From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:26:00 -0600

I don't mean to minimize the constraints within which librarians
operate, Chuck, but there are still choices librarians can make, such
as between buying into a big deal and providing access "by the drink,"
as I believe you pioneered years ago, right?  At some point, I'd
imagine, depending on rates of usage, and the per-item cost, the
latter becomes a more attractive option.  And scholars always have the
option of writing to the individual author and requesting a copy
gratis, or using the posted Green OA version.

To John Abbott's point:  the reason most university presses did not
have the scalable infrastructure is because their parent universities
decided not to provide the funding to make it possible!  Recall that
the John Hopkins University Press began by publishing STM journals, in
mathematics, chemistry, etc. (The chemistry journal was later sold to
the American Chemical Society.) Academic publishing (outside of
textbook publishing) was far better developed within universities than
in the commercial sector prior to WWII. There was a base to build
upon, rather than creating it de novo, as people like Robert Maxwell
had to do. There is absolutely nothing about university press
publishing that stood in the way of its being scaled up to the level
that commercial publishers eventually attained over decades of
investment. It's just that universities chose not to make investments
in this area, preferring instead, e.g., to throw a lot of money in the
direction of big-time athletics. We all know how that has worked
out....


Sandy Thatcher