SEPIA for Libraries

Libraries can support the SEP by joining the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy International Association (SEPIA). SEPIA is a membership organization for institutions, hosted by Indiana University Libraries. It was created to help implement the funding plan developed by the following partners: Stanford University, International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC), Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), and the National Endowment for the Humanities. By paying the recommended, one-time membership dues to join SEPIA, libraries receive the variety of member benefits listed below.

• SEPIA Home Page
• SEPIA Registration Page
• SEPIA Dues Schedule
• List of Libraries Which Have Registered Their Commitment

SEPIA Member Benefits

Libraries that register with the Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC) to join SEPIA and pay the recommended membership dues receive the following benefits in return for their membership dues:

1. Special protections on their membership dues. The money that the PDC transfers to Stanford (after assessing a small processing fee for invoicing and collecting membership dues) is subject to the following condition: should the SEP ever terminate, Stanford University will return the money it receives from PDC, along with any unspent interest and appreciation the dues have accrued while in the SEP's endowment, to the contributing libraries.
2. A public listing on the SEP Library Support page.
3. Full branding on SEP web pages sent to computers at their institution. (SEP web pages delivered to users at the institution will be stamped with a banner that thanks the member library for its full support of the SEP open access model.)
4. Special single-click download access to the SEP Archives.
5. The right to store but not serve SEP downloaded archives while the SEP continues to exist.
6. The right to serve the SEP archives should the SEP cease to exist.

Note that SEPIA is not connected with the Friends of the SEP Society, which offers individual members access to PDFs of SEP entries – there are no institutional memberships to the Friends Society and so membership dues to SEPIA does not confer institutional access to the PDFs.

Those libraries that join SEPIA but which pay less than the recommended amount in membership dues receive only benefits (1), (2), and partial branding in connection with benefit (3).

Fiscal services for SEPIA (invoicing, dues collection) are provided by the Philosophy Documentation Center. When a library registers its commitment to join SEPIA, the PDC will send an invoice for SEPIA membership dues based on the payment option (one-time payment or spread over 3 years), and collect the dues on the payment plan selected. Libraries can register their commitment to join SEPIA at PDC's SEPIA Registration Page.

Important Information for Librarians

• An Open Letter to Librarians
• Why Should Libraries at Small Colleges or Public Universities Support the SEP?
• SEP Press Release (November 2005) [SEP Wins Charleston Advisor Best Content Award]
• SEP Press Release (February 2006) [California Digital Libraries Supports SEP]

Articles About the SEP of Interest to Librarians

• From SEP to SEPIA: How and Why Indiana University is Helping the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, by Colin Allen and Cecile Jagodzinski, in Against the Grain, 18/4 (September 2006): 42–43.
• "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: A University/Library Partnership in Support of Scholarly Communications and Open Access," by Edward N. Zalta, in College & Research Libraries News (a publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries), 67/8 (September 2006): 502–504, 507.
• I Hear the Train A Comin', by Greg Tananbaum (President, Berkeley Electronic Press), in Against the Grain, 18/1 (February 2006): 84–85. Reprinted with permission from the author and publisher.
• The Best Content Award, by The Charleston Advisor, Volume 7/No. 2 (October 2005), p. 3.
• Review: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, by Heather Morrison and Michael McIntosh, The Charleston Advisor, Volume 6/No. 3 (January 2005): 51–53.
• Review: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Wants Libraries to do WHAT?, by Margaret Landesman, in The Charleston Advisor, Volume 6/No. 3 (January 2005): 53–55. (The PDF containing the Morrison/McIntosh review also contains the Landesman review. Scroll to p. 53.)
• Update to Review on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, by Heather Morrison and Mike McIntosh, The Charleston Advisor, Volume 9/No. 1 (July 2007).

A List of Other Documents Of Interest

• ICOLC's Call for Global Library Community Action (PDF document, January 25, 2005 version)
• The Problems With a Traditional Funding Model
• The SEP's Publishing Model
• Recent Access Statistics (SEP Editorial Information page)
• The SEP's Value for Research, Education, the Profession, and the Public
• The SEP's Archives
• The SEP's Editorial Board
• Letters from Professional Organizations in Support of SEP Grant Proposals
  • American Philosophical Association
  • Canadian Philosophical Association
  • Australasian Association of Philosophy
  • European Association of Analytic Philosophy