16.159 commercial & individual notices of publication

From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty (w.mccarty@btinternet.com)
Date: Thu Aug 15 2002 - 02:01:18 EDT

  • Next message: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty : "16.161 commercial & individual notices of publication"

                   Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 159.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
                  <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

       [1] From: Stephen Ramsay <sramsay@arches.uga.edu> (20)
             Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual
                     notices

       [2] From: "Price, Dan" <dprice@tui.edu> (77)
             Subject: RE: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual
                     notices

       [3] From: Patrick Durusau <pdurusau@bellsouth.net> (22)
             Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual
                     notices

       [4] From: orlandi@rmcisadu.let.uniroma1.it (13)
             Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual
                     notices

       [5] From: Michael Fraser <mike.fraser@computing- (25)
                     services.oxford.ac.uk>
             Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual
                     notices

       [6] From: Craig Bellamy <milkbar@milkbar.com.au> (17)
             Subject: publications: commercial and individual notices

       [7] From: Joseph Rudman <rudman@cmuhep2.phys.cmu.edu> (3)
             Subject: Commercial Publishers

       [8] From: Dennis Cintra Leite <Dennis@fgvsp.br> (1)
             Subject: RE: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual
                     notices

       [9] From: cbf@socrates.Berkeley.EDU (3)
             Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual
                     notices

       [10] From: "Bonnett, John" <John.Bonnett@nrc.ca> (16)
             Subject: Please keep posting info from publishers

       [11] From: "Bandy, Linda" <linda.l.bandy@Vanderbilt.Edu> (12)
             Subject: RE: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual
                      notices

    --[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:40:07 +0100
             From: Stephen Ramsay <sramsay@arches.uga.edu>
             Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual notices

    On Wed, Aug 14, 2002 at 10:33:12AM +0100, Humanist Discussion Group (by way
    of Willard McCarty <w.mccarty@btinternet.com>) wrote:
    > My take on the matter is pragmatic: we need to know about new books, both
    > the sort that members themselves write and those further afield that are
    > still relevant to our concerns. I see no harm in exploiting a publisher's
    > desire to sell books, in order to satisfy our own intellectual purposes --
    > in fact I take pleasure in reversing the usual vector. But Humanist is a
    > commune of a sort. Let us all know your opinion, please.

    I, for one, rely on book catalogues and (even more) on Humanist to
    let me know about new publications in the field. I would be very
    sorry to see these notices disappear, and it seems to me that a
    clearly identified subject line would solve the problem for all
    concerned.

    Steve

    --
    Stephen Ramsay
    Department of English
    University of Georgia
    email: sramsay@arches.uga.edu
    web: http://busa.village.virginia.edu/
    PGP Public Key ID: 0xA38D7B11
    

    --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:40:42 +0100 From: "Price, Dan" <dprice@tui.edu> Subject: RE: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual notices

    You asked for personal opinions. To be honest, I was surprised by the listing from a publisher as I am not recalling notices from publishers before, just referrals, usually to MIT press. Could be mistaken about that; it is my AM recollection.

    Agreed, we in the field need to know about recent publications. At the same time, this ListServ is not our only source of information about what is happening in the field.

    As a policy then, would prefer the referrals by individuals as well as the notifications by individuals, not individual postings by individual publishers. Perhaps, though, could have a posting with listings from several publishers and marked as such?

    PS And thanks for asking, Appreciate that.

    --dan

    Sincerely, Dan Price, Ph.D. Professor, Center for Distance Learning ********************************************************** Union Institute & University (800) 486 3116 ext. 1222 440 E. McMillan St. (513) 861 6400 ext. 1222 Cincinnati OH 45206 FAX 513 861 9026

    http://www.tui.edu/Faculty/FacultyUndergrad/Price.html ********************************************************** --[3]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:41:11 +0100 From: Patrick Durusau <pdurusau@bellsouth.net> Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual notices

    Willard,

    <snip>

    >In Humanist 16.152 I circulated a number of publication notices from >Kluwer, sent to me from an "alert" service this publisher runs. >Subsequently a colleague and friend has written to object to the practice, >saying that notices from individuals about publication of their books are >welcome to him, but that he regards notices from commercial publishers as >unacceptable. How does everyone else feel about this?

    As a practical matter I rely upon the Humanist to make me aware of publications and resources that I otherwise might not notice. That is not to say that every publication that appears on the Humanist list is of interest to me but tastes and interests vary and I appreciate your filtering some of the noise from current publication lists.

    Most books continue to be published by commercial publishers and I don't know of any reason why notices from an author would be acceptable whereas a notice from the publisher would not be acceptable. I favor continued notices of publications without regard to source.

    Patrick

    -- Patrick Durusau Director of Research and Development Society of Biblical Literature pdurusau@emory.edu

    --[4]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:41:40 +0100 From: orlandi@rmcisadu.let.uniroma1.it Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual notices

    The main difference between "private announcements" and advertisement is that the former are easily checked, while the others, if you accept one, you have to accept all -- or people might believe that the moderator has special sympathies etc. The subject could be the discriminating criterion, but there also, where really to stop in the interdisciplinary areas? Humanist might become full of junk mail...

    ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tito Orlandi orlandi@rmcisadu.let.uniroma1.it CISADU - Fac. di Lettere Tel. 39+06.4991-3936 P.zale Aldo Moro, 5 Fax 39+60.4991-3945 00185 Roma http://rmcisadu.let.uniroma1.it/~orlandi

    --[5]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:42:32 +0100 From: Michael Fraser <mike.fraser@computing-services.oxford.ac.uk> Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual notices

    I suspect this links to an earlier thread on Humanist which I haven't followed too closely (so apologies if I'm just repeating someone else's call) but I would encourage writers of scholarly articles and essays (at least, royalty-free publications) to make an electronic version available via an institutional or subject eprint server. In the UK the JISC have recently funded projects to develop institutional eprint servers (CURL - SHERPA) and subject-based views of institutional servers (ePrints UK, see http://www.rdn.ac.uk/projects/eprints-uk/). As a partner in the latter project, I would be keen to encourage humanities scholars to make available refereed eprints and members of this community in particular to canvass their institutions and/or professional associations to set up eprint services based on the Open Archives Initiative protocols (e.g. see http://www.gla.ac.uk/createchange/).

    I don't object too much to notices from Klewer etc but bearing in mind the cost of journal subscriptions, for example, to institutions wouldn't it be nice if new publications had a corresponding link to an eprint archive?

    Michael

    --- Dr Michael Fraser Head of Humbul Humanities Hub Oxford University Computing Services 13 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 6NN Tel: 01865 283 343 Fax: 01865 273 275 http://www.humbul.ac.uk/

    --[6]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:44:03 +0100 From: Craig Bellamy <milkbar@milkbar.com.au> Subject: publications: commercial and individual notices

    Hi Willard et.al.

    At H-Net we have a strict policy not to promote commercial publishers books (I am a list moderator). I think that I would prefer humanist not to promote commercial publishers as well, as it probably crosses yet another line of commercialism and opens up debates that are more of a distraction than anything else. The more scholarly spaces free of commercialism the better.

    all the best,

    Craig Bellamy

    Craig Bellamy PhD Candidate School of Creative Media RMIT University Melbourne, 3000 Victoria, Australia www.milkbar.com.au

    "torturers know how to give up their seat on the metro, just like Himmler" Camus

    --[7]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:42:51 +0100 From: Joseph Rudman <rudman@cmuhep2.phys.cmu.edu> Subject: Commercial Publishers

    Dear Willard,

    I find the notifications valuable. Thank you.

    Joe Rudman

    --[8]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:43:34 +0100 From: Dennis Cintra Leite <Dennis@fgvsp.br> Subject: RE: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual notices

    As long as the subject line warns of its contents publication notices should be welcomed to this list. Not interested - don't read it!!

    --[9]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:44:31 +0100 From: cbf@socrates.Berkeley.EDU Subject: Re: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual notices

    Hi Willard,

    Keep sending the book announcements.

    Charles Faulhaber The Bancroft Library UC Berkeley, CA 94720-6000 (510) 642-3782 FAX (510) 642-7589 cfaulhab@library.berkeley.edu

    --[10]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:45:03 +0100 From: "Bonnett, John" <John.Bonnett@nrc.ca> Subject: Please keep posting info from publishers

    Dear Willard,

    In contrast to your correspondent yesterday I was very glad for the information from Kluwer, and hope you will continue to provide information from it, MIT Press, and other relevant publishers. I have to say that one of your postings -- providing information from MIT Press -- played a key role in helping me finish my dissertation. The book in question was Alicia Juarrrero's _Dynamics in Action_.

    With best wishes,

    -- John Bonnett

    National Research Council of Canada Institute for Information Technology 2 Garland Court Fredericton, NB E3B-9V3

    Phone: (506) 451-2675 Fax: (506) 452-3859 e-mail: john.bonnett@nrc.ca

    --[11]------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 06:45:42 +0100 From: "Bandy, Linda" <linda.l.bandy@Vanderbilt.Edu> Subject: RE: 16.157 publications: commercial and individual notices

    I have to agree with your friend on all counts. I'd like to see this group remain the bright spot in my email box, and pure light, too!! Too much commercialization; let's keep it unsullied. Besides, what do we get in return? This 'service' has access to people very likely to read and (therefore) buy books. Now, if they were to give us a review, or a sample, it might be a different story; something to assist in the evaluation of the tome. The service gets to say 'we reach...', but give us nothing for our attention. Besides, this list is so respected that I take any information here as well-given, carrying an imprimatur. Glad to hear about members' works of all sorts, though. Count me in the 'con' column.

    Linda Bandy



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