In comments made on the eve of Association of American Publishers’ annual meeting in Washington, D.C., the group’s president appeared to up the ante in her industry’s battle with libraries over fair use.
“We have a very serious issue with librarians,” Patricia Schroeder told the February 7 Washington Post. She maintained that publishers must develop a means of charging library users for electronic material. “Markets are limited. One library buys one of their journals,” she explained at a reception for academic publishers. “They give it to other libraries. They’ll give it to others,” leaving publishers and writers unpaid.
“Libraries have spent all this money on technology,” Schroeder said. “They don’t have any money left for content.”
Schroeder observed that no one wants to go up against libraries: “Politically, it’s the toughest issue. Libraries have a wonderful image.”
The Post story also quoted ALA President Nancy Kranich, who pointed out the skyrocketing price of scholarly journals. Noting the fair-use provisions that have traditionally governed information, she observed, “The publishing community does not believe that the public should have the same rights in the electronic world.”
Posted February 12, 2001.