Hello LIS professionals,
I reproduce below two mails –
one from
These discussions give you a
glimpse of not only the way NDLTD has been serving the cause of ETDs and also
the issues involved and how a professional community can/should stand up to its
values and beliefs.
Happy reading!
Shalini
----
Hi!
Many thanks for your note,
copied below, to the ETD listserv.
I am glad that you have
served the patent community, but patent documents are different from ETDs,
calling for a different strategy.
It is nice to hear that you
wish to serve the ETD community. NDLTD is happy to work with partners, if we
indeed can discuss and cooperate.
Meanwhile, your recent
action has, as was reported by R. Mutt, been harmful. As Executive Director of
NDLTD I am writing to urge immediate action on your part to remove the
full-texts ETDs that still appear from your site, e.g., http://www.openthesis.org/document/pdfView/22231.pdf
As you have heard from
others on our Board of Directors, you have taken a very unwise course of
action, and may suffer serious consequences, even if you act now, but the
situation will only get worse if you persist in illegal behavior.
When you came to ETD 2009, I
and others made it perfectly clear that we would be happy to discuss ways that
you might assist the ETD community.
But we never heard or saw
any details about your plans until you put them in place in an inappropriate
way. Reaching us was not hard, given information on our web site, and I
personally gave you my contact information when we met in
Inviting the large number of
subscribers to ETD-L to a phone discussion about this also seems very unwise. I
hope people will not respond in numbers, complaining. I plan to call at
The legal term is that I
urge you to "cease and desist".
I'd suggest after that a
press release apologizing, and saying that you are exploring other types of
services, which will be announced soon.
We can work with you on your
plan for services and on announcements, but I strongly urge you to delay those
till after the dust has settled a bit.
This note carries no
commitment or endorsement, and in no way could be construed to protect your
company from any legal action that others might bring to bear. My hope is
solely to ensure that ill effects are reduced, and to help move things forward
in a positive direction.
Sincerely,
(
+1-540-231-5113)
On
>
>
> We're not going to
display full-text from OAI; we heard you loud and clear; we'll make the change.
>
> Still, it's 2010 and
ETDs are largely inaccessible or hard to access (keep in mind the web today
favors a lack of friction; fewer clicks to get what you want). Â Patents once
were the same way-- the province of paid subscription databases, till we took
up the cause in 2004. Â Back then, a few hundred thousand folks per year could
access patents worldwide. Â Now we serve 10 million or so people per month with
free patent info, worldwide.
>
> With your help, we can
expose ETDs to millions across the globe, in a way that fits your charter. Â We
hope to work together with you in pragmatic ways; clearly there's no lack of
passion among your members.
>
> We can drive a ton of
traffic to your full-text links. Â And we will get ETDs you do NOT have, and
will be sharing them via OAI. Â But how to work together in actionable ways, if
you're willing?
>
> Join our call tomorrow
at
>
> We want yet more
counsel and advice, and will tell you about a big new feature we aim to add.
>
> We can radically
accelerate the cause of free ETDs with you. Â
>
> -
>
Executive Director and Professor
Phone : + 91
Fax
: + 91
ISiM -