This response is NOT a defense of ANY publisher's policy with regards to lapsed subscriptions, but rather my opinion of the nature of electronic journals. The electronic journal is really just a database, a collection of articles that may (or may not) have some commonality. This database is then sold on a licensing arrangement where the purchasers gets ACCESS to the database and not OWNERSHIP. Once the subscription/license lapses, the subscriber owns nothing and has no rights. This policy is the one extant today for access to CAS, for example. If I use CAS today and locate a few references and view them, and then a year from now, my subscription lapses, I have no ability to go back and view those records that I had looked at once. I do not see how keeping track of lapsed subscriptions scales into the future. If I subscribe for this year, then don't take the subscription for a year, then come back in for a year, then out - it is the responsibility of the provider to keep track of all of this and be the gatekeeper in perpetuity? The MUCH simpler model is license for access - a subscriber get access to the ENTIRE electronic holdings for the year of the license, after which, if not renewed, the subscriber gets nothing, and the publisher keeps no record nor had any obligation to deliver to the non-current licensees. Note that there is some radical changes for the library community in this notion - particularly that the onus for archiving resides with the publisher and not the library! Steve -- Steven Bachrach ph: (210)999-7379 Department of Chemistry fax: (210)999-7569 Trinity University 715 Stadium Drive San Antonio, TX 78212 steven.bachrach@trinity.edu
-----Original Message----- From: ian.newington@kodak.com [mailto:ian.newington@kodak.com] Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 9:01 AM To: chemweb@ic.ac.uk Subject: RE: Public library of Science
Following on from this discussion I've just had an experience where a subscription lapsed (cost savings) and now I am unable to get access to any full text even from the back numbers when we were subscribed.
It seems to me that if electronic only journal holdings are to work, the publishers need more sophisticated access control. Why should a library pay the same rate (or often more) for years and then not have access to those years of holdings at a later date? Perhaps there's something to be said for paper after all!
Ian Newington
R&D Kodak Ltd Tel: +44-(0)20-8424-4451 FAX: +44-(0)20-8424-5788 email: ian.newington@kodak.com
The views expressed in this email are my personal views and do not necessarily represent those of the company I work for.
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