[Web4lib] effect of e-use on circulation [was: Authority + Wikipedia]

[Jennifer Heise]

If you want direct evidence that free electronic access is not necessarily
an impediment to print sales, Baen books (http://www.baen.com/AboutUs.htm)
is probably the place to go. If you read the intro to their Electronic
Library: http://www.baen.com/library/
you see that they've used free online versions to get people to buy print.
Has it worked? Well, both free and very very cheap ebooks appear to have
worked for them: http://www.baen.com/AboutUs.htm

- Jenne Heise

On 10/12/05, Peter C. Gorman <pgorman at library.wisc.edu> wrote:
>
> If this is borne out by research, it might give pause to those who
> digitize works in order to *decrease* use of the original (fragile,
> rare, etc.) items. On the other hand, it would provide indirect
> evidence that free electronic access is not an impediment to print
> sales.
>
> At 2:31 PM -0400 10/12/05, Patricia F Anderson wrote:
> >This echoes anecdotal evidence from those who found putting up free
> >copies online increased use and/or purchases of the print item. I am
> >thinking, for example, of the UM Making of America project, in which
> >circulation of the included items rose by several 100 percent after
> >the items were made available over the Internet. I don't know if any
> >articles were published about this trend, but if there were I'd love
> >to see them.
> >
> >Patricia Anderson, pfa at umich.edu
>
> --
> _______________________________
> Peter C. Gorman
> Head, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center
> pgorman at library.wisc.edu
> (608) 265-5291
>
> Fiddle, n. An instrument to tickle human ears by friction of a horse's
> tail on the entrails of a cat. [Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_]
>
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