami.edu> wrote:
>
> Angela Putney <aputney[_at_]aip.org> wrote:
> >
> > Well, many people would go to a LIBRARY, check it out, and continue
> > searching in the meantime. Most books eventually show up in 2nd hand
> > book stores. You must be patient. I once took a class where the
> > professor required an out of print book (all homework was assigned out
> > of it too). All the library copies were put on reserve and the whole
> > class worked at the library on the classwork. It is not always
> > convinenient, but neither is life. This is the purpose of a library.
>
> To divert the exchange for a moment... I agree with the assertion that
> a purpose of libraries is to provide a preservation and access role,
> particularly for material which publishers and bookstores are no longer
> or not easily providing. If a local library does not own a copy of the
> title sought, that local library is permitted to try to borrow it from
> another library on behalf of the local patron.
>
> This purpose of libraries, though, is threatened by the trend towards
> licensing rather than sale of material and by the uncertainty of
> long-term readability of various technologies now used for publication.
> The shift away from the book and the increasing irrelevance of the first
> sale doctrine mean consumers may not be able to rely on libraries for
> access to some "out-of-print" publications in the future.

Interesting. The "access not ownership" has been advocated mainly by library organizations like the Association of Research Libraries.

I have always felt it was adopted as the lesser of two evils, the other course being to oppose university management and the science bureaucracy.

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY 70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com Received on Wed Aug 19 1998 - 21:39:56 GMT