From: Alex Holzman <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 30 Jun 2019 13:48:19 -0400

Anthony is smarter than I to respond to Eric's post with sarcasm.  With all
due respect, the post violates the spirit of this list, where librarians
and publishers often strenuously disagree, but almost always remain
entirely civil.  I don't speak for others, but as a former full-time and
now part-time publisher, I don't appreciate being portrayed as a
blood-sucking, money-grabbing beast.  I spent years in both commercial and
non-profit publishing and worked with librarians over the decades and I can
assure you the people on both sides of this issue, whatever their
disagreements, are overwhelmingly good and decent people working to
disseminate learning as broadly as they can.  (The post is also ignorant in
its assumption that all publishers are for-profit, but that is kind of
beside the point.)  I would like to believe this was a heat of the moment
post because I don't know how any of us could resolve our issues if one
side consists solely of devils (and the other of angels?).  And I don't
know how any of us could actually believe such is the case.

Alex Holzman

On Sun, Jun 30, 2019 at 9:19 AM LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Anthony Watkinson <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2019 07:55:29 +0100
>
> I am fascinated by Eric’s assurance. Is this based on any special evidence
> which he can produce? He may well have done a study on how publishers think
> which is not known to me and which I cannot detect.
>
>
>
> Anthony
>
>
>
>
> From: Eric Elmore <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2019 17:07:19 +0000
>
>
>
> I think a more accurate way of understanding this statement is that
>
> it's in the back of the mind of every Publisher, rather than in the
>
> minds of the Librarians.  Librarians are interested in getting the
>
> most content and value for our dwindling budgets in an ethical manner.
>
> Not an easy or simple task.  Publishers, on the other hand, are
>
> concerned with extracting every penny, ruble, shekel, pence, yuan,
>
> yen, and/or ounce of blood they can from anyone who wants to use the
>
> content they "publish".
>
>
>
> It's Capitalism 101.  Once you understand the frame of mind someone
>
> who works for a publisher, of course they think libraries are
>
> leveraging a free resource such as SciHub.  Because that's exactly
>
> what they would do if they were in the libraries position.  When the
>
> only objective is the endless acquisition of money silly little things
>
> like whether or not a resource is legal or ethical no longer have
>
> relevance.
>
>
>
[SNIP]