SC - Re: SC-OED

[Ellen M. Krupar]

Ras said:
>All of this true but do you run to the libray everytime you want to look
up a 
>word? The OED was excessible through universities sites on-line instantly 
>until Dec. That acecess was cut off for tjhose not paying for the privelege 
>of gaining knowledge. That is what I view as a grievous wrong. 
>
>With over half of American households having web access there is no reason 
>that the resources of library cannot be made to everyone on-line. When one
of 
>those resources is offered for a short while and then snatched awy, I find
it 
>appalling. I also find it offensive that the priveleged few have free access 
>while others must go out of their way to get access. This is not the 
>universities fault. They offered it freely but were forced to sign a 
>restrictive use contract to be able to use the on-line version. The onus
lies 
>squarely on the shoulders of the publishers of this dictionary.
>
Ras,
  While I can agree with you, there is a simple reason that there is not
free web access to most reference sources, including the OED--money.
Universities pay to have access to the reference sources and are required
to sign contracts that specify who may have access--mainly faculty, staff
and students at that university.  Sometimes it has to be negotitated to
have other building on campus have access to a source, much less remote
sites or users.
  The simple reason is that if these "use contracts" did not exist, one
university could buy the OED and make it available to the world and
therefore no one else would buy it.  It would be unsuccessful and not be
updated, since it is not making its publisher money.
  A publisher might offer an initial web access for free to tempt you into
paying later.  Some newpaper sites have pulled this, where access for the
first six months are free and then become fee-based.
  This can be taken to extremes, for example, there is the case of a
reference publisher that pulled their sources from electronic access via a
pay database once that pay database was going to be more generally
available to universities via a group rate.  Their rational was that
libraries would not pay for the print if it was available electronically.
O.K. I'm paying $15,000/year to have access to this electronic database and
I'm going to cancel this $20 book?  
  The publishers of reference sources believe, probably rightly, that free
web access would cut into their sales.  If you had free web access, would
you buy the abridged or full print version?  No, except for the larger
universities.  If you did not have free web access, would you buy the
abridged or full print version?  Maybe, especially if you got sick of
running to the library.
Shannon
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