tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post2388382182383411136..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Books and AccessCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-90447174035419403792011-01-22T12:03:10.322-05:002011-01-22T12:03:10.322-05:00Hooray in a sense, not so hooray in another.
For ...Hooray in a sense, not so hooray in another.<br /><br />For <i>Medieval Identity Machines</i>, that is really a great price. But for the other two books, the Kindle version is only a few bucks cheaper than having the dead-tree version. And while the dead-tree version is certainly not indestructible, it's a lot harder to erase (or to have someone offsite erase) at the touch of a button.<br /><br />Look, I'm an old fogey, and I'll happily fess up to it. But as I see our library plowing tens of thousands of dollars into digital subscriptions (subscriptions which then require hundreds or thousands of dollars of maintenance fees), I worry a great deal about what it actually winds up owning, and who controls that material. <br /><br />Anyway, other people have discussed this much more coherently and cogently than I can on a Saturday morning before coffee, but I was struck by the tone in "When will Palgrave catch up to the rest of the industry?" I reacted to this partly because my view of this kind of "progress" is not particularly rosy, but also because I think the digital form encourages a piecemeal approach to books. And to journals too, in some cases -- call me old fashioned (or order me one), but I think the kind of curatorial/editorial work that goes into, say, producing a journal like postmedieval is best appreciated in print.ihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14105686105741162480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-66255621772549377422011-01-19T13:00:39.554-05:002011-01-19T13:00:39.554-05:00I've only recently started switching over to t...I've only recently started switching over to the digital (with my awesome new android phone), but if certain texts were *only available in that format I'd imagine that would be a great incentive to switch more over, particularly if they could be read in a variety of formats. <br /><br />As a grad student (I say that as much as possible as it won't be true for much longer!) I love the price, and I love Karl's Print-On-Demand suggestion, because it will open the whole thing to a set of users reluctant to make the switch.Mary Kate Hurleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14892991966276345782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-39573437166078748052011-01-16T15:06:05.512-05:002011-01-16T15:06:05.512-05:00@Simon. Hooray for Europe. Proud to be a European....@Simon. Hooray for Europe. Proud to be a European. Seriously. America is so, well, medieval. ;)<br /><br />Ps - and as if to prove that Blogger is refusing to let me sign in. s xxxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-3817892061996364672011-01-16T06:37:54.445-05:002011-01-16T06:37:54.445-05:00Great idea. But why can't GWEMSI or Washington...Great idea. But why can't GWEMSI or Washington Universtiy publish open access? Heidelberg University does this now for ages. And it's quite nice, as you are not allowed to use the Dr. in your name after gaining your doctorate unless you have published your thesis. (Which in some humanities is rather difficult.)<br /><br />Have a look: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/doku/heidok_publ.php?thema=oa_einf&la=en<br /><br />And we got those book scanners: http://ub.blog.uni-heidelberg.de/files/2009/02/versuch-11.jpg<br />They turn your scans in proper PDFs.Jemrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00780975569792776837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-2134714675654946942011-01-15T08:04:20.556-05:002011-01-15T08:04:20.556-05:00HUGE thumbs up (and not only because I have huge t...HUGE thumbs up (and not only because I have huge thumbs). Charge $3. And definitely charge, but have the files on hand for free distribution if there's some situation where dollarless someone absolutely needs a copy. Through Amazon I believe you can also do a Print On Demand (Nicola knows more about this), which would be an option for the majority of people who still do most of their reading on analog devices.Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.com