Brian McNeil wrote:
On Tue, 2010-01-05 at 17:44 +0000, Chris McKenna wrote:
I'd suggest that some FoI requests to likely ministries/departments asking how much they spend annually on such subscriptions, and which budget it comes out of. I'd suggest the Home Office; Communities and Local Govt; Business, Innovation and Skills; Children and Schools; Culture, Media and Sport; Health; Wales and Scotland.
Many sources made freely available (well, taxpayer-paid) through libraries are the very sources Wikipedians reply on to access papers &c to expand and flesh out Wikipedia articles.
Indeed. I'm not suggesting a neanderthal approach. I looked at my Cambridgeshire "Your library online", and it reads as
* AccessScience * Ancestry.com (opens in new window) - Not available for home use. Book a library computer * Annual Register: A Record of World Events * BDS catalogue * British Standards * Burke's Peerage - Only available in libraries. Book a library computer * Cobra Business Encyclopaedia (opens in new window) - Only available at Milton Road Library. Book a library computer * Credo Reference * Crockfords Clerical Directory * Encyclopaedia Britannica (Academic edition) * Encyclopaedia Britannica (Library Edition) * Encyclopaedia Britannica Junior (Age Group 5 to 11) * Encyclopaedia Britannica Student (Age Group 12 to 18) * Film Index International * Gale Virtual Reference Library * House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (opens in new window) - Not available for home use. Book a library computer * InfoTrac Newspaper Database * InfoTrac UK Journals * John Johnson Collection : An archive of printed ephemera * KnowUK * Kompass * LexisNexis Butterworths (opens in new window) - Not available for home use. Book a library computer * Literature Online (LION) * MarketLine Business Information Center * Naxos Music Library (opens in new window) -Not available for home use. Book a library computer * NewsUK * Oxford Art Online * Oxford Dictionary of National Biography * Oxford English Dictionary * Oxford Music Online * Oxford Reference Online * Safari Books Online * The Guardian and The Observer * Times Digital Archive * Who's Who / Who Was Who
One of which I use constantly. These fall into various "sectors" (how many?), in some of which there is no "free content" equivalent. What would be helpful would be to have some pie charts, numbers, and a nuanced view. Get to the point where one could have an informed discussion with a librarian on the issues.
Charles