This discussion is interesting - of making profit and creating value.

A lot of the web is free, yet we use it everyday. It is not devalued just because it is free. And again, there are a lot of people making huge profits (money) by providing things for free - for example this very email service that I use for free. It is about creating value - if it is valuable, people will use it and you can also make money with it.

A collection of rare material may not be of value to everyone - but it is of value to a specific set of users - historians, antropologists etc. and it is of great value to a nation in general.

If our library has such a collection then we are entrusted with two responsiblities (our value add for the salary we get) - preserve it and make it accessible.

Now how we do it efficienty is left to us - get funds, raise funds; outsource, do it inhouse.

If an external vendor can do it for you more efficiently (for example for a small collection it may work out cheaper), then you should go ahead with it. The vendor making profits is not our concern at all, as long as he delivers for what he is being paid for. That is his value add to society.

Thanks and regards,

Suvarsha

Information Analyst,
HP Labs India
Bangalore

--- On Wed, 4/16/08, Mailing List Admin <mailman@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in> wrote:

> From: Mailing List Admin <mailman@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in>
> Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] UNESCO helps preserve Indian documentary heritage
> To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
> Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 12:24 AM
> Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:52:49 +0530
> From: Kshipra Sardesai <kshipra.sardesai@gmail.com>
>
> Madam,
> I also support your views. There is no imprtance or real
> valuation of rare
> things unless we priced it.I found whatever is free to
> public no one
> bothers
> for the services offered by such organisations like Library
> which are doing
> a great job of making such things available to public.The
> profit makers are
> always in search of ways out to make money.Government may
> fix some nominal
> charges on such rare collection and can divert this revenue
> for
> digitisation
> and infrastructure required for libraries to give best
> services.
>
> Kshipra Sardesai
> Asstt Librarian
> RBI, Bandra
> Mumbai 400051
>
> On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 5:24 PM, Mailing List Admin <
> mailman@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in> wrote:
>
> > Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:19:29 +0530
> > From: Susmita Chakraborty
> <susmitachakraborty94@gmail.com>
> >
> > With  regard to Mr. Leonard Fernandes' comments, I
> have a question to ask
> > the LIS community.
> >
> > When some (rare) resources are uploaded so that
> everyone can have it for
> > free, is it not defeating the purpose if someone
> (publisher or any other
> > other profitmaking body)  tries to earn profit from
> it?
> > On the other hand, I feel that libraries having such
> rich archives must
> > go
> > the digital way(digitization and dissemination of rare
> materials)  by
> > exploring state/national government or other funds and
> then try to derive
> > some revenue from these resources to cover the running
> costs of those
> > libraries.
> >
> > In these days of finance-crunch, it may point out one
> way to break-even.
> >
> > Regards.
> >
> > Susmita Chakraborty
> > Bengal Engineering & Science University, Shibpur,
> Howrah, W.B.
> _______________________________________________
> LIS-Forum mailing list
> LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
> http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum
>
> --
> This message has been scanned for viruses and
> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> believed to be clean.


     ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

_______________________________________________
LIS-Forum mailing list
LIS-Forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in
http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/mailman/listinfo/lis-forum