Dave Eyre wrote:


As far as I am aware there is no paywall of any sort to access material on-line - should anyone wish as a non-member wish to avail themselves of the library it is �3.50 a shot. Remarkably inexpensive I would have thought. But all the material on-line is available free of charge. And so is the library to members of the EFDSS.

Dave, the journal is being handled by J-STOR, an academic portal for journal articles which is 'free' to academics from subscribing institutions and expensive for those of us outside the academic world.



I was on the national council when the decision to go via J-STOR was made. It wasn't something I was keen on as I am aware that most of the research work done in the folk field is by people outside the academic framework, but there was understandably the opinion that, given the small nature of income from memberships, giving several decades of the journal away for free was not a viable option when it could be providing an income stream.

There are many at the society that share my wish to provide a great free online resource but don't always know how to fund it. As it is, the society has spent public money providing public resources and where no funding has been available, it has sought an income stream which seems fair enough to me.

Reading up this thread, I'm still amazed at the depth of expectations of some people who want the society to provide lots of resources, services and lobbying and lord knows what else, but can't be bothered to stump up a subscription to support the work. There is no reason why the interests of tens of thousands of folk enthusiasts HAVE to be supported by 4,000 members of a charitable society. We who ARE members of the society are happy when the wider aims are met but it's not a given. Also, we who ARE members feel justified in criticising the society when it doesn't meet OUR expectations as card carrying members. Those outside the membership are already potentially getting more than than they are paying for, even via taxes, so they shouldn't be complaining - should they?