Simplicity Cycle

I believe in redemption, and I love it when an organization shows signs of humanity and intelligence (particularly humanity).

So, I was thrilled to see the following comment on an earlier post about how the British Library was selling copies of my articles from Defense AT&L (and charging a "copyright fee") even though the document is in the public domain and is available for free:

Hi,
I was very interested to read your post. I'm the coordinator of the British Library Readers Group and many readers are annoyed by the high fees the BL charges for supplying documents and photocopies. I hadn't come across your particular example before but I will bring it up at the next meeting we have with management on 19th June. If you're interested, please join our group. We are entirely independent and our strength comes from the number of readers we represent.
www.blrg.org.uk
cheers,
Heather Brooke

Heather, your response is very cool, on several levels. First, I love the fact that you're searching the blogosphere to find out what people are saying about your organization. Then, your note was simple, direct, and offered to do something specific about the situation. I could go on, but I'll just say this: Thank you.

Of course, there's no knowing what will happen at the management meeting, but I'm pretty sure we'll hear about it, either way.

Now, if only Thomas Gale would do something similar. They are selling downloads of my (free!) articles for $6 at Amazon.com (with the illustrations stripped off). I hate the thought that someone might buy an article there, thinking they are helping me out (I don't get any royalties from them, of course). We contacted Thomas Gale as well some time ago, but this is the first time I've blogged about it. Maybe we'll get better results with this approach...

Hey Thomas Gale - we're talking about you. Are you listening?