WHY NOT?

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Pure mathematicians seem rather reluctant to put their lecture notes on public access sites. People on the applied side are much better. This page explores some of the possible reasons for this, in a slightly fictional form. If you have further objections please communicate them to the editors.

Objection Response

I would not like my hard work to be stolen by someone else, who uses it for their own students without my permission. Do you feel the same way about your research papers? These are destined to be used by people who may only mention your name in their bibliography.

I hope to use my lecture notes as the basis for a book later on, and its previous appearance would compromise this and reduce my sales. 1. Most published books are two hundred pages long or more, while lecture notes are typically under one hundred. You do not give up your copyright by putting something on the web.
2. Have you considered that it might increase your eventual sales if a lot of students are already using a shorter and less polished version of your final book?

I do not feel that my notes are sufficiently polished to merit publication. Is it really a service to the community to prevent them making their own decision about whether your notes are useful? If they are good enough for your students they are probably good enough for other people's students.

It seems a lot of bother, and I get no benefit. On the submissions page you will see that you need do very little to put your work on the web. Others benefit, just as you benefit from the existence of Latex and of free web browsers.

Objection	Response
I would not like my hard work to be stolen by someone else, who uses it for their own students without my permission.	Do you feel the same way about your research papers? These are destined to be used by people who may only mention your name in their bibliography.
I hope to use my lecture notes as the basis for a book later on, and its previous appearance would compromise this and reduce my sales.	1. Most published books are two hundred pages long or more, while lecture notes are typically under one hundred. You do not give up your copyright by putting something on the web. 2. Have you considered that it might increase your eventual sales if a lot of students are already using a shorter and less polished version of your final book?
I do not feel that my notes are sufficiently polished to merit publication.	Is it really a service to the community to prevent them making their own decision about whether your notes are useful? If they are good enough for your students they are probably good enough for other people's students.
It seems a lot of bother, and I get no benefit.	On the submissions page you will see that you need do very little to put your work on the web. Others benefit, just as you benefit from the existence of Latex and of free web browsers.