I read a nice explanation of PACER costs from a different view-point, one could even say an insider’s view last night while watching the UK v. Mississippi game; and what a game.
One point that I really like from this article is:
“Only those who use PACER pay for it.”
Now that’s an idea…paying for service that is used. Of course the alternate argument is that libraries who provide access to PACER for their customers are paying for what the customers use. True, but then libraries used to/perhaps still do a charge a going rate for copies.
To this point Mr. Tunheim, provides a high level break down of the percentage of paying customer who access PACER. BTW, anyone can sign up for a PACER account.
“Nearly 40 percent of PACER’s revenues are generated by less than 1 percent of its active accounts, and the vast majority of the remaining PACER accounts incur less than $500 in fees per year.”
And the funds collected for PACER documents, feed right back into the system to help enhance it – something long overdue for certain.
So I’m still not on board with the PACER should be completely free bandwagon that I discussed last year in my Poking the PACER Petition Part I and Part II posts.
Constance Ard Feb. 17, 2010
[...] run down of some sources. I’ve mentioned how I feel about the PACER Petition in previous posts. In , I hold true to my belief that PACER is a cost-effective [...]