Per Volume 40, 1984 of Herbertia: "All material subject to this copyright appearing in HERBERTIA may be photocopied for the non-commercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement." James On Sat, Mar 16, 2024, 6:56 PM Jane McGary via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > Presumably R. Mitchel Beauchamp, as a former editor of one or both of > the IBS periodicals, knows what form of contract was made with the > authors, and it would be interesting to see it. Some of those authors > are, to my knowledge, still living. I would not call the content > "obscure," since I understood it easily as a member of the IBS up until > its dissolution and the formation of the PBS. I don't have any copies > now, after downsizing my library, but someone should look at the > copyright statement on their print copy. It would have been polite to > have contacted living authors to request permission to post their > articles, and I don't think any of them would have objected. As a former > editor of both journals and books, I was uneasy with the decision to > post these publications, but I agree that the potential usefulness of > making them available is high. Reproducing them goes beyond the usual > view of fair use, but the fact that PBS derives no income from this is a > point in its favor. > > One should consider that during the years of "Plant Life," certain > taxonomic views of the editor were enforced that differed from the > prevailing understanding of some genera of Amaryllidaceae. > > Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA > > > > On 3/16/2024 11:03 AM, Robert Lauf via pbs wrote: > > I agree with most of Kipp's comments, with a few quibbles. > > First, our distaste for paywalls does not, in itself, give us the moral > or legal right to publish pirated content. > > That said, and I believe we as a club have had the discussion at the > beginning of this activity, the pertinent facts, which no one likely knows, > would be: > > 1. Did the journal have authors sign a copyright release?2. If so, the > copyright belongs to the defunct society. When that society went belly up, > did some other org receive its remaining assets, including publication > rights? > > Whether or not we're making money off this is immaterial. What would > matter is if the actual copyright holder wants to make money off the > content, the copyright holder might come after us, sue, demand we remove > the content, and/or seek other remedies. This is extraordinarily unlikely > given the obscure nature of the content. This stuff isn't exactly Harry > Potter. If it happens, we can take it down. > > I agree with Kipp that our aims are purely altruistic, and I would > expect that any of the authors, if they are still living, would likely be > happy to see it. As a fellow author, I understand the desire for anything > that gets our content in front of interested readers. > > Bob Zone 7 dividing Sarracenias today > > On Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 01:34:39 PM EDT, Kipp McMichael via > pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > > > > Mitch, > > > > You replied to the digest email so the context of your question is > lost but I remember the topic. > > > > No one is making money off of these pdfs and the work put into > creating them makes content available that would otherwise be inaccessible. > I am going to wager neither you, the other editors nor any of the > contributors to these journals were paid for their work. The pdfs preserve > all attributions of their original content creators. The members of the > society that created this journal paid their membership dues and received > these journals for their payment. The society itself is now defunct. > > > > What, exactly, would be the purpose of concerning ourselves with who > gave permission to create these pdfs? Who is being harmed by them being > made available? Should we be concerned about whether the authors of the > Herculaneum scrolls or the illuminators of the Book of Kells gave > permission to have their content made digitally available? > > > > Too much human knowledge is trapped behind journal paywalls already. > More, still, is lost to pointless concerns about securing "permission to > share" material that was created by people who wanted to share their > knowledge in their first place. I cannot imagine a single author or > photographer who created this work being concerned about whether more > people get to enjoy it as long as attributions is maintained. I say this as > an author and photographer of published content. > > > > Forgive my rant, but we have to be the change we want to see in the > world. > > > > -|<ipp > > > > ________________________________ > > > > > > As a former editor of Plant Life/Herbertia, I was wondering who gave > permission to make these journals available digitally? > > > > R Mitchel Beauchamp > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > > https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > > PBS Forum latest: > https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php/… > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > PBS Forum latest: > https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php/… > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…