On January 29, the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) released a report, Rip-off 101, accusing book publishers of greedy practices that have precipitated a textbook pricing crisis. Also see the CALPIRG press release. CALPIRG hosts a non-profit online bookswap for students, and has persuaded Rep. David Wu (D-WA) to submit legislation (H.R. 3567) to investigate price gouging by the textbook industry. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has introduced similar legislation in the Senate. The American Association of Publishers has written a reply to the CALPIRG report. (PS: I'm struck by the parallels to the journal pricing crisis and the dual response to create free and affordable journals. CALPIRG also calls for both, and there is a growing movement to create truly open-access textbooks. For example, see the story out Penn State earlier today.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/14/2004 02:59:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
