APPENDIX 116
Memorandum from Dr Brian Stuart McBeth
1. I am writing to the Select Committee
to draw attention to the problems that some university library
readers have in accessing scientific and social science journals
without an Athens username. According to the Athens web-site the
system "provides users with single sign on to numerous web-based
services throughout the UK and overseas. Athens was initially
deployed in the Higher Education sector in 1996 and has firmly
established itself as the de facto standard for secure access
management to web-based services for the UK education and health
sectors".
2. The position at every UK University library
regarding all subscription-based electronic resources, including
electronic journals, is that the institutions are bound by the
restrictive licence terms negotiated and entered into by the Department
of Education with Athens. The terms are explicit in that access
is only authorized to current students and members of staff of
the University. This gives rise to an absurd situation where a
person, who is not a member of the university but who is authorized
to use the library can not access a large part of the collection
because of the restrictive terms of the Athens licence.
3. This means that bona fide readers
at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, like me who are
allowed into the library but are not current members of the university,
are denied access to the online journals. As a former member of
the University of Oxford with a doctorate degree, I have a reader's
ticket to the Bodleian Library, but I am unable to access the
online part of the collection. Apart from the rare manuscript
collection, there is nothing in the "General Guide to the
Bodleian Library" that states that part of the Library's
collection is out of bounds to readers. Section 1.1 of the brochure
states quite clearly that the resources of the Library, and anybody
would assume that to mean all the relevant electronic journals
and on-line resources, are available to the "the whole community
of the learned". I consider myself part of that community,
with two post-graduate degrees from Oxford, nine books published
with reputable publishers, a further book under consideration
with a US university publisher, and I am currently working on
another book. (See attached list of publications, papers and conferences)
It therefore came as a shock to be debarred from using the online
material, especially in this electronic age. Ironically, access
to the hard copies of the journals is still allowed. It is quite
baffling and hard to understand that such a caste system operates
within a university library, especially as there is no warning
in the various publications on the library that such a barmy policy
exists.
4. Such a policy seems incomprehensible
to me, as it is clearly against scholarship, discriminatory, and
a form of censorship that should not occur in publicly funded
institutions, especially at one of the country's copyright libraries.
It also begs the question as to how such a restrictive contract
was entered into in the first place.
5. There is a great deal of sympathy on
this matter from Sir Colin Lucas, the Vice-Chancellor of the University
of Oxford, who states in a letter to me on September 22, 2003,
that:
I can sympathise with the view that it is desirable
that such restrictions on access to material for the purposes
of scholarship should be kept to a minimum. The fact that inequalities
in the treatment of library users can arise because of the terms
of the licence is one to which attention might be drawn at the
national level at which negotiations for licences of this type
are conducted.
6. I raised this matter with the Rt Hon
Charles Clarke on October 6 and when I did not receive an answer,
I wrote to the Prime Minister on November 15 who forwarded the
correspondence back to the Education Secretary. At the time of
writing, I have not received an answer from the Department of
Education. The matter has now been taken up by the Rt Hon Tim
Collins, MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, who is in
correspondence with the Rt Hon Alan Johnson, the Higher Education
Minister.
7. I attach copies of my correspondence
with the Bodleian Library, the Vice Chancellor of the University
of Oxford, Downing Street, the Department of Education, the Rt
Hon Tim Collins, MP, and the Rt Hon Dr Ian Gibson MP (not printed)
8. Although the number of people affected
by the above library policy is minute relative to the size of
the population, it is the principle of the matter that is of importance
here as it is a form of censorship that is totally distasteful
and unacceptable. It is difficult to comprehend how university
libraries that are publicly funded can discriminate between its
readers.
February 2004
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