Re: JWSR proposal

Thu, 19 Nov 1998 14:11:40 -0500
Eric W. Titolo (br00727@binghamton.edu)

Greetings-

As resident web geek in the sociology department at Binghamton, I too
considered the possibility of becoming an "associate" to on-line
bookstores at our site <http://sociology.binghamton.edu>. After talking
it over (and rethinking the implications), the department came to the
conclusion that it would not be in our interest to have any such ties to
commercial sites.

While I shop at Amazon frequently and find their prices for texts
significantly lower than the Campus Bookstore (Barnes & Noble), I cannot
support the use of commercial links for any educational institution. It
is imperative that we remember that Amazon is just another multinational
corporation. Their stock is at 167 13/16...One of the highest traded
Internet stocks around. Does JWSR really want to endorse this
multinational? There are a number of other on-line bookstores and local
booksellers who are competing for market share against Amazon. Does JWSR
really want to contribute to Amazon becoming the Microsoft of on-line
bookstores?

I suggest providing all the bibliographic information on each text
(including ISBN and Call Numbers). If the visitor to the site wants to
buy or check the book out from the library, I think that s/he is more
than able to do this on their own.

eric

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| Eric W. Titolo | Fax - 607-777-4917 |
| Department of Sociology | email - br00727@binghamton.edu |
| Binghamton University | |
| State University of New York | http://sociology.binghamton.edu |
| Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 | |
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