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Yes. I misunderstood you. Thanks for explaining. And Shaviro's not wrong. JSTOR and MUSE--tantalizing. Apparently full-time academics pay the freight readily. The Great University where I earned graduate degrees is only a bus ride away. I can admire the library catalog online, but the cost of borrowing anything from them is out of reach, even for a local alumna who was once (adjunct) faculty. But the state library system gives me online access to a a fair number of academic and literary journals as well as books by means of my local library card. Once in a while, this actually circumvents JSTOR. The books are delivered to the branch library even I can walk to. It's not nothing. on 12/12/08 12:38 AM, Christopher C Jones at [log in to unmask] wrote: > Well, not exactly... if you have the money to pay then of course you can > have access. As a graduate I can walk into an academic library and make > use of the various resources. But I can't get on-line access to academic > journals and databases on my home computer because the copyright > contract prevents my alumni library from doing so since they cannot > afford to pay the increased costs. Living 360 miles away from Sydney I > am thus limited. Even accessing something like JSTOR costs quite a bit > for an individual and beyond my limited means. Things can just as > restrictive in the US, according to Steven Shaviro. > > However, having a graduate degree I can apply for a job in the US just I > can in Australia. It is all tied up in the free trade agreements, users > pay and free market ideology. When I was a research student I did have > access to the system including having books posted to me. > > >> Australian copyright law restricts the circulation of books to the >> "official" users of certain types of libraries? --that's a terrifying idea. >> Sounds--fortunately--utterly unenforceable as well as entirely opposed to >> the public interest. No equivalent in Australian law to the First Amendment >> in the U.S. Constitution? You're making me rethink my lifelong desire to see >> Australia. But then, who could afford it? >>>