Well, I'm not quite sure what you mean.
I applaud free content and copyleft licenses. It's certainly a good
thing that there are public domain books, open access journals and
Project Gutenberg.
I think it's a bad thing that a library record about any of those
things, even if created by a government agency, is now subject to
licensing. I would hope that libraries worked for the common good, or
at least the good of the people who pay for them. As it stands, OCLC
libraries now work to create a monopoly. Worse, they are creating a
perpetual monopoly.
As for "giving away what is most valuable," its seems to my naive mind
that the most valuable thing libraries have are information, expertise
and passion. You've been "giving that away" for millennia. It's why
you exist.
Tim
On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 2:26 AM, Jan Szczepanski
<jan.szczepanski_at_ub.gu.se> wrote:
> Tim, you are obviously living in a strange world, a world of licenses. Have
> you not heard
> about open access? Have you not heard about the million of books that Google
> Book
> Search or about National Academic Press, eScholarship Editions, Project
> Gutenberg, Europeana
> and many others?
>
> I would say that "licenses, licenses, licenses" soon is more part of history
> than the future and we
> will have to create millions of new records.
>
> I would say that digitalization will be our big challenge this century not
> Big meals, sorry
> Big Deals.
>
> In a world where "money makes the world go around" we should give away the
> most
> valuable we have just for something called " "freedom, competition,
> innovation" seems
> rather naive and childish.
>
> Jan
>
>
> Tim Spalding skrev:
>>
>> My thoughts:
>>
>> Much of librarland has turned against its principles and hung out a
>> big "Go away!" sign to freedom, competition, innovation and anyone
>> outside the library world who has a good idea or who has the temerity
>> to think that, since citizens pay for libraries, they have a right to
>> library data.
>>
>> The rules are fuzzier than the first draft, but fuzzy rules aren't
>> necessarily better. A true legal contract offers concrete protections
>> and rights, which the new rules do not. The effect will be the same:
>> the brief spring of open bibliographic data is over. You are stuck
>> with OCLC forever. God help you.
>>
>> Libraries have undermined their moral authority about access to data
>> just when ebook licenses are starting to cut libraries out. The future
>> is clearly licenses, licenses, licenses. The way ebook licensing is
>> going, that may well be biggest effect.
>>
>> But, most importantly, the policy is now in place. The time for
>> talking is over. The time has come to shut up.
>>
>> Tim Spalding
>>
>
> --
> De åsikter som framförs här är mina personliga och inte ett uttryck för
> Göteborgs universitets-
> biblioteks hållning
>
>
> Opinions expressed here are my own and not
> those of the Gothenburg University Library
>
>
> Jan Szczepanski
> Förste bibliotekarie Goteborgs universitetsbibliotek Box 222
> SE 405 30 Goteborg, SWEDEN Tel: +46 31 7861164 Fax: +46 31 163797 E-mail:
> Jan.Szczepanski_at_ub.gu.se
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
Check out my library at http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding
Received on Tue Jun 22 2010 - 02:56:02 EDT