Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] The Navy Speaks: Bubsy is Public Domain

[TeslaTony@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/5/00 7:36:48 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
SeaLordOne@aol.com writes:

> Shipmates,
>  
>  I have contacted several staff members in the Office of the Oceanographer 
of 
> 
>  the Navy, and they have all assured me that Busby's 1976 Manned 
Submersibles 
> 
>  is Public Domain.  What this means is that anyone, anywere can make 
> unlimited 
>  copies, post the document on the internet, or even make copies to sell at 
a 
>  profit, (which has in fact been done with the blessing of the Navy).  
Public 
> 
>  domain means this document belongs to the public, not to Busby, and not 
even 
> 
>  to the Oceanographer of the Navy.
>  
>  When I asked Gail S. Cleere of Public Affairs if she would mind if we 
posted 
> 
>  the entire document on the psubs website, she indicated that she would be 
>  "grateful" if we would provide that service.  She would love to be able to 
>  keep the document in print, but simply lacks the funds.  
>  
>  Private sector folks often focus on the "nabster" or "pirate" side of 
>  copyright, where vandals steal the knowledge of others without due 
>  compensation.  But those of us in the public sector are very sensitive to 
> the 
>  other side of the coin.  Public Domain documents that should be available 
to 
> 
>  the taxpayers who funded their development, but which are unavailable 
> because 
>  the government libraries are underfunded.  The Oceanographer of the Navy 
> gets 
>  only 5-6 requests for Busby each year, which is simply not enough to 
justify 
> 
>  keeping the book in print.  They wish they could keep every book in print.
>  
>  I received an e-mail from the webmaster of the Office of the Oceanographer 
> of 
>  the Navy just tonight, asking if he could have permission to put the psubs 
>  link on his website, on the FAQ page.  In other words, when any person 
>  worldwide goes to the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy and wants a 
>  copy of Busby, they will be linked to PSUBS by the U.S. Navy.  
>  
>  Now I personally think that is way cool, but this is not my website...Ray 
>  owns this website.  So you (Ray) need to let me know whether you want to 
be 
>  the Navy's official Busby site or not.  I am sure someone else will host 
it 
>  if you are not interested.  You will be under no obligation to the Navy, 
but 
> 
>  will certainly get a lot of attention.  You need to decide whether you 
want 
> a 
>  lot of attention.
>  
>  I have access to a pretty good scanner at work, so I will spend the next 
>  month running all 764 pages of Busby through the scanner.  By then I am 
sure 
> 
>  we will have someone who will be willing to host this for the 
>  Navy...hopefully Ray.  Once this thing is on the web, everyone in the 
psubs 
>  community will have equal access to (IMHO) the only comprehensive PSUB 
>  document ever written.
>  
>  Just for the record, my primary contact was:
>  
>  MS. Gail S. Cleere, Public Affairs
>  Oceanographer of the Navy
>  3450 Massachusettes Avenue, NW
>  Washington, DC 20392
>  (202) 762-1045, Fax 762-0480
>  Cleere.Gail@HQ.NAVY.MIL
>  
>  Her last day is today.  She is replaced by Senior Chief Robert Freeman on 
>  Tuesday.  I am in contact with him as well.  I have included this 
> information 
>  for the archives, not so the Navy will be flooded with questions from 
>  individual PSUBBERS.  I ask that you please continue to allow me to be the 
>  sole point of contact between PSUBS and the Navy on this issue, at least 
for 
> 
>  now.  I believe it will avoid confusion.  Once the Busby book is linked 
and 
>  on-line, I will bow out and you can have at the Navy all you want.  Deal?
>  
>  Ray, please let me know if you want to be on the Navy website.  I will 
>  contact you on technical issues as they arise.
>  
>  Thanks,
>  
>  Doug Farrow
>  

Thank you very much for doing the legwork for all of us in order to find out 
whether or not this book was available.

And on a slightly less serious note: PARTYTIME!!!!!!!!!!!