[12698] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
FYI: libraries
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Donelan)
Thu May 26 13:47:50 1994
Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 22:15:00 -0500 (CDT)
From: Sean Donelan <SEAN@sdg.dra.com>
To: com-priv@psi.com
>FYI, the reason books and other publications sometimes cost more for
>libraries than for individuals is not even vaguely related to the issue at
>hand. The reason is because they are copied and used by more people, and
>the makers of them depend upon individual sales and royalties therefrom
>for their income.
I disagree. Its like claiming the reason movie theaters offer senior
discounts is because older people have poorer eyesight and hearing so
they see and hear less of the movie.
The reason why libraries are charged more than individuals is because
libraries pay it. Libraries account for some 30% of the overall publishing
market, and nearly 100% of the market for certain expensive academic
journals. Libraries have proven that they will purchase certain materials
no matter how high the price goes, and the publishers know it.
In fact some publishers of the most expensive academic journals have
been delaying projects that charge according to use of the material
instead of the availability of the material. It turns out an awful lot
of journals end up just sitting on the shelf gathering dust. The
publishers feel their revenues would be substantially less if they had
to depend on individual use sales and royalties.
Libraries and the NREN/NII/GII/Infobahn. It seems like every cable,
telephone, multimedia, politician, and public interest group seems
to want the library community to sign on to their plan. They promise
to provide all sorts of perks to libraries in exchange for their
support. For example, Southwestern Bell Telephone promised to build
a wonderful fiber-optic network connecting all the schools, hospitals
and libraries in Missouri. The catch was Southwestern Bell Telephone
wants to keep several million dollars they've made in "excess"
revenue. Oh, and it turned out that "free" fiber network for schools,
hospitals, and libraries would require about $25,000 in equipment
per site plus $1,800 per site per month in other costs. The fiber
is the cheap part.
Libraries, schools, and hospitals should be very wary of strangers
bearing gifts.
--
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Domain: sean@dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100
