On demand printing...

[Gail E. Kampmeier]

>But on demand printing is printing on paper.  I think the problems/issues
>here are far more insidious than most of us realize.  I would predict that
>those journals controlled by the big commercial publishing houses (who are
>consolidating all the time)  will move towards a format where you or your
>library will only print copies of individual journal articles "on demand"
>to any journal that the library or you subscribed to. Paper copies might
>exist, but I bet my library will save the $$ and space and choose as needed
>versions.

I recently talked with our librarian about on-line vs. printed versions of
publications, and she indicated that libraries that view themselves as
"repositories of knowledge", will take the printed versions of journals,
even if they also purchase on-line versions of journals for the convenience
of patrons.  They are certainly hoping that adding on-line versions will
not significantly raise the price if they already take the printed version.
Indeed, it was recently pointed out to me that most of the cost of a
journal is getting it to that first copy stage, and not in its reproduction
and distribution, a fact that surprised me perhaps more than it should.

While this view of the printed medium by "repository" libraries may change
as budgets get ever tighter, I thought this was an interesting concept that
not all libraries would consider this to be their responsibility. Perhaps
in the future, such libraries will need to be even more selective about
what is contained in their printed repositories, and here the taxonomic
community should make sure it is heard.

Cheers!
Gail
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Gail E. Kampmeier, Research Entomologist, Illinois Natural History Survey,
Box 5 NSRC, MC-637, 1101 W. Peabody, Urbana, IL 61801 USA
ph. 217-333-2824; fax 217-333-6784; email: gkamp at uiuc.edu
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cee/therevid/
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