Why Should Libraries at Small Colleges or Public Universities Support the SEP?

A question that we sometimes encounter is:

Why should libraries at small colleges or public universities paymembership dues to an organization (SEPIA) that supports a project at a large,rich, private institution like Stanford?

There are three reasons we give in response to this question:

• SEPIA membership dues come with a money-back guarantee.
• Joining SEPIA makes economic sense.
• SEPIA dues support a world-wide project, not just a Stanford project.

Of these, the most novel and perhaps most significant is the first— the guarantee.

SEPIA membership dues come with a money-back guarantee.

The SEP's funding plan is a true partnership between StanfordUniversity and the world-wide library community. Our library partners(ICOLC and SPARC) helped us create a plan in which the academiclibrary community attempts to raise $3 million (of the $4.125 millionneeded). These funds are being put into anescrow account("The SEP Library Fund") in Stanford's endowment. The conditionsplaced on this account are that (1) the payout from The SEP LibraryFund can only be used to support the SEP, and (2) should the SEPproject ever terminate,all the funds in The SEP Library Fundwould be returned to the contributing libraries, together with anyinterest and appreciation that hasn't been spent on thepayout to the project. Any interest and appreciation in excess of thepayoutstays with The SEP Library Fund and in reasonableeconomic times, the fund will grow.

Consequently, your membership dues become a protected investmentwith the following features:

• Library (department, foundation, etc.) money doesnot disappear (as it would if paid to a publisher),but is rather put to work to support open access,
• The membership dues donot constitute a gift to a richprivate institution, since Stanford can't make use of the money exceptto administer the SEP for the benefit of all,
• Stanford must return the money (together with any unspent interest) should the project ever terminate, and
• The membership dues yields a variety of other perks, such as theright to download/store our archives, the branding we will stamp onSEP entry pages sent to your institution, etc. (for a complete list,see theOpen Letter to Librarians).

So this is truly a novel model for funding an open access referencework.

Joining SEPIA Makes Economic Sense

We'd like to suggest that by supporting the SEP's plan at therecommended level, your institution would be acting in its owneconomic self-interest. Your library budget is under enormouspressure. Librarians seek ways to reduce annual costly outlays andthey have an economic interest in supporting innovative alternativepublishing and funding models that avoid such outlays. (Indeed, openaccess journals and reference works are viewed as desirable, but noone seems to know how to fund them.) On our plan, libraries pay aone-time cost (with the option to spread it over 3 years), as opposedto theongoing costs associated with a traditionalsubscription model. We have found a plan on which everyonecontributes a little bit to help preserve open access for all. Inreturn, our library supporters receive the benefits of membership inthe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy International Association(SEPIA).

Students and scholars at small, low/moderate-income, and publicinstitutions are using the SEP. Given that the SEP is being funded bya global community effort, all the institutions using the SEP shouldtherefore help ensure its long-term viability. Note that computersfrom a wide range of departments across your campus access the SEP.(If you write to us, we can send you a total number of accesses to theSEP from the computers on your campus.) This justifies using libraryfunds from different units within the University, not just from thePhilosophy Department.

We opened our budget and budget justification to the large libraryumbrella organizations who helped us create our funding plan. Theyvetted our budget and found it to be reasonable. The fact that theyare recommending our project indicates that they believe the SEPfunding model to be in the interests of their constituent libraries.Our library partners agreed that if we were to move to a subscriptionmodel (which cuts off those who don't pay) or sold ourselves to one ofthe publishers who wanted to buy us out, the library community would,in the long run, have to pay more to obtain the SEP, and on an ongoingbasis. (For a fuller discussion of our reasons for not adopting atraditional subscription model, see the documentProblems with a Traditional Funding Model.)

SEPIA dues support a world-wide project, not just a Stanford project

It is important to note that the question we are addressing herepresupposes that the SEP is a “Stanford project”. Butthat is not completely accurate. Our 1300+ authors and 115+ subjecteditors who write and referee the content of the SEP are distributedat universities throughout the world. By supporting the SEP, you arenot supporting Stanford but rather a world-wide (and open access)scholarly publishing project that reaches far beyond the walls of asingle institution or country. As we mentioned earlier, Stanford mayuse the SEPIA membership dues it has collected from the librarycommunity only for the support of the SEP, and thus for the benefit ofeveryone, given that the SEP is freely available and open access.

The SEP differs from a proprietary series with a publisher's oruniversity's name on it; you cannot access the content of thosepublications without paying for them. Stanford's name is on theproject because its contribution to the project has been and continuesto be quite substantial. Stanford has (a) provided support to the SEPsince its inception, including office space, networking, andadministrative support; (b) contributed startup costs during the1995–1997 academic years; (c) waived indirect costs on SEPgrants or contributed cost-sharing funds to those grants; (d)contributed annual funds to cover part of our operating costs asbridge funding while we raise an endowment; and (e) agreed to use itsOffice of Development to help us raise $1.125 million from privatedonors.

The SEP organizes the members of the professional community ofphilosophers to collaboratively maintain a world-class, up-to-datereference work. Now we — with our library partners — aretrying to organize and encourage the members of the library communityto collaboratively keep this resource available in perpetuity.

We hope you will choose to join us in this effort!

John Perry, Faculty Sponsor
Edward N. Zalta, Principal Editor
Uri Nodelman, Senior Editor
Colin Allen, Associate Editor

Center for the Study of Language and Information
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-4115
U.S.A.