I am sorry, I didn't see the origin of this email thread. My response was mainly to the following and hence I've been referring to digitization rather than Print-On-Demand (POD).

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When some (rare) resources are uploaded so that everyone can have it for free, is it not defeating the purpose if someone tries to earn profit from it?

While I am aware of the POD concept, I was not sure how libraries could be involved because of cost issues. But this document does speak of the possibilities: http://www.library.cornell.edu/communications/2006/newsarchive/ALA06%20_Pres... Thanks, Suvarsha --- On Thu, 4/17/08, Leonard Fernandes wrote:

From: Leonard Fernandes Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Digitization of rare materials - Interactive Relighting To: suvarsha_w@yahoo.com Date: Thursday, April 17, 2008, 10:07 AM Just to recap...

UNESCO had archived the contents of the library of Xavier's at Kolkota and, being a POD publisher, I mentioned of an offer I made to the Goa Central Library to print one copy of their digitized collection so that the physical copy could circulated among researchers and students.

I guess the question being asked is if it is ethical for me to make money while providing a service that will, in turn, be provided for free i.e. the books produced will be provided to researchers for free

There is no such thing as free lunch. Someone's got to pay. If I provide the printing service for free, it is probably the last time I provide such a service because I will not be able to live on love and fresh air for very long. Because I charge, I can sustain myself for another day so that I am able to provide the same service to another library or institution.

We pay for water too. By the same argument, what right does the government have to charge for a natural resource that is, so to speak, freely available. But because the government earns from it, it is able to lay pipelines, afford to have a maintenance crew, etc.. So there is justification in charging for the water, isn't there?

Technology on its own is both neutral and without merit. Only when it is used for a specific purpose does it assume significance of any kind. I think POD is a technology worth experimenting with instead of merely rubbishing.

Regards,

Leonard Fernandes ============================== Cell: +91-98503 98530 Skype: leonardjensan http://books.dogearsetc.com (our online book store) http://cinnamonteal.dogearsetc.com (our print-on-demand service) http://thepost.dogearsetc.com (our weekly newsletter)

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