From: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 09:45:55 -0400
While the new, open-access-friendly publication arrangement for MLA
journals offers authors greater freedom to disseminate their work, we
believe that institutional and individual subscribers will continue to
value the composition, completeness, and convenience of a well-edited
issue. Under the new arrangement authors have the option to distribute
their essays more freely than before, but not all authors will act on
this option—and some of those who do may post the unedited manuscript
and never replace it with the updated, published version.
Nonsubscribers may be uncertain whether the copy of an article they
find is the version of record, and they will lack access to the
version of record when it is designated by DOIs and other links.
Another benefit of subscription stems from the fact that sections of
issues and some entire issues are assembled as a single conceptual
project, whose elements enrich one another when read together.
Repositories will provide library patrons only incomplete
reconstructions of such projects. In addition, the journals contain
attractions not destined for a repository: features published under a
license that doesn’t allow open access, association news,
illustrations, errata, and advertisements of new publications.
Finally, overworked researchers and librarians value the time saved by
not having to attempt to replicate an issue by searching multiple
resources on the Web.
Sincerely,
Barbara Chen
Director of Bibliographic Information Services
and Editor, MLA International Bibliography
New York, NY 10004-1789
email [log in to unmask]
On 6/7/12 8:47 PM, LIBLICENSE wrote:
> From: "Sem C. Sutter" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2012 21:11:13 -0400
>
> Things you might be missing:
>
> --not every author will post her article somewhere readily findable,
> or perhaps not at all
>
> --articles in IRs or on personal websites will not be linked from the
> standard online bibliographies with controlled vocabularies that
> researchers use
>
> --PMLA publishes one or more thematic issues per year and my readers
> will not have access to that coherence if I force them to rely on
> disambiguated access
>
> --an enlightened society that grants its authors the right to repost
> should not be high on my hitlist for cancellation.
>
> We'll be keeping our MLA subscriptions.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Sem C. Sutter
> Head of Collection Development
> and Interim Associate University Librarian
> for Scholarly Resources & Services
> Georgetown University Library
> Washington DC 20057-1174
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
>>
>> From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2012 19:36:10 -0700
>>
>> I just heard that the MLA journals are adopting an "author-friendly"
>> open access policy. The story is here:
>>
>> http://www.mla.org/news_from_mla/news_topic&topic=596
>>
>> If I were a librarian, I would now cancel the MLA journals and put the
>> money toward toll-access publications or to some other use. My
>> assumption is that a Google search would locate the OA versions,
>> wherever they are located. Is there a reason that a librarian would
>> not cancel these subscriptions? What am I missing?
>>
>> Joe Esposito
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