Re: what a publisher actually does??

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@xxxxxxx>]

This is how I see the situation as well.  I would add another element:  the
vision (and it is a Marketing vision, with a capital "M" for Marketing, as
distinct from lowercase advertising and promotion) of what publications to
get behind and what authors are the right ones to invest in.  I think there
is a case to be made that in the world of academic journals, publishers
overall add less value than they do to monographs and certainly less value
than they add to trade books.  But they do add value.  So the question, in
my opinion, is how will that value be re-created under the SPARC system?  (I
am not suggesting that SPARC shouldn't try, by the way, only that the task
is harder than many appreciate.)   The copyright issue here is that without
copyright, it is difficult to imagine the deployment of capital on an
ongoing basis to keep the entire system up and running.

Joe

Joseph J. Esposito
Portable CEO
613 Spring St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
espositoj@xxxxxxx
(831) 425-1143
(831) 254-0306 mobile
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <espositoj@xxxxxxx>; <digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "'Mary Case'" <marycase@xxxxxxx>; "Anthony Watkinson (E-mail)"
<anthony.watkinson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <m.mabe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 9:15 AM
Subject: what a publisher actually does??


> this is probably off topic for the copyright listserv, but its is in
> response to Joe Esposito's post:
>
> Joe Esposito observes re the SPARC white paper:
> "The paper seems to think of publishing as production (no) and
> distribution (no). "
> Although publishers and authors may talk about "peer review" as the be all
> and end all, there is a sociologial milieu, bonds of friendship, interest,
> shared concerns, scholarly passions shared, forged sometimes over many
years
> with individuals and groups of individuals, that i would guess are
probably
> more time consuming and maybe as expensive and just as crucial as the
formal
> review and production systems.
>
> Relationships and "families of scholars" are cultivated assidiously by
> publishers , and my guess is that is probably as important as the
existence
> of the formal journal review and production mechanisms.
>
> Scholars and researchers hand their stuff over with copyright intact to
> publishers because they trust people and the often invivisble webs of
formal
> and informal relations journal publishers maintain.
>
> Chuck Hamaker
> Associate University Librarian for Collections and Technical Services
> Atkins Library
> University of North Carolina Charlotte
> 704 687-2825
>
>
>
>
>
>