Knowledge Unlatched: Enabling Open Access for Scholarly Books

Lucy Montgomery

• Open Access Challenges for Books

• What is Knowledge Unlatched?

• KU’s Goals

• How does it work?

• Pilot Collection and Next Steps

This Presentation

• Sales of academic monographs have declined by 90% over 20 years

• Prices have increased beyond inflation

• Publishers are struggling to cover their costs

• Libraries struggling to afford books

• Academics are struggling to get published

• Readers have limited access to the books they want

Context: A Troubled Market

• A very small market (libraries)

• Library budgets under pressure

• The number of monograph titles has increased

• Print runs for each title have decreased

• Publishers must spread the costs of publishing each title over a smaller number of copies

• Journals have become (much) more expensive

Why Are Books In trouble?

Open Access for Books?

• The Open Access challenge has arrived at a moment when markets for monographs are struggling to cope with the wider effects of digital disruption

• Digital technology is providing opportunities to widen access and increase impact

• Research funders are beginning to require Open Access

• Many authors would like Open Access options

• But how should OA books be paid for?

• The cost of publishing a 70,000 – 100,000 word monograph higher than the cost of publishing a 5,000 – 10,000 word journal article

• HSS research budgets are small

• Some authors aren’t attached to a research budget at all

• Author-side payment approaches being taken up by journals won’t work

• Advantages to demand led, market based approaches to funding publishing

Challenges

The Stakes

• Locking monographs behind paywalls handicaps them in a digital world

• OA is a great way to lower barriers to access and to ensure that the knowledge contained in book length publications is amplified, rather than lost

• There is a danger that the core outputs of STEM disciplines will be OA, but the core outputs of HASS disciplines will remain closed

• Creative approaches to supporting open access books are needed!

KnowledgeUnlatched

• Not-for-profit

• Libraries from around the world collaborate to share the costs of making books open access

• CC-BY-NC or CC-BY-NC-ND license

• Front-list titles (new books)

• Immediate upon publication (no embargo)

What is Knowledge Unlatched?

Partners

Jisc Collections

LYRASIS

Max Planck Society

New York Public Library

OAPEN

Key Supporters

Big Innovation Center

British Library Trust

Open Society Foundation

Founding Libraries

Queensland University of Technology

The University of Melbourne

The University of Western Australia

• A sustainable route to OA for Humanities and Social Science (HSS) books (long-form publications)

• Spread costs of OA across many institutions globally

• Ensuring that HSS long-form publications are as accessible as OA (science) journals

• Help libraries to maximize the positive impact of spending on books

Knowledge Unlatched Goals

• Knowledge Unlatched is helping libraries from around the world to coordinate their monograph purchases

• Libraries can choose to jointly offer a Title Fee payment to publishers

• In return, publishers make titles selected by the community available on Open Access

How Does it Work?

• Publishers offer forthcoming books to libraries via Knowledge Unlatched

• Libraries pledge a capped amount to ‘unlatch’ the books

• If enough libraries pledge, the libraries share the payment of a Title Fee for each book

• Publishers make a PDF version of titles available on an OA license via OAPEN upon publication

• Books are preserved and discoverable. MARC records available for all titles

What it Looks Like

• The Title Fee represents the basic cost of publishing a book  

• Payment of the Title Fee allows publishers to feel confident that they will break even on each title

• Because the Title Fee is a fixed amount as the number of libraries pledging increases, the cost per library decreases

What is a Title Fee?

Title Fee Examples

The Pilot Collection• Proof of concept for Knowledge Unlatched

• 28 new books from 13 publishers

• Literature; History; Politics; Media & Communications

• At least 200 libraries from around the world need to sign up so that the collection can be made OA

• Maximum cost per library: $1680. This is an average of $60 per title

• If more libraries pledge, the cost for each library will be less

An Opportunity to Help Shape Knowledge Unlatched• Libraries that help unlatch the Pilot Collection gain

governance rights

• They will be able to help shape the future of Knowledge Unlatched through:

• A Library Steering Committee and a Collection Committee

• KU also plans to establish a joint Library/Publisher forum in early 2014

Pilot Collection Publishers

Amsterdam University Press

Bloomsbury Academic

Brill

Cambridge University Press

De Gruyter

Duke University Press

Edinburgh University Press

Liverpool University Press

Manchester University Press

Purdue University Press

Rutgers University Press

Temple University Press

University of Michigan Press

• The amount a library pays will be adjusted to reflect additional format purchases made by each library

• If a library orders (or intends to order) a print or eBook format of any title in the Pilot Collection via any channel they will not be charged an unlatching fee for that title

• If a library orders all of the titles in the Pilot Collection through other channels there may be no amount due

• This approach will be refined in future rounds

Avoiding ‘Double Dipping’

Benefits for Participating Libraries

• The ability to ensure that other format purchases contribute to making the Pilot Collection open access.  

• High-quality MARC records

• Usage data: We are working to ensure COUNTER compliance

• 2 year membership fee waiver

• The right to nominate and vote for members of a Library Steering Committee and a Collections Committee

Pilot TimelineKU Collection Pledging Period October 2013 – 31 January 2014

Decision on Unlatching Early February 2014

If decision is yes, calculate final unlatching fee for libraries

Early February 2014

Advise libraries and publishers of pledging result

Mid February 2014

Invoices issued to libraries Mid February 2014

Titles become available via OAPEN Immediate upon publication

Publishers paid by KU After books have been unlatched and libraries have paid

Next Steps: 2014

• Review results

• Develop library role in governance

• Repeat the cycle again with more books, more publishers (signing up now!) single subject packages and individual title options

• Continue recruiting more libraries to lower costs further

• KU South: an exploration of ways in which KU might work with publishers in developing country markets

• Help foster diversity in the monograph landscape

Making Knowledge Unlatched Sustainable

Set-up and Pilot

Grants and library partnerships cover set-up and running costs

From 2014

Increase the number of publishers and books

KU will take up to 5% of Title Fees to cover costs, reducing as volume goes up

Open Monograph Models (1)

– OA edition + sales from print and/or e-books NAP, Bloomsbury Academic

– Institutional Support for Press World Bank, Amherst

– Library-Press collaboration Mpublishing/Michigan

– Library Publishing Library Publishing Coalition (USA)

– Funding body side publication fee NOW Netherlands, FWF Austria, Wellcome UK, Max Planck Society, Germany

– Author side publication fee SpringerOpen Books, Palgrave Open, Manchester University Press OA

– Library consortium Knowledge Unlatched

What is Different About KU?

• Spreads costs across many institutions

• Globally coordinated

• Retains a market element

• Minimally disruptive

• Draws on established funding pools

• Distanced from University politics

• Applications for developing countries

• Conducting research around the model

• Readers

• Libraries

• Authors

• Independent Researchers

• Publishers

• Australia…?

Who Benefits?

Questions

• Does KU offer wider lessons about how global markets that include free access might function?

• Is it enough for a KU to mirror the global dynamics of markets for content? Are there failures in this market that we should be trying to address?

• How should Humanities communities engage with digital opportunities to measure impact?