Re: Who Should Own Scientific Papers?

On 16 Sep 1998, Michael Scarpitti <mscarpit[_at_]asnt.org> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Sep 15, 1998, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
> >
> > Universities have encouraged academic research -- which produces
> > journal articles -- but frustrated dissemination. As a result, there
> > are problems with the quality of research as I point out in SOCIETY
> > (Sep Oct 1998).
> >
> > Universities' efforts to reduce library spending comes from a need to
> > promote administrative growth. Crawford and Gorman dubbed this the
> > "enemies of the library" in their book FUTURE LIBRARIES (American
> > Library Association) 1995.
>
> Although libraries probably could use more funding (this I will grant)
> it seems that of publishing, scientific journals make up only a tiny
> percentage. It is more a service than a product. The libraries may feel
> that "the services of the journals are no longer needed", and have
> "fired" them, because better, more efficient or accessible means have
> evolved.

Universities started canceling subscriptions around 1968. Measured in constant dollars, the growth of major research libraries was flat during the 1970s while numbers of articles published increased about 5% annually. Faculty were upset by the cancellations and the universities tried to blame the publishers -- as if the publishers were provoking researchers to do more. They tried to blame the tenure system -- as if "publish or perish" had no basis in research accomplish- ments. A 1987 report by Association of Research Libraries blamed scholars for excessive publishing!

Universities were also successful in legitimizing library photocopying in the 1976 copyright law. This tactic cut library costs by weakening the rights that secure publishers' investments. Their strategy is to take a further step in this direction with proposals like Bachrach et al.

Some of the supporters of that camp feel the learned communications system should rest entirely on authors' page charges and no claims to copyright at all. University administrators naturally pant and drool at the possibility of not having to buy any journal subscriptions at all.

> Notwithstanding that, I do feel that paper still needs to be used for
> compatibility with the HSSORD (homo sapiens sapiens organic reading
> device).

Yes, all the various experiments with electronic publishing point to the absolute need for a good printer. Crawford and Gorman also defend print on paper as ideal for many circumstances. (Future Libraries. ALA, 1995)

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY <70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Tue Sep 22 1998 - 04:25:42 GMT