medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> On 20 April 2013 at 15:06 Thomas Izbicki <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> We European studies librarians have been following this story closely.
> Mellen is seeking, in my opinion, to prevent criticism by legal action.
> Tom Izbicki
Tom, this was my impression too, but I found it difficult to maintain when
reading the original blog by Dale Askey:
http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2013/02/09/publisher-hits-new-low-suing-librarian-for-criticizing-their-books/
I don't know if it is true that Mellen is a "dubious publisher" or "junk
publisher" publishing mostly "second-class scholarship" at exaggerated prices,
but claiming such things without substantiating them by any facts or examples is
my understanding of slander or gratuitous rambling, and not of "criticism".
Legal action would not be my first response (nor does this blog posting seem to
have been Askey's first public attack), but in my opinion a publisher has a
right to protect his reputation and a duty to protect his authors against this
kind of public bashing.
Also I wonder what to think of a librarian who complains about faculty members
ordering their books without first consulting their libararian's "expert"
opinion of "first-class" and "second-class scholarship".
Which is not to say that I would not regard at least *some* librarians' opinions
(such as yours) much higher than my own!
Kind regards, O.
Otfried Lieberknecht
D-48157 Münster
Dorbaumstr. 86
Tel. +49 (0) 152 5618 1234
[log in to unmask]
http://www.lieberknecht.de
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
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