Anne, in the UK it is possible to access resources such as (and 
including) the DNB by simply joining the local library, funded by local 
taxation. So although I have access to it online via my university I 
prefer to log on to DNB as a local library user, and local taxpayer, to 
encourage the town's library to keep up its subscriptions - which make 
those materials available to a very wide demographic.

On the other hand, I also have some sympathy with the publishers' need 
to charge such expensive subscriptions for these kinds of monumental 
works, which have huge production costs. So maybe we should get Robin to 
lobby national government for adequate funding for all our higher 
education institutions? That way we might get academic jobs for good 
people _and_ well-resourced libraries ...

Gillian Austen

anne prescott wrote:
> What Lee says is important--one of the inequities of our current  
> academic system is the inequality of access to such websites as EEBO,  
> MEMSO (which has the Calendar of State Papers), EECO (18th c. and  
> better than EEBO), etc. Were I younger and had more energy to go with  
> my vexation  I'd want to start some sort of group of those of us  lucky 
> to have electronic access to major libraries that can afford  these 
> websites--a group that would offer a little sort of Robin Hood  time to 
> download materials and pass them on electronically or by mail  Just for 
> example--the DNB allows you to e-mail an entry. In my  imagined  
> Sherwood Forest (although real Robin Hoodery might involve  some 
> attractive but doubtless illegal sharing of passwords) Jean  would say 
> which DNB entry she needed and one of my imaginary Lincoln  green suits 
> would simply e-mail it to her. Maybe as time goes by the  outrageous  
> prices will come down, or pressure from scholars will  make even poorer 
> institutions realize that to hire good people they  need to subscribe 
> even if that means less of something else. Does the  Library of Congress 
> have these websites, such as the DNB? If so,  shouldn't taxpayers have 
> the right to log on to them? Anne.
> 
> On Jul 31, 2007, at 9:19 PM, Lee Piepho wrote:
> 
>> Unfortunately, the new Oxford DNB is something of a sore point for  
>> liberal arts colleges.  Because of the cost, it's not so easily  
>> accessible as one might imagine....
>> Lee Piepho
>> English Department
>> Sweet Briar College
>>
>> On Jul 31, 2007, at 2:52 PM, HANNIBAL HAMLIN wrote:
>>
>>> On the practical matter of library acquisitions, it might also be  
>>> worth thinking about online materials.  The new Oxford Dictionary  of 
>>> National Biography, for instance, has a substantial article on  
>>> Elizabeth I by Patrick Collinson (and an extensive bibliography  
>>> covering all the biographies mentioned on this list).  This  doesn't 
>>> really substitute for the books, but it's useful  nonetheless, and 
>>> for much more than Elizabeth.  On the other hand,  I have no idea 
>>> what a library subscription costs.
>>>
>>> Other (free) online materials are up and down, to say the list,  but 
>>> Anniina Jokinen's Luminarium site has a variety of  biographical 
>>> materials culled from older encyclopedias, other  websites, and 
>>> various authors.
>>> http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizlink.htm
>>> Again, this is hardly the same as reading the standard recent (or  
>>> even older) biographies, but it might still be useful for  
>>> undergraduates or for some kind of comparative historiographical  study.
>>>
>>> I got hooked browsing this topic, so here are some other online  
>>> materials:
>>>
>>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/elizabeth_i_01.shtml
>>> Alexandra Briscoe (producer for Simon Schama's series) has a long  
>>> article with various sub-headings on the BBC's history site.
>>>
>>> Alan Liu's Voice of the Shuttle (http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp? 
>>> id=2713#id877) has, no surprise, loads of links, some of which  seems 
>>> potentially very useful.
>>> http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Britain_1486-1688
>>> This is a collection of links to online texts of documents from  the 
>>> sixteenth century, some of which are by or connected to  Elizabeth.
>>> http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/elizabeth1.html
>>> A collection of Elizabeth's writings and speeches by Paul Halsall  at 
>>> Fordham.
>>> http://www3.newberry.org/elizabeth/index.html
>>> A virtual exhibit on Elizabeth from the Newberry Library.
>>>
>>> Happy browsing!
>>>
>>> Hannibal
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hannibal Hamlin
>>> Associate Professor of English
>>> The Ohio State University
>>> Book Review Editor and Associate Editor, Reformation
>>>
>>> Mailing Address (2007-2009):
>>>
>>> The Folger Shakespeare Library
>>> 201 Capitol Street SE
>>> Washington, DC 20003
>>>
>>> Permanent Address:
>>>
>>> Department of English
>>> The Ohio State University
>>> 421 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Avenue
>>> Columbus, OH 43210-1340
>>> From: "Peter C. Herman" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Date: July 31, 2007 2:09:23 PM EDT
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: Elizabeth biographies
>>> Reply-To: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List <SIDNEY- 
>>> [log in to unmask]>
>>>
>>>
>>> Different libraries have different policies on this, But I wonder,  
>>> since you are planning on asking your library to purchase books  that 
>>> are not terribly recent, if pointing them in the direction of  the 
>>> used book sites (Advanced Book Exchange, and amazon.com also  now 
>>> gives links to used copies) might help, since the items are  much 
>>> cheaper than if you purchased them new.
>>>
>>> just a suggestion,
>>>
>>> Peter C. Herman
>>>
>>> At 08:59 AM 7/31/2007, you wrote:
>>>
>>>> Anne,
>>>>
>>>> Indeed, you are right. If only we had a budget...
>>>>
>>>> Last spring, I needed to refer a student to a biography of  
>>>> Elizabeth and to a reference for the state and stages of  
>>>> Reformation under Henry and later, Elizabeth. I looked in my  
>>>> institution's collection and found nothing more advanced than  
>>>> encyclopedias. Sigh.
>>>>
>>>> I've also learned the hard way to be very picky about lending out  
>>>> my own books.
>>>>
>>>> Jean
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 7/27/07, anne prescott < [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>> I've been reminded--Paul Johnson. I haven't read Ridley on Elizabeth
>>>> because I was so vexed by his book on Thomas More (the cover shows
>>>> Holbein's portrait changed to look like Darth Vader with acid
>>>> reflux). But if David likes it I'll give it a go. I assume Jean
>>>> Goodrich's query is based on her interest in getting her library to
>>>> improve its early modern collection without going over budget?  Anne P.
>>>>
>>>> On Jul 27, 2007, at 5:00 PM, David Wilson-Okamura wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > anne prescott wrote:
>>>> >> There's a politically conservative but/and interesting Englishman
>>>> >> whose name I am blanking on who did a book on Elizabeth I liked;
>>>> >> the subtitle is something like "A study of [in?] power and
>>>> >> intellect," which seems fair despite her faults.
>>>> >
>>>> > It may not be what you're thinking of, but I like Jasper Ridley's
>>>> > Elizabeth I: The Shrewdness of Virtue (1987).
>>>> >
>>>> >  
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- --
>>>> > -
>>>> > Dr. David Wilson-Okamura    http://virgil.org
>>>> > [log in to unmask]
>>>> > English Department          Virgil reception, discussion,
>>>> > documents, &c
>>>> > East Carolina University    Sparsa et neglecta coegi. -- Claude
>>>> > Fauchet
>>>> >  
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- --
>>>> > -
>>>>
>>>
>>> Spam
>>> Not spam
>>> Forget previous vote
>>
>>
> 
> 
> 
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