#29

Public access to scientific journals

Is it just a matter of time before the public will be shut out of access to journals at a lot of public universities and colleges? The September 8 on-line issue of Scientific American has an article about this topic.

In 1995 the library where I worked was making massive moves to digital collections. It seemed that everyone but librarians (summary only; full article not available) fantasized that digital libraries would be cheaper than bricks and mortar. I think you can still sit down at most library terminals at Ohio State University and read something online without logging in a password to read a journal, but some material may be restricted. When I retired in 2000, OSUL still had a policy of retaining at least one paper copy of a title on campus (50,000 students), and sometimes it is the only paper copy in the state. The article in Scientific American points out some alternatives.

However, "we the people" pay for this research several times over--we pay the salaries of the researchers, we pay for the grants that provide the funds for the research, we build the labs and classrooms, we pay for the subscriptions, we pay for the on-line systems, or storage for print, and the salaries of the people who collect and store them; so when we walk into a state university, (after an hour long search for parking) should they be asking us for a password to read what we've already paid for?

For another viewpoint on research funding, including the hours of research time spent on the red tape of applying for federal grants check this Cato Institute site. Could Einstein have written a grant proposal?