I've discovered so many new peeves lately that I'm going to add a wing to the existing menagerie building. And yes, the peeves will be properly housed, fed, and exercised.
First to move in will be the practice of academic presses in charging for ancient articles in their journals – and charging exorbitantly – usually around $12 for an article of which I've been allowed to read the first two paragraphs. I'm not researching high technology or neuroscience; we're talking about odd moments in American history or musicology.
I'm often turning up articles from the 1940s or 50s in the area I'm working on right now. The authors have probably (hopefully) gone to the big faculty senate meeting in the sky – and remember, they didn't make a dime on the article in the first place. However, the publisher has discovered (it believes) another profit center.
Of course, if I were college faculty or a student in an institution that paid for a subscription to jstor or one of its ilk, I could see these. But those of us outside the ivy-covered (or in Florida, stuccoed) walls of academe are expected to pony up, sight unread.
Venting accomplished.
