From: SANFORD G THATCHER <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2018 23:01:15 -0500

That may be so, Lisa, but I just copied this excerpt from SEP and made it into
a PDF file.  So evidently there is nothing to prevent one from turning anything
in SEP into a PDF file like this, which should satisfy anyone's needs if they
are desirous of just the content in an easily readable if not completely
elegant form. So, my question would be, really how much is it worth people's
money to get maybe a somewhat more elegant version of the content?  I'd be
happy just to contribute to the support of SEP as a worthy enterprise.

Sandy Thatcher


On Thu, Feb 22, 2018 06:03 PM LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>From: "Hinchliffe, Lisa W" <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2018 01:12:00 +0000
>
>Sandy, I think you are a bit mistaken in your characterization that
>the SEP has none of the limitations of the other models. There is a
>feature one gets as a friend/supporter that are not available to the
>general reader, specifically supporters "become entitled to download
>high quality PDF (Portable Document Format) versions of SEP entries"
>(https://plato.stanford.edu/support/). Damon Zucca (OUP) organized a
>panel at the 2017 Charleston Conference on the future of reference
>sources. I was a panelist as was Uri Nodelman, Senior Editor of SEP,
>who explained the benefit of being a supporter (which would cause me
>to personally categorize SEP into the freemium category).
>
>Uri's talk also included this very thought provoking statement - that
>SEP exists "To organize a community of professional scholars in
>philosophy and related disciplines around the world to create and
>maintain an up-to-date, open access reference work for themselves,
>colleagues, students, and the general public." So, not only a freemium
>funding model but that the work of the publisher is community
>organizing!
>
>In no way am I arguing against the idea of an endowment - sounds
>fantastic! But, SEP does have a feature that isn't available to
>everyone and the entries do not necessarily have a CC license, which
>limits what can be done with them beyond open reading.
>
>Best,
>Lisa
>
>--
>Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe
>Professor/ Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction
>University Library, University of Illinois, 1408 West Gregory Drive,
>Urbana, Illinois 61801
>[log in to unmask], 217-333-1323 (v), 217-244-4358 (f)
>
>________________________________________
>From: SANFORD G THATCHER <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:27:13 -0500
>
>Surely the model that best fulfills the ideal of immediate, full, unrestricted
>access is the endowment model that us used, for example, by the Stanford
>Encyclopedia of Philosophy. This model can be used for any type of publication
>in any field, and it has none of the limitations of Gold and Green and
>Freemium.  Of course, the practical question is where does the money come from
>to establish the endowment in the first place?  Universities have become
>experts in the fund-raising that goes into building endowments, so they know
>how to do it. Instead of endowing a coaching position at a university, why not
>encourage an alumnus to endow a journal or a monograph series? At Penn State we
>actually had an editor of one of our journals include an endowment for the
>journal in his will. There are many ways this can be done.  It is the model I
>have long argued is the best for OA overall.
>
>Sandy Thatcher