[FRIAM] of straw and steel

[uǝlƃ ☤>$]

It's not even that simple. The publisher prefers subscription over individual articles, groups of serials over individual serials, etc. It's a game of lock-in and domination ... *power* and influence. To think of it in terms of $19/article misses the point entirely.

Were I to take Nick's troll seriously, the question is How did they come up with *that* price, for *that* article in *that* journal? If we assume $19 is more than most individuals would pay for an individual article, then we can infer that the publisher isn't interested in selling that article for $19. The publisher wants to influence the individual to *use* a library. And, better yet, *ask* the library to get the article. And, better still, ask the library to subscribe to the (bundle of) journal(s) that would automatically include that article. So $19 is purposefully too expensive ... maybe just slightly so ...

It's kinda like sin taxes, where They™ want to influence us one way or another to suit whatever Nefarious™ purposes they hold prominent.

Not only do universities apply such influence by propping up libraries, cities can do it, too. Arguably, the ONLY thing that I miss about Portland is Powell's Books, which may *seem* like a book store. But it's definitely more like a library than a book store. It's certainly as different from your local mall's Barnes & Noble as the Trinity College library is from our local library.

Flattening out all this glorious, multi-scalar, multi-modal infrastructure into some narrative about making a buck is preposterous.


On 6/30/21 6:05 AM, Pieter Steenekamp wrote:
> It seems like the publisher's business model is to maximize their profits by selling at a high price to libraries. 
> 
> On Wed, 30 Jun 2021 at 03:27, <thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>     Well, exactly!
> 
>     So, if your competitor is a Library who circulates documents for free, What is your business model if you are charging 19 dollars?
> 
>     N
> 
>     Nick Thompson
>     ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com>
>     https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ <https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/>
> 
>     -----Original Message-----
>     From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com>> On Behalf Of u?l? ?>$
>     Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2021 2:54 PM
>     To: friam at redfish.com <mailto:friam at redfish.com>
>     Subject: Re: [FRIAM] of straw and steel
> 
>     It's called "The Library". Surely you have some of those near you, right?
> 
>     https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=no%3A42429544 <https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=no%3A42429544>
> 
>     On 6/26/21 9:13 AM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com <mailto:thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>     > I don’t understand the business model.  Who actually pays 19 dollars to read an article?
> 
>     >
>     > On Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 8:59 AM uǝlƃ ☤>$ <gepropella at gmail.com <mailto:gepropella at gmail.com> <mailto:gepropella at gmail.com <mailto:gepropella at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>     >
>     >     Fooling the Victim: Of Straw Men and Those Who Fall for Them
>     >     https://muse.jhu.edu/article/796000 <https://muse.jhu.edu/article/796000>
>     > <https://muse.jhu.edu/article/796000 <https://muse.jhu.edu/article/796000>>


-- 
☤>$ uǝlƃ