SC - OED? -OT

[Jenne Heise]

> Also if you have a local community college or a friend in college or a 
> university that does not  penalize you for not paying them thousands of 
> dollars to give you a piece of paper confirming what you already may know, 
> you can access this  extraordinarily over priced resource for free. :-)

Many libraries both public and private, allow public access to the
reference collection. Any large library should have a copy of the OED.
Private universities, which finance their services, including library
collections, through donations and tuition, may restrict access to their
libraries, just as private industry may restrict access to their library.
Public universities and public libraries, which are paid for by your
taxes, generally have free access to their collections.

However, misusing someone else's computer account in order to recieve
access to a resource for which you have not paid either indirectly or
directly is generally considered stealing someone else's intellectual
property.

The consortium pricing for the OED is actually quite reasonable; it is
however clear to most librarians that the OED group simply has no idea how
to price individual subscriptions. This is unfortunately true of many
publishers moving into the online world, with the notable exception of the
business publishers (many of whom, however, appear to be attempting to
drive libraries out of the business of stocking their print materials,
using overly restrictive license agreements!)

 -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
"I do my job. I refuse to be responsible for other people's managerial 
hallucinations." -- Lady Jemina Starker