Embargo or EmbargNO?

Yesterday, the AHA caused quite an uproar with a press release regarding the embargoing of completed history PhD dissertations. You can read the whole statement here, but I would like to highlight a number of key quotes: 

Although there is so close a relationship between the dissertation and the book that presses often consider them competitors, the book is the measure of scholarly competence used by tenure committees...History has been and remains a book-based discipline, and the requirement that dissertations be published online poses a tangible threat to the interests and careers of junior scholars in particular.  Many universities award tenure only to those junior faculty who have published a monograph within six years of receiving the PhD.  With the online publication of dissertations, historians will find it increasingly difficult to persuade publishers to make the considerable capital investments necessary to the production of scholarly monographs...

Reactions on Twitter varied (and somehow, Jon Butler made an appearance): 

When your solution is embargoing the best new work your discipline produces, it may be your premises that are the underlying problem.

— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) July 22, 2013

Rather than trying to push other levers, or experimenting with other ways to disseminate historical knowledge, the AHA’s default is to gate.

— Dan Cohen (@dancohen) July 22, 2013

In trying to protect the research & ideas of younger scholars (which I thoroughly support), the @AHAhistorians basically defended the book.

— Chris Cantwell (@cdc29) July 22, 2013

Study: "ETDs are not considered prior publications…in the social sciences, arts, or humanities." (via @wcaleb) http://t.co/njtJHbIDmR

— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) July 22, 2013

When I do finish my dissertation it will not be embargoed. Most of it is online now http://t.co/J5PXZfok5H That's why I'M ALREADY EMPLOYED.

— Jean Bauer (@jean_bauer) July 22, 2013

You know what the biggest problem is with putting dissertations in open repositories? Image permissions.

— Sarah Werner (@wynkenhimself) July 22, 2013

More people in the profession will read my tweets this hour--and react to them--than ever will read my published dissertation in print form.

— William Pannapacker (@pannapacker) July 22, 2013

I'm not opposed to *allowing* students to embargo if they wish, but I fear AHA statement will pressure many to do so based on weak ev.

— Caleb McDaniel (@wcaleb) July 22, 2013

One last thought on AHA statement. As much as org has recently emphasized non-academic path, statement only considers in light of tenure.

— Adam D. Shprintzen (@VegHistory) July 22, 2013

And does not touch on those of us who are writing and publishing but working outside of academia

— Adam D. Shprintzen (@VegHistory) July 22, 2013

@Jason_M_Kelly @jtheibault Deeper problem is senior historians' habit of judging people only by The Book, the "real", smell-the-glue kind.

— Jeffrey L. Pasley (@jlpasley) July 22, 2013

Statement by @AHAhistorians has nothing to do w/ the free & open exchange of information and scholarship. Sad. http://t.co/eNQDSGQaFk

— Erin N. Bush (@HistoriErin) July 22, 2013

Many open-access dissertations will attract exponentially more readers and users than the books they're turned into. Doesn't that matter?

— Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) July 22, 2013

the time to revise a dissertation without it being easily public is important, I think http://t.co/NlC5964xKX

— Edward J. Blum (@edwardjblum) July 23, 2013

@AHAhistorians glad to see dissertation protection; intellectual property is property and should not be given for free or before ready

— Edward J. Blum (@edwardjblum) July 23, 2013

what if Walter Johnson gave away his dissertation for free? or John Stauffer? Honestly, they would be out $1000s of dollars

— Edward J. Blum (@edwardjblum) July 23, 2013

or how about Bob Orsi; think Madonna of 115th St. has made some money? I recall Jon Butler talking about waiting for diss via ILL

— Edward J. Blum (@edwardjblum) July 23, 2013

also, the external review of diss-to-book process is shift from small audience to broader

— Edward J. Blum (@edwardjblum) July 23, 2013

True. RT@jmadelman: A significant number of historians won't know about today's embargo statement until they read Perspectives in September.

— History Enthusiast (@hist_enthusiast) July 23, 2013

The #AHA also recommends you throw your dissertation in water to see if it floats.

— Adam Golub (@adamgolub) July 23, 2013

Not to overburden with tweets, and this is obviously a small sample of reactions, but these are big questions. Big questions that are extremely hard to answer. What is more valuable, the book, or the idea within it? Should traditional publishing continue to be the standard by which freshly-minted PhDs be measured? What is the influence that such a stance - mind you, a stance of the discipline's foremost institution - for the future?