The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

OUP reference books go online

You can put a price on knowledge

  • print
  • alert

Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner

The Oxford University Press (OUP) is making its academic tomes available online - for a fee.

From today the core collection of the OUP's reference works - which includes more than 1.5 million entries - is available at Oxford Reference Online.

The site has taken two years to develop and so far cost £1 million ($1.5 million).

The cost of accessing the works of reference - which include dictionary definitions, facts, figures, people, places, sayings, and dates - starts from £175/US$250 (ex VAT) a year.

In ten years it's expected that the general knowledge reference source will total more than 130 million words - equivalent to over 300 books.

Of course, if you're not interested in Aaron's Rod, Thomas Killigrew or Ulrich Zwingli then this might not be for you.

Frankly, at £175 a throw it ain't for me either.

Yesterday the Times said it would start charging for content. ®

Related Story

Foreigners must pay for Times online

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

More from The Register

 breaking news
BBC-featured call centre slapped with hefty fine for unwanted calls
PPI pests: Swansea-based firm stung for £225k by ICO
Microsoft to open Windows Stores inside 600 Best Buy locations
Product showcases 'must be seen to be believed'
 breaking news
What did the Lehman Brothers implosion look like to a techie?
Insider tells all about the Gnab Gib at Lehmans
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed
Publishing man scoffs at go-it-alone writers, ursines still fouling in forests
 breaking news
Facebook RSS reader said to uncloak June 20
Secret event scooped by Scottish developer?
 breaking news
O2 averts strike action over mass Capita outsourcing deal
Details of new agreement not yet released