[lbo-talk] A public square

[Joseph Catron]

How about the racket of high-end academic publishers who solicit
articles from professors, pay the authors little or nothing, then sell
them back to the same institutions that funded the research for
thousands of dollars?  The professors have little choice but to go
along with it, since their tenure and promotions rely upon publication
in prestigious sources.  And the institutions need the articles for
their ongoing research.

This scandal is one of the single biggest drags on academic
librarianship.  By way of example, the physics library at my alma
mater, which was left unguarded 24 hours a day, contained a slim
quarterly journal which cost $25,000 a year.  I was always tempted to
make the modest effort necessary to steal the collection, but
refrained.  (Scruples aside, what the hell would I have done with a
stack of physics journals?)

If anyone's interested in learning more about this disgracful
situation, a Google search for "academic journal pricing crisis,"
minus the quotation marks, will reveal a wealth of information.

On 5/21/07, joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:


> Chuck wrote:
>
> > Don't get me started on how public libraries are using taxpayer money to
> >
> >subsidize large publishers. The evil side of Harry Potter.
> >
> Get started. That's a very interesting topic. I would have guessed there
> would be a conflict of interest...."publishers sell less because I can
> get their books at the library...."
>
> Could you say more?
>
> Joanna