RE: Publication, Access Provision, and Fair Use

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> The jury is still out on whether self-archiving (of whatever 
> version) will actually turn out to damage journals -

I can't claim to speak for all libraries, but I can certainly say 
that at my library, there is no way we could justify an ongoing 
subscription to a journal the entire, fully edited contents of 
which are available online at no charge.

Actually, no, I'll go further than that: no fiscally responsible 
library could do so.  While I can imagine rare exceptions in the 
cases of specific journals that might be needed in print, 
generally speaking there is simply no way to justify the 
investment of library funds (especially from public coffers!) in 
the purchase of content that is free to the public.

Preprints are a different matter; I can see maintaining a paid 
subscription if that's the only way to get prompt access to the 
fully-edited versions.  Even there, though, it would be a 
difficult decision and would depend largely on both the 
subscription price and the embargo period.

---
Rick Anderson
Dir. of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
rickand@unr.edu