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A comment on Don Knuth letter about libraries increasingly unable to afford prices (2003) [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:Don Knuth letter about libraries increasingly unable to a... by bluepizza on Monday March 18, 2024 @09:03AM (#39743843)
Considering certain technical books range between 70 to 300 dollars per copy, and libraries are unable to afford them, it seems to me that the incentive system is already broken.

The publishers are very comfortable with the high prices they are able to charge the quite expensive American universities.

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Re:Don Knuth letter about libraries increasingly unable to a... by cubefox on Monday March 18, 2024 @09:39AM (#39744339)
In some academic fields, books are also just collections of technical papers on some topic, or one really long paper, which is probably not something to earn money from. I assume most are sold to libraries, similar to journals. Though Library Genesis also contains other, more commercial books.
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