The donor restrictions are also negotiable. The degree of restriction is
not relevant to this discussion.
As for "conduit", I wonder how many librarians feel they are money pipes
between their institution and the publishers.
Jean-Claude
On 2024-03-08 08:56, Rick Anderson wrote:
>
> At the risk of being drafted into the monastic orders, I’ll respond
> once more on this thread and then stop.
>
> Donor funds are actually a very interesting case in the context of
> this discussion – because they’re usually far more restrictive than
> institutionally-allocated funds are. Whereas a university typically
> says to its library each year “Here’s $X for collections, and $X for
> personnel, and $X for operations (etc.)”, a donor is much more likely
> to say “Here’s $X which, in honor of my late father, you may use to
> purchase 15^th -century Persian texts in Greek translation.” (And if
> that sounds like an exaggeration, I would suggest that you haven’t
> spent much time raising money for libraries.)
>
> It's not unheard of, but relatively rare, for a donor (or a host
> institution) to give money to a library and say “Do whatever you want
> with this money.” Generally, both donors and host institutions provide
> funds to libraries so that the library will do things that the donors
> and the institutions want done. For the library to accept those funds
> and then use them to pursue a different agenda isn’t “courageous”;
> it’s dishonest and unethical.
>
> (In case anyone might find it interesting and/or amusing, I wrote a
> brief piece in /Library Journal/ ten years ago on the vagaries of
> gifts in libraries, called “Kitten in a Beer Mug: The Myth of the Free
> Gift”:
> https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/kitten-in-a-beer-mug-the-myth-of-the-free-gift-peer-to-peer-review
> <https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/kitten-in-a-beer-mug-the-myth-of-the-free-gift-peer-to-peer-review>.)
>
> ---
>
> Rick Anderson
>
> University Librarian
>
> Brigham Young University
>
> (801) 422-4301
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> *From: *Jean-Claude Guédon <[log in to unmask]>
> *Date: *Friday, March 8, 2024 at 1:50 AM
> *To: *Rick Anderson <[log in to unmask]>,
> "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
> *Subject: *Re: [OPENCAFE-L] The source of money (Re: [OPENCAFE-L]
> European Policy Shifts)
>
> I have been involved closely enough with libraries and consortia (CRKN
> in this case) to know the degrees of freedom libraries have once they
> take hold of their budget from their overarching institution. Arguing
> that libraries are not the source of their money is Jesuitical at
> best. Yes, the money is allocated by someone else - a university,
> whatever - and yes they have to report to someone in the
> administration, once the money is spent. But they can also raise money
> - my wife was doing that brilliantly at McGill - and they are not just
> conduits.
>
> That is what lucidity (and courage) mean,
>
> Jean-Claude
>
> On 2024-03-07 08:51, Rick Anderson wrote:
>
> I realize that the differences between this odd caricature of my
> previous message and what I actually said are obvious and don’t
> require a detailed rebuttal.
>
> But I do want to emphasize that by pointing out the fact that
> libraries are not the source of the funds that they inject into
> the scholcomm system, I neither said nor implied that librarians
> are either “powerless” or not “strong.” Nor did I characterize
> examples of libraries “successfully redirecting money towards
> various openness initiatives” as “marginal”; I actually called
> them “very impressive.”
>
> Yrs. in lucid thinking,
>
> Rick
>
> ---
>
> Rick Anderson
>
> University Librarian
>
> Brigham Young University
>
> (801) 422-4301
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> *From: *Jean-Claude Guédon <[log in to unmask]>
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> *Date: *Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 2:48 AM
> *To: *Rick Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>, "[log in to unmask]"
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> <[log in to unmask]>
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> *Subject: *Re: [OPENCAFE-L] The source of money (Re: [OPENCAFE-L]
> European Policy Shifts)
>
> On 2024-03-06 16:32, Rick Anderson wrote:
>
> /This is a very common misconception among people who don’t
> work in libraries, and for some reason it’s proven very
> difficult to dislodge. The actual reality is that libraries
> are not sources of money at all; they’re conduits through
> which money flows. The source of that money is the libraries’
> host institutions./
>
> Rick makes a gallant attempt to demonstrate the powerlessness of
> librarians within their institutions. What he is really referring
> to is an instance of institutional politics where librarians,
> while not in a dominant position, nonetheless enjoy a degree of
> power and some ability to negotiate. What I am referring to is
> that when librarians become aware of their real power (which is
> not all that great, but, once again, is not zero), they have to
> think lucidly on how they can put some direction and coherence on
> their conduits.
>
> If I were to believe that librarians are truly passive conduits, I
> would pity them deeply. I have too much knowledge about,
> admiration for and faith in that profession to know that
> librarians can do more than what Rick states. He himself admits
> that it exists. He tries to reduce this to marginal exceptions,
> but that is another question that some evidence-based scholars can
> solve, I believe. One only has to think about the book-banning
> efforts in the US and how librarians react. This is a strong and
> generally courageous profession.
>
> Jean-Claude
>
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