From: Rick Anderson <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 9 Oct 2013 02:44:03 +0000 [MOD NOTE: After the message below from Rick, let's declare the end of this particular thread. It's been useful for many of us, but we are getting to a stage of repeat and perhaps personalization that doesn't advance the discourse. Coming to this conversation more or less agnostic, your moderator has become persuaded that as resources become scarcer, libraries *will* (must?) consider for cancellation journals that are not "core" for them, their researchers, scholars, and students -- *provided* the content appears in serious repositories (universities, research institutes, etc). By this, I mean that the articles are available via "green" open access. This will be done with librarians' usual care and thoughtfulness, in consultation with constituents. The challenge (from my view) will be the titles that are captive in "big deals," especially those where such a deal has been converted into its most insidious version, the complete and un-cancellable database model. Anyhow, let's revisit this matter after there has been some more practical evidence. Thank you.] ***** Rick Anderson writes: One more thought and then I'll stop infuriating everyone: >OA is not about subscriptions, or cancellations, it is about >widespread notification and awareness of research, thus enhancing the >fields it supports: providing awareness of cognate fields for >researchers, and neophytes alike, boosting an author's profile, plus a >lot of reasons that we've been discussing for years. Ultimately, it doesn't matter much what we believe "OA is about." What matter are the actual consequences that OA has in the real world. Like every other system or strategy of scholarly communication, including toll access, OA has (and will continue to have) consequences both good and bad, both intended and unintended. Shouting down those who talk about the downsides might be comforting in the short run and might be good for rallying the troops, but it won't make the costs disappear. Reality always wins. I'm done now. Anyone who wants to have the last word on this can feel free. --- Rick Anderson Assoc. Dean for Scholarly Resources & Collections Marriott Library, University of Utah [log in to unmask]