From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2015 09:23:39 -0400

Of course mission affects economics.  Who ever said otherwise? I wrote
about that before:

http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2015/06/16/the-mixed-marriage-of-for-profit-and-not-for-profit-publishing/

Joe Esposito


On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 10:48 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2015 22:59:51 -0500
>
> But I think you underestimate, Joe, how much the mission affects the
> economics. Presses often make decisions about pricing, making books
> available in paperback, etc. that are not necessarily driven by the
> need to maximize income but rather to serve other interests, such as
> maximizing the distribution of copies at as cheap a price as possible,
> subject only to the constraint that the press needs to earn enough to
> stay in business. And when presses and libraries cooperate in ventures
> like Project Muse, those ventures reflect the values and missions of
> both parties.
>
> Sandy Thatcher
>
>
> > From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 22:07:07 -0400
> >
> > Sandy,
> >
> > I think this perspective obscures the nature of the relationship.
> > Publishers are vendors, libraries customers.  Of course they share
> > some overarching values: representative democracy, the rule of law,
> > respect for others' religion, etc.  But that level of abstraction
> > doesn't reach to the details of how publishers and libraries actually
> > operate--and that is in their impersonal economic dimension.  This is
> > neither good nor bad; it just is.  And economic relationships need not
> > be characterized by greed or guile (what I would call poor branding).
> > But in the end it is the economic relationships that define us.
> >
> > And as to Richard's comment that we built this system, well, no.
> > Isn't that the point of the principle of the Invisible Hand, that it
> > is independent of ourselves?
> >
> > I think people would be better at their jobs, feel less frustrated,
> > and probably be more at peace with themselves if they understood that
> > an economic relationship is an economic relationship.  Plenty of room
> > in our lives for other things, but publishers sell and libraries buy.
> >
> > Joe Esposito
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 14, 2015 at 8:31 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>  From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
> >>  Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2015 23:09:53 -0500
> >>
> >>  One would hope that at least one kind of publisher, the university
> >>  press, shares the overarching values and priorities of academic
> >>  librarians and scholars. There are prominent examples of them working
> >>  together in enterprises like Project Muse, and in some instances the
> >>  library and press are in the same administrative unit, and faculty are
> >>  involved with all presses as members of their editorial boards.  These
> >>  relationships do not mean that there cannot be disagreements, such as
> >>  over copyright, but when push comes to shove, university presses have
> >>  more in common with the people on their own campuses than they do with
> >>  commercial publishers whose priorities ultimately are driven by the
> >>  need to make profits.
> >>
> >>  Sandy Thatcher
>