Digital Ecology

Andre Gionet agionet at nucleus.com
Sun Oct 18 16:46:00 EDT 1998


Gerry McKiernan a écrit:

> Thanks for your interest in my posting!

Well, it was a very interesting posting! It is a topic that
I've been following on an on-and-off basis for the past
while.  To make this reply shorter, I deleted all the points
where I agree with you. 

> >Administrative issues:
> >- getting agreement from the publisher(s) to store
> >  electronic journals locally.
> 
>   To me this should not be an issue: As we have purchased the 'journals'
> should we not be able to 'house' them as we wish?
> [Here an analog to print subscriptions]

But up to now, it seems that publishers are leasing access
to e-journals (analog to the online database access) instead
of selling ownership (like print subscriptions). I must
admit, however, that my information could be wrong and
outdated. 

>    There is an analog here. Students (and others) can freely read
> article without paying. If they want a copy, this is there choice
> and they pay accordingly. [Certainly paper is good for ephermeral use, but
> it certainly does not make sense to print an electronic article and to store
> it in a paper folder. It would make better sense to manage the electronic
> copy electronically] 

That's good in theory.  But, since I was a student as
recently as 1995, I can tell you that students computer
ownership rates are still pretty low.  I suspect that things
are more advanced in the U.S., although some Ccanadian
institutions are starting to catch the wave.

> >What do you think?

Well, Gerry, you're probably a decade ahead the rest of us.
Which is good, because we do need folks with new ideas who
can grab rising opportunities instead of being vicitms of
change.  

Just very quick comments before hitting the trails for a
bike ride. :-)

Andre Gionet
agionet at nucleus.com


More information about the Web4lib mailing list