Subscription Scare Fuels Worries Over Who Controls Data That Scholars Need - The Chronicle of Higher Education

abernard102@gmail.com 2015-10-31

Summary:

"A Twitter-fueled furor erupted on Thursday after the Renaissance Society of America said that the database firm ProQuest had canceled the group’s subscription to a key collection of texts. The controversy didn’t last long — by Thursday afternoon, ProQuest had apologized, and said that the society’s access to the material remained in place. But for many academics, the incident stoked familiar anxieties about the role of companies like ProQuest in the future of scholarly research and publishing. The episode began on Wednesday, when the Renaissance scholars’ group asserted that ProQuest had ended the society’s subscription to a database called Early English Books Online, which is billed as the 'definitive online collection of early printed works in English.' The society said it had a unique arrangement with ProQuest for two years, in which all of its members could use the collection. The arrangement was unconventional: Most of ProQuest’s subscriptions come from campus libraries, the Renaissance group said, and not scholarly societies. 'The basis for the cancellation is that our members make such heavy use of the subscription, this is reducing ProQuest’s potential revenue from library-based subscriptions,' the society’s executive committee said in a written statement ... Many scholars were relieved at the news — the RSA’s executive committee said it was 'delighted' to share ProQuest’s statement with members. But it was also clear that the episode had touched a nerve among those who think about the future of scholarly research. 'What really enrages me about this is not that ProQuest is for-profit — although that is of course a major aspect of what’s going on,' said Rachel E. Clark, an assistant professor of English at Wartburg College, on Thursday morning. 'The problem is that by prioritizing profits over access it is really contributing to major barriers for the research in the field' ..."

Link:

http://chronicle.com/article/Subscription-Scare-Fuels/234003/

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.comment oa.proquest oa.publishers oa.business_models oa.societies oa.cancellations oa.economics_of

Date tagged:

10/31/2015, 08:45

Date published:

10/31/2015, 04:45