From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2015 19:16:14 -0700

As a member of the Medieval Academy of America, a learned society
embracing several thousand scholars and students, I had message today
that there is now a special price for such members to use JSTOR if
they do not otherwise have access.  JPASS is the product name from
JSTOR, which is sold normally for about $200, but the Academy is
offering it to its members at $99/year.  "A $19.50 monthly plan is
also available to those seeking short term JSTOR access."  There are
folks for whom this will be very good news, though how many
independent and unaffiliated scholars are actually paying dues to a
learned society is an interesting question.  What strikes me most
about this news is that there is price pressure even here.  On the one
hand, JSTOR is mainly unique, and if I really want to read articles
from fifty years ago in a variety of scholarly journals, I don't have
miuch choice; but on the other hand, it competes for my attention with
a million other things and as phone deals and netflix deals and Amazon
Kindle deals get cheaper and cheaper, any resource that still wants
that attention is going to have to pay, sorry for the wordplay,
attention.

Are there other such programs that aim to help independent and
unaffiliated scholars?

Jim O'Donnell
ASU