A forward from FICINO: I think Germaine's introduction is all that's
needed here.
 
A.
 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 1995 18:38:28 -0400
From: Germaine Warkentin <[log in to unmask]>
To: Multiple recipients of list FICINO <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Scholary Journals at the Crossroads
 
The debate referred to here did not, if I recall correctly, surface on
FICINO, but will be of interest to Ficinians, especially Canadian ones,
where the publication of scholarly journals is facing radical
re-structuring, as events at the recent meetings of the Learned
Societies in Montreal made apparent. GW
 
Forwarded message:
> From [log in to unmask]  Wed Jun 14 18:09:19 1995
> Message-Id: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date:         Wed, 14 Jun 1995 17:42:45 -0400
> Reply-To: Scholarly Editing Forum <[log in to unmask]>
> Sender: Scholarly Editing Forum <[log in to unmask]>
> From: Ann Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      Scholary Journals at the Crossroads
> X-To:         [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
>               [log in to unmask]
> To: Multiple recipients of list SEDIT-L <[log in to unmask]>
>
> The attached release describes a new book that features a provocative
> discussion about the future of scholarly journals -- in particular,
> it explores the possibility of a re-designed journal system that
> is author-driven, whose cost are borne at the "front end" of the process,
> and whose output is readily available to the world at large via
> electronic networks.  Pros and cons of such a system are debated
> by scholars, librarians, and publishing experts.  Please excuse the
> cross-postings.
>
> Ann Okerson/Association of Research Libraries
> [log in to unmask]
> _________________
>
>
> ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH LIBRARIES
> PRESS RELEASE
> June 15, 1995
>
>
>        Book Explores a Subversive Future for Scholarly Journals
>
>
>     ARL's Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing announces the
> publication of Scholarly Journals at the Crossroads: A Subversive
> Proposal for Electronic Publishing.  This book captures an Internet
> discussion about scientific and scholarly journals and their future that
> took place on a number of electronic forums starting in June 1994 and
> peaking in the fall.  Subsequent electronic conversations between the
> principals and interested parties continue until now (the last message
> captured in the book is dated March 21, 1995).  Given the powerful
> opportunities that electronic networking technologies offer to scholars
> and scientists, the future of publishing will be debated for years to
> come.  This book is one attempt to capture a key conversation between
> the stakeholders in scholarly communications.
>
>     Six principal discussants and about two dozen others advance
> radical and traditional views; they argue for overhaul of journal
> publication systems or advocate careful preservation of traditional
> values and roles.  Will electronic technologies save us from the
> economic pressures of the current papyrocentric publishing system or
> will they be more expensive than we dreamed? In his "Overture to the
> Subversive Proposal," Stevan Harnad (Cognitive Scientist, University of
> Southampton) writes, "For centuries, it was only out of reluctant
> necessity that authors of esoteric publications entered into the
> Faustian Bargain of allowing a price tag to be erected as a barrier
> between their work and its intended readership, for that was the only
> way they could make their work public at all during the age when paper
> publication was their only option."
>
>     Lorrin Garson (pioneer and leader in electronic publishing at
> the American Chemical Society) responds, "I would like to suggest that
> publishing electronic journals is in fact going to be more expensive
> than printing.  The collection, maintenance and dissemination of these
> data will be more costly than printing, but the information will be much
> more valuable to the scientific community.  Of course, when we get to
> this point we won't be publishing journals; the output will be called
> something else." Paul Ginsparg (Los Alamos National Laboratories),
> Bernard Naylor (Librarian, University of Southampton), Andrew Odlyzko
> (AT&T Bell Labs), and Frank Quinn (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
> State University) also offer thoughtful essays and provocative
> viewpoints.
>
>         Scholarly Journals at the Crossroads makes publishing history.
> It is the first time that a book derived from a series of wide-ranging
> Internet discussions on a scholarly topic recreates (insofar as
> possible) an e-mail experience for a general academic and publishing
> audience.
>
>     In their Conclusion, Ann Okerson (ARL) and James O'Donnell
> (Professor of Classics, University of Pennsylvania), the editors of this
> 9-month long networked conversation write, "This is a book about hope
> and imagination in one corner of the emerging landscape of cyberspace.
> It embraces passionate discussion of an idea for taking to the Internet
> to revolutionize one piece of the world of publishing."
>
>     The book includes a detailed table of contents, specially
> written introductory and concluding chapters by the co-editors, a
> "hyperlink" bibliography showing where materials in the book can be read
> on the Internet, and a glossary of terms used by the discussants.
>
>     The Association of Research Libraries is a not-for-profit
> organization representing 119 research libraries in the United States
> and Canada.  Its mission is to shape and influence forces affecting the
> future of research libraries in the process of scholarly communication.
> ARL programs and services promote equitable access to, and effective use
> of recorded knowledge in support of teaching, research, scholarship, and
> community service.  These programs include annual statistical
> publications, federal relations and information policy, and enhancing
> access to scholarly information resources through telecommunications,
> collection development, preservation, and bibliographic control.  The
> Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing works to identify and
> influence the forces affecting the production, dissemination, and use of
> scholarly and scientific information.
>
>     The book is produced in 7 x 10 format, paperbound, in 250 pages.
> Its ISBN number is: 0-918006-26-0
>
>     The raw source files from which the Subversive Book is derived
> can be found on the Internet as follows:
>
>     ftp to the site ftp.princeton.edu
>     cd pub/harnad/Psycoloquy/Subversive.Proposal
>
> To contact the editors:
>
>     Ann Okerson ([log in to unmask])
>     James O'Donnell ([log in to unmask])
>
>
> All other inquiries:
>
>     Patricia Brennan
>     Information Services Coordinator
>     Association of Research Libraries
>     21 Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 800
>     Washington, DC  20036
>     [log in to unmask]
>     phone:  202-296-2296
>     fax:  202-872-0884