Publisher hits new low: Suing librarian for criticizing their books – Confessions of a Science Librarian

"So here’s the rather strange story. Way back in 2010, librarian Dale Askey, then of Kansas State University, wrote a blog post critical of the humanities monograph publisher Edwin Mellen. Basically, he stated that the publishers’ low quality did not justify their high prices. No big deal, really, librarians have lots of opinions about publishers and share them all the time around the water cooler, at conferences and online. But perhaps foreshadowing what was coming, Askey remarked in his post: 'Given how closely Mellen guards its reputation against all critics, perhaps I should just put on my flameproof suit now.' Fast forward to 2012, with Askey now Associate University Librarian at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario: 'Edwin Mellen Press, an academic publisher with offices in upstate New York and Britain, filed two lawsuits in June in Ontario’s Superior Court. The first implicates Askey and McMaster, his current employer and employer for some of the time the blog post was live, as 'vicariously liable' for his statements, and claims libel and exemplary damages in the amount of $3.5 million. A second suit, filed against Askey alone, claims more than $1 million in similar damages (the individual suit names Herbert Richardson, press founder, as plaintiff and alleges additional, defamatory remarks directed against him personally on the blog).'  Whoa. Suing a librarian for being critical about your products is clearly a massive overreaction. There are better ways to respond, surely. But here we are. Academic librarians have academic freedom in their positions to protect us from just this sort of undue influence on the exercise of our judgement while doing our jobs. This intimidation is unacceptable. So what are next steps? First of all, we should all keep up the pressure on blogs and twitter and other places online. It would be great to see more faculty blogging and tweeting about this, and faculty all across the disciplinary map too. Librarians work for the interests of their entire campus constituency and I’d hate to think this could set any sort of precedent. Sign the petition, if you’re so inclined. I have. And most of all, we should continue to air our honest opinions about publishers and their products, both in person and online. As is my occasionally obsessive practive, I’ve gathered the various commentaries I’ve seen around the web below.