The following made its way to our department today. I was able to find my
dissertation easily, and I'm still not sure how I feel about its
availability this way, and who may profit from it.
David
>>
>>> I don't know if anyone has seen this yet but I thought it should be
passed
>>> on. I have found that they are currently selling my Ph.D. Thesis over
the
>>> internet. Contentville does include an email address to have your
written
>>> works removed from their database.
>>>
>>> Dr. Marian M. Morry
>>
>>I hadn't heard about this -- thanks for the pointer. Looking
>>through the site, I found
>>http://www.contentville.com/content/dissertations.asp , which
>>includes the following:
>>
>>> Where do Contentville's dissertations come from?
>>> Excerpts from the UMI® Dissertation Abstracts database are being
>>> used by Contentville, which, in turn, collects orders for
>>> full-text dissertations. Dissertation orders are fulfilled by
>>> UMI® Dissertations Publishing, whose mission is to expand
>>> scholarly communication and improve access to academic research.
>>> All Dissertation Publishing Agreements with authors remain in
>>> effect. Dissertation authors retain all rights to their
>>> dissertations. All sales will be tracked for royalty payments.
>>> All contracted royalties will be paid, per the agreement. The UMI
>>> program continues to expand access to research and maintain a
>>> permanent archive of scholarly works. Wider distribution of
>>> dissertation research is intended to support the international
>>> scholarly community.
>>
>>It doesn't explicitly say that they have any arrangement with
>>UMI -- that would be a question for UMI. It does appear to be
>>setting itself up as a retailer, special-ordering from UMI.
>>
>>I don't have the UMI contract handy, but their website,
>>http://www.umi.com/hp/Support/DServices/products/author.htm ,
>>indicates royalties are paid when seven or more copies are sold
>>within a calendar year (although how many of us keep UMI updated
>>with our address?).
>>
>>I am not a lawyer, but the legalities would seem to depend on
>>the UMI contracts with the authors (whether UMI is allowed to
>>sell to re-sellers), and the license terms under which UMI sells
>>copies (whether they allow re-sale).
>>
>>Anybody know more about UMI's end of things?
>>
>>Pat
>>--
>>Patrick S. Malone, Ph.D., Research Associate
>>FAST Track Project
>>Durham, North Carolina, USA
>>e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>http://www.duke.edu/~malone/
>>http://www.fasttrackproject.org/
>
>
>
>
David Wasieleski, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology and Counseling
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698
229-333-5620
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/dtwasieleski
"When the candle's burning down
When midnight comes around
You know the best that we can hope for is to be laughing
When we finally hit the ground..."
--The Refreshments
"Sin Nombre"
