Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

This list is part of the Open Access Directory.

2004

• Announcement on the MIT Libraries web site.
• I blogged this news on February 6, 2004, when it seemed to be fairly new. But the web site says it was last updated on December 16, 2003. I haven't yet been able to find other web pages showing which date is more accurate. My guess is that it's February news and the revision date on the page is in error.
• Summary: "The MIT Libraries have recently taken steps to reduce the impact of two large commercial publishers on our ability to make responsible decisions in selecting information resources for use at MIT. Specifically, we declined three-year renewal contracts that would have required us to guarantee on-going spending levels with Wiley InterScience and Elsevier Science. These actions ensure that if the Libraries need to reduce spending in the next year or two, we can make those decisions based solely on the specific needs of the MIT user community, without giving unfair advantage to certain publishers....The decision to decline the three-year renewals was difficult because the terms for one-year renewals were considerably less attractive. However, the one-year renewals put us in a position of being able to cancel titles next year if we need to."
• The announcement links to an MIT web page with more background information.