From: Richard Brown <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 08:14:30 -0400

I tend to agree with David, and I know we have our fundamental differences. But I take issue with the claim, "it is just the way the system works," which suggests that we--librarians, publishers, vendors, researchers--are simply passive bystanders to events beyond our control. In fact we and our forebears built this "system," didn't we? And isn't that the purpose of forums such as LibLicense? To talk to each other and improve the system, as hard as that may be? Or am I hopelessly naive?

Richard Brown


Richard Brown, PhD
Director
Georgetown University Press
Suite 250
3240 Prospect Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007





On Sun, Jul 12, 2015 at 10:19 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: David Prosser <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2015 10:03:46 +0000
>
> Gosh, I wish this was true.  I wish that we were all just one big
> happy family striving to promote scholarship.  But I don’t think we
> are.  We all have different priorities and drivers and sometimes those
> drivers and priorities clash.  That’s not necessarily anybody’s
> ‘fault' - it is just the way the system works.  But the notion that an
> academic wanting to publish in a high impact journal, a librarian
> worried about the cost of that journal, and the shareholder of a
> commercial publisher wanting to see the profits of that journal
> maximised all share a common ethos is, to me at least, wishful
> thinking.
>
> David
>
> On 10 Jul 2015, at 01:57, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > From: Robert Glushko <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2015 14:44:35 +0000
> >
> > I totally take your 'take a swing comment' in the humorous spirit in
> > which I believe it was intended, but it does on some level make me a
> > bit sad.
> >
> > I'd like to think that nearly all of us are doing what we do because
> > we love the academy, we love scholarship, and on some level we want to
> > make the world a better place.  I hope that when we deal with one
> > another we can keep in mind that publishers/libraries/scholarly
> > societies are close relatives.  And while like all families we can
> > duke it out over the dinner table, we are at the end of the day
> > family.  There are PLENTY of constituencies out there with whom we
> > have deeper disagreements than with each other.  I'm reminded of the
> > adage that we often judge ourselves by our intentions and others by
> > their actions; perhaps we should bring empathy to the discussion.
> >
> > I'm hopeful that we can work to find common areas of interest, and
> > that we can all work together to promote those areas.  At our best, we
> > do so much good.  At our worst, our disagreements seem almost
> > sectarian.  If there are any fellow travelers on the list who share
> > this viewpoint, I'd love to talk.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Bobby Glushko
> > Head, Scholarly Communications and Copyright
> > University of Toronto Libraries
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2015 21:51:49 -0400
> >
> > I don't want to get into the middle of this ongoing dialogue between
> > Kevin Smith and Alicia Wise--though I will say that the persistent
> > politeness is truly surreal.  Really, guys, take a swing at one
> > another. We know you want to!
> >
> > Kevin, however, makes a remark that seems wrong to me.  I don't mean
> > wrong in the sense of factually incorrect, but wrong in the sense that
> > when we look at all those arrows pointing to the future, which one is
> > likely to emerge as the winner? The tragic thing about this game is
> > that we will all be long gone ourselves before the results come in.
> > So we are prophets without a prayer.  This is not as bad as it sounds,
> > inasmuch as, paraphrasing Bob Dole's comment about the Vice
> > Presidency, it's an indoor job and requires no heavy lifting.
> >
> > It's the remark about subscriptions that just doesn't seem right to
> > me.  Everywhere you look in media businesses today, subscriptions are
> > surging.  The subscriptions can be HBO, Netflix, Oyster, Scribd,
> > Audible--this list can go on until it tries the patience of our
> > esteemed moderator.  Meanwhile, even in the tiny little patch of
> > scholarly communications, the revenue earned from subscriptions
> > continues to rise year over year.  The growth may not be what was once
> > promised to Wall Street a decade ago, but there is no evidence that
> > the economic model or the organizations that are built upon that model
> > are fading into irrelevance. Indeed, one of the more intriguing
> > projects I have been involved with the past year applies the
> > subscription model to a variant of Gold open access.  PeerJ's
> > membership model is yet another flavor of this model.
> >
> > It doesn't matter if Kevin or Alicia or anyone else agrees with me or
> > not. All this happens independently of ourselves. The economy is
> > impersonal, human agency is overrated. But it is fun to go to the
> > track and bet on the horses.  Here's $2 on the subscription model to
> > win, and another $2 for Gold OA to place.  Green OA, alas, ends up
> > outside the money.
> >
> > Joe Esposito