Digital Libraries Devaluing Literature?

So I hear some former and current graduate students of the Iowa Writers' Workshop are mad about the university's plan to digitalize MFA theses. These texts, improperly named "theses" since they are creative works like novels and poetry collections, would be force-published on the university library's website; they would then become available to all of us through Google and other search engines. The writers, now up in arms, argue this is unfair and should not be implemented since it will lower the commercial value of their creative writing.

Really, is there anything wrong with having one novel (thesis) posted online by an institution like the Iowa Worshop? Isn't it a way of credibly displaying one's work? Oh, but the writers are saying the work might be embarrassing, and others think that's publication without consent.

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