From: Rick Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2015 04:10:30 +0000

>They seem to me to be saying that any delay or restriction is
>undesirable, rather than unacceptable.

See, I was assuming that they would consider the curtailment of academic
progress (inter alia) to be something unacceptable, but I guess that¹s
open to interpretation.

>Rick, do you think that delay and restriction, by themselves in the
>absence of any downstream effects on sustainability or whatever, are
>intrinsically good things?

Of course not ‹ but that¹s not a serious question, because there¹s no such
thing as a delay or restriction without downstream effects. And those
effects will (depending on what mechanism causes the restriction)
inevitably present some mixture of good and bad. It¹s also not a serious
question because delay and restriction don¹t exist independently ‹ they¹re
caused by mechanisms or programs that have other impacts in addition to
delay and restriction. (For example, peer review is a mechanism that
provides for filtering and certification, but also causes delay.)

So a serious question would be ³Given all the downstream effects (both
good and bad) of the mechanisms that cause delay and restriction in the
current scholcomm ecology, are those mechanisms a good thing or a bad
thing on balance?²

And the only serious answer to that question would be, of course, ³It
depends.² Whether a mechanism (like peer review or a subscription fee or
an APC or a deposit mandate) is, on balance, a good thing or a bad thing
depends on whether its positive effects outweigh its negative ones. Every
mechanism or program or strategy or policy is going to have a blend of
positive and negative effects ‹ despite the fact that its advocates will
try to shout down any discussion of the negative ones. And every program,
strategy, or policy will have unintended as well as intended consequences,
which themselves will also present a mix of good and bad.

---
Rick Anderson
Assoc. Dean for Scholarly Resources & Collections
Marriott Library, University of Utah
[log in to unmask]