-----Original Message----- From: Franksjj@aol.com <Franksjj@aol.com> To: D7777@worldnet.att.net <D7777@worldnet.att.net> Cc: Franksjj@aol.com <Franksjj@aol.com> Date: Thursday, November 11, 1999 7:57 PM Subject: Free distribution of other people's work >Dear Ms. Thompson: > >I am surprised that you would suggest that people might voluntarily forward >to Bladen County Historical Society a small fee for photocopies they receive >from you, that the society could use those fees to help with publication >expenses. > >You would be doing a far greater service to Bladen County Historical Society >if you would mention each publication by title and tell your patrons how to >purchase the book from which you lift information. The "voluntary photocopy >fees" you suggest are insulting to both the author/compiler and the society. >A person interested in using the information in a scholarly way might >purchase the publication and could cite his source in an acceptable way. The >margin of profit in Bladen County HS is probably as small as that of every >other society which is trying to get records into print! > >It makes me very uncomfortable to read that you are expecting another large >shipment of books. You undoubtedly are useful to a number of people and >receive personal satisfaction for your efforts, but the bottom line is that >you are putting yourself between the societies and their potential market. > >I have no problem with researchers helping one another; that is an important >and rewarding part of genealogical research. I have a serious problem with >persons who set themselves up as a source of information without giving >apprpriate credit to those who did the research; those who sat for hours in >front of microfilm readers, those who spent hours proofing and correcting >manuscripts; who made the arrangements for publication! > >Many of those same people donated their manuscripts to the historical >societies with the expectation that sales of the books would contribute to >the financial security of the societies. Failure to give appropriate credit >to the source of information in any one of those publications cheats the >society which made the information accessible in the first place! > >You may well not agree with the points I am trying to present, but I hope you >will at least amend your "service" to give credit where credit is due. >Better yet, confine your broadcast of information to your own original work. >I also suggest that you look up the word "plagiarize" in any dictionary. > >J. J. Franks >