DigitalKoans

Update: See "A Look Back at Eighteen Years as an Internet Digital Publisher" for current information.

It was sixteen years ago today that I became an Internet electronic publisher. Little did I know what would result from the apparently simple act of starting an early mailing list called PACS-L. Below is an abbreviated chronology of my electronic publishing efforts so far. They would not have been possible without the support of Robin N. Downes, the former Director of the University of Houston Libraries, and the efforts of volunteers from the UH Libraries and elsewhere. Thanks to all of them.

• June 29, 1989. Established the PACS-L mailing list, acted as list owner and, later, as its first moderator. Sent the first PACS-L message welcoming subscribers.
• August 16, 1989. Established The Public-Access Computer Systems Review (PACS Review), a free e-journal, and acted as its first Editor-in-Chief (announcement).
• January 3, 1990. Published the first PACS Review issue. Articles were selected by the editors. They were distributed as ASCII files using the LISTSERV software (see example); table of contents messages were e-mailed to subscribers. Authors retained the copyright to their articles. Liberal copying was permitted for noncommercial purposes.
• March 5, 1990. Established and acted as co-editor of Public-Access Computer Systems News, a free electronic newsletter (first issue). Acted as co-editor until the end of 1992.
• August 30, 1990. Published the first version of "Library-Oriented BITNET Lists," a directory of mailing lists.
• August 26, 1991. Published a special PACS Review issue on "Network-Based Electronic Serials," including Stevan Harnad’s "Post-Gutenberg Galaxy: The Fourth Revolution in the Means of Production of Knowledge."
• October 29, 1991. Adopted a more flexible PACS Review publication schedule that took advantage of electronic publishing capabilities and reduced article publication time.
• November 11, 1991. Changed the PACS Review to a peer-reviewed journal.
• November 15, 1991. Announced that I was stepping down as PACS-L moderator. PACS-L had over 3,100 subscribers at the time.
• January 13, 1992. Established the PACS-P mailing list to distribute the UH Libraries electronic publications and Current Cites (announcement). See the PACS-P chronology for more details.
• April 6, 1992. Published the first peer-reviewed PACS Review article.
• January 18, 1994. Published my last version of "Library-Oriented Lists and Electronic Serials." Subsequently, Ann Thornton and Steve Bonario maintained the document; Wei Wu maintains it currently.
• January 29, 1994. Made the PACS Review and PACS News available via a Gopher server.
• March 21, 1995. Published the first HTML version of the PACS Review and established a policy that allowed authors to update articles. This issue was composed of the first version of my "Network-Based Electronic Publishing of Scholarly Works: A Selective Bibliography." This article had 26 versions.
• September 12, 1996. Announced that I was stepping down as PACS Review Editor-in-Chief at the end of 1996. (See the PACS Review Wikipedia article for more details about it.)
• October 30, 1996. Published the first HTML version of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography (SEPB), a free, updated electronic book (announcement).
• December 17, 1996. Created the first Acrobat version of SEPB.
• September 16, 1997. Published the first version of Scholarly Electronic Publishing Resources (SEPR).
• March 2001. Started contributing reviews to Current Cites (reviews).
• June 7, 2001. Began the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog (SEPW) (first posting at bottom).
• September 22, 2003. Established the SEPW@LISTSERV.UH.EDU mailing list and distributed the first ASCII version of SEPW.
• July 13, 2004. Put SEPB, SEPR, and SEPW under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.
• December 31, 2004. There were over 2,602,000 successful Gopher or Web requests for PACS Review files since January 1994; LISTSERV use was unknown (see the PACS Review use statistics). There were over 4.2 million successful Web requests for SEPB files since October 1996 (see the SEPB use statistics).
• March 2, 2005. The Association of Research Libraries published my Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals. The book was made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License in print and PDF formats (the PDF version was freely available).
• March 15, 2005. Added an RSS feed to SEPW.
• April 20, 2005. Established DigitalKoans (RSS feed), a Weblog that provided commentary on scholarly electronic publishing and digital culture issues (offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License).
• June, 10 2005. Published version 58 of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography.

Articles about These Electronic Publications

Bailey, Charles W., Jr. "Brought to You By . . ." Interview by Carol Ebbinghouse. Research & Education Networking 2 (March 1991): 12-15.

———. "Electronic (Online) Publishing in Action . . . The Public-Access Computer Systems Review and Other Electronic Serials." ONLINE 15 (January 1991): 28-35 (preprint).

———. "Evolution of an Electronic Book: The Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography." The Journal of Electronic Publishing 7 (December 2001).

———. "The Public-Access Computer Systems Forum: A Computer Conference on BITNET." Library Software Review 9 (March-April 1990): 71-74.

Crawford, Walt. "Talking About Public Access—PACS-L’s First Decade." Information Technology and Libraries 19 (September 2000): 112-115.

DeLoughry, Thomas J. "The Latest Scoop on Internet Resources." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2 November 1994, A28.

Ensor, Pat, and Thomas Wilson. "Public-Access Computer Systems Review: Testing the Promise." The Journal of Electronic Publishing 3, no. 1 (1997).

Moothart, Tom. "Charles W. Bailey, Jr.: Editor, Publisher, Innovator." Serials Review 23, no. 1 (1997): 59-62.

Wu, Wei. "Library-Oriented Lists and Electronic Serials." Texas Library Journal, 74, no. 1 (1998): 36-38.

The Supreme Court has ruled against Grokster. See "Supreme Court Rules against File Swapping" and "Court: File-Sharing Services May Be Sued" for details. For background information, see "File-Swap Fallout in Supreme Court Ruling" and the EFF’s MGM v. Grokster page. For in-depth discussion of the underlying issues, see Darknet: Hollywood’s War Against the Digital Generation and Sonic Boom listed at "Digital Works Want to Be Free ."

The key quote in the ruling is:

For the same reasons that Sony took the staple-article doctrine of patent law as a model for its copyright safeharbor rule, the inducement rule, too, is a sensible one for copyright. We adopt it here, holding that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties. We are, of course, mindful of the need to keep from trenching on regular commerce or discouraging the development of technologies with lawful and unlawful potential. Accordingly, just as Sony did not find intentional inducement despite the knowledge of the VCR manufacturer that its device could be used to infringe, 464 U. S., at 439, n. 19, mere knowledge of infringing potential or of actual infringing uses would not be enough here to subject a distributor to liability. Nor would ordinary acts incident to product distribution, such as offering customers technical support or product updates, support liability in themselves. The inducement rule, instead, premises liability on purposeful, culpable expression and conduct, and thus does nothing to compromise legitimate commerce or discourage innovation having a lawful promise.

The EFF provides other key quotes.

Here’s an interesting take on the ruling: "File-Sharing Decision Hardly Apocalyptic".

ARL issued a statement for the Library Copyright Alliance that said:

The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA)­a group composed of the American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, Medical Library Association, and Special Libraries Association ­welcomes this balanced decision that supports the interests of libraries while addressing issues of widespread copyright infringement. By focusing on conduct that induces infringement, rather than on the distribution of technology, the decision ensures the continued availability of new and evolving digital technologies to libraries and their patrons.

The Center for Democracy and Technology’s press release said:

The court has worked to craft careful balance that allows copyright owners to pursue bad actors, but still protect the rights of technology makers. We hope this decision will preserve the climate of innovation that fostered the development of everything from the iPod to the Internet itself.

The EFF was less sanguine in their press release:

This decision relies on a new theory of copyright liability that measures whether manufacturers created their wares with the “intent” of inducing consumers to infringe. It means that inventors and entrepreneurs will not only bear the costs of bringing new products to market, but also the costs of lawsuits if consumers start using their products for illegal purposes.

And, of course, many bloggers weighed in as seen in Eric Goldman’s roundup, the lively discussion on SCOTUSblog, and the tsunami of comments on Slashdot.

According to "Congress Applauds File-Sharing Ruling" Congress is unlikely to take any immediate action as a result of the ruling.

Robert Summer, former head of the Recording Industry Association of America and former president of Sony Music International, said of the music industry reaction to the verdict: "The response across the board was one of elation."

From June 24, 2005 to June 30, 2005, Open Access News was down, and I posted Peter Suber’s e-mail updates here. OAN is now up, and Peter has updated it with the missing postings. My updates have been deleted from this posting.

Links to the OAN messages in question are below.

June 30 posting (2 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2063.html

June 30 posting (7 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2062.html

June 29 posting (1 item)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2061.html

June 29 posting (5 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2060.html

June 28 posting (4 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2059.html

June 28 posting (2 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2056.html

June 27 posting (2 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2055.html

June 27 posting (6 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2054.html

June 26 posting (5 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2053.html

June 25 posting (11 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2051.html

June 24 posting (2 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2048.html

June 24 posting (7 items)
https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/Message/2043.html

What was new and interesting during the week of 6/20/05?

• ALA Conference Bloggers List
• aUK: Connecting Archives
• Blackwell Publishing and Author Self-Archiving
• "Bloglines Hits 500 Million Article Mark"
• "Canada’s DMCA Introduced"
• Cornell Publishes First E-Resources with New Open Source Software
• "Duke’s Free iPod program Has Mixed Results"
• First issue of PLoS Computational Biology is LIVE
• "The Global Record: Understanding Its Use and Ensuring Its Future For Scholarship"
• "Key Open Access Concepts"
• "L.A. Times Suspends ‘Wikitorials’"
• "Library Internet Access Better Than Ever"
• Long-Lived Digital Data Collections: Enabling Research and Education in the 21st Century
• "The Long Tail"
• Medical Library Weblogs
• "Music Industry Eyes ‘Casual Piracy’: Major Labels to Copy-Protect All CDs Sold in The U.S."
• New International Study Demonstrates Worldwide Readiness for Open Access Mandate
• New OCLC Research projects: Curiouser, Data Mining, and MetaWiki
• "A New Page in Google’s Books Fight"
• OCKHAM Initiative
• Open Access Journals Get Impressive Impact Factors
• "Overview of Scholarly Communication in Canada"
• "Patent Absurdity"
• PRESERV-L
• Public Libraries and the Internet 2004: Survey Results and Findings
• "Publishers Ask Google for Moratorium on Scanning Copyrighted Books"
• RCUK Draft Mandates Open Access
• Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog Update (6/20/05)
• Using Electronic Reserves: Guidelines for Best Practices for Copyright Compliance
• Writings About E-Book Publishing, 2005

An excerpt from the Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access Journals (OAB) that provides a brief overview of OA concepts is now available in HTML-tagged format. Additional links have been added, and old links checked and updated. As part of the OAB, it is under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.

http://www.escholarlypub.com/oab/keyoaconcepts.htm

Needless to say, there has been rapid growth in blogging by librarians over the last few years, and library blogosphere has become more varied and complex. Here are some directories of library web logs to help you navigate the library blogosphere:

• Bloggin Libraries, blogwithoutalibrary.net
• Law Library Blogs and Blogs by Law Librarians, AALL
• Library and Information Science: Weblogs, Open Directory Project
• Library Weblogs, Libdex
• LISFeeds.com (RSS feeds for library blogs, plus blog links), Blake T. Carver and Steven M. Cohen
• Public Library Blogs, Peter Scott
• School Library Blogs, Peter Scott
• Special Library Blogs, Peter Scott
• Weblogs and Public Libraries, PLA

Want more information about library web logs? Try Susan Herzog’s BlogBib.

What was new and interesting during the week of 6/13/05?

• Canadian Library Association Open Access Resolution
• "Come On Music Biz, Embrace P2P"
• Connotea: Bookmarks Matching Tag Publishing
• "Creative Commons and Webcomics"
• Digital Repositories Programme
• EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers
• "Elsevier’s Scirus Opens Repository Search Service"
• EPIC 2014
• "Expanding your field with E-LIS"
• "Google Library Digitization Agreement With University Of Michigan Now Available"
• "Google’s Site Ranking Secrets"
• "Interview with Melissa Hagemann of the Open Society Institute"
• "Justices to Rule on Fate of File-Swapping"
• "Key Open Access Concepts" (OAB excerpt)
• Listmania! Digital Works Want to Be Free
• Los Angeles Times "Wikitorials"
• National Digital Newspaper Program (A partnership between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities)
• New York Public Library Audio Book Downloads
• "OCLC Pilot Designed to Increase Use of Libraries’ E-Serials"
• Péter’s Digital Reference Shelf—June (Review of Google Scholar and HighWire Press Archive)
• "Privacy Issues with Google Library Search"
• "Register of Copyrights Misunderstands Copyright"
• "Report on the Meeting of Experts on Digital Preservation: Metadata Specifications"
• Russell Group Statement on Scholarly Communication and Publishing
• Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography Use Statistics
• ScienceResearch.com
• Soft Launch of LITA Blog
• TEXTUALSCHOLARSHIP@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
• Using Dublin Core
• "Yahoo Ramps up ‘Deep Web’ Search Effort"
• "Your ISP as Net Watchdog"
• Welch Medical Library Virtual Reference Application

The biweekly update of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog (SEPW) is now available, which provides brief information on 20+ new journal issues and other resources. Especially interesting are: A Companion to Digital Humanities, "EFF: Legal Guide for Bloggers," an issue of the Journal of Library Administration on licensing, Online Submission and Peer Review Systems, "Open Access Self-Archiving: An Author Study," and "Using Dublin Core."

Let’s say you run a research library and you have JSTOR. You are convinced that JSTOR is a safe, permanent electronic archive that fully substitutes for the included print journal volumes. It makes sense to take a second look at those print volumes. It’s a large number of volumes, and space (as always) is tight. What to do? You could withdraw them, you could put them in remote storage, or you could do nothing.

A question that might come to mind is: What impact will withdrawing these volumes have on my volume count? And, if your library is in ARL, a second question might be: what impact would withdrawing these volumes have on my ARL ranking?

Of course, if you are at one of the very top-tier libraries, this might be the proverbial drop in the bucket. If not, it might have an effect, possibly a big effect if you are at the bottom of the rankings.

Another interesting twist comes when the same questions come to bear on cooperative print archives. The idea is that a group of libraries band together and put one archival copy of book or journal volumes in a collective print repository, freeing up a considerable amount of collective space. Perhaps it’s in response to a shift to electronic access, or perhaps it’s based on low usage. In either case, one archival copy is stored safe and sound for that someday when it might be needed.

Makes sense—until you play the counting game.

The problem with the counting game in the