RE: E-Reserves question

["Peter B. Hirtle" <pbh6@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sandy wrote: "You failed to answer... Kevin: why university presses (and why
emphasize small university presses) when so many monographs are also published
by commercial academic presses like Palgrave, Taylor & Francis, etc.;"

When we cut publishers from our approval plan last year, only commercial
publishers, including Palgrave Macmillan, were cut in order to continue
getting titles from university presses.  If there is another large hit on our
acquisitions budget, the smaller university presses will disappear from the
plan. From discussions with colleagues at other institutions who are also
involved in collection development (as I am), I don't think our experience is
unique.

Steve Worona of EDUCAUSE once very smartly said that when you see something
that you don't like on the Internet, don't call the lawyers: call the
marketing department. The fiasco of the GSU suit, which can only hurt small
commercial and non-commercial academic publishers, is a good example of this.
Journal publishers have been able to figure this out by providing site
licenses for unlimited access to journal titles at a slight discount from
print subscriptions (or a slight increase if one still wants print copies).
The result is that permissions for class use of journal articles have become a
non-issue (with the glaring and galling exception of Harvard Business School
publications).  A similar model from monograph publishers would generate
revenue that doesn't have to pass through the maws of the CCC and make much of
the discussion about fair use moot.  Duke UP has been a terrific example of
innovative practice; perhaps the MUSE books will be priced attractively as
well.

Peter Hirtle