Knowledge Unlatched: Enabling Open Access for Scholarly Books

• Library budgets are under pressure

• Journals have become much more expensive

• The number of monograph titles has increased

• Sales of monographs have declined

• Print runs for each title have decreased

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

Challenges for Book Publishers

• Research funders are beginning to require OA and authors would like an OA option.

BUT

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

• Humanities and social science research budgets are small

• Some authors lack research funding

• Author pays model used for journals unlikely to work for books

Open Access for Books?

• 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

– University of Melbourne

– University of Western Australia

A Global Initiative

• A sustainable route to OA for Humanities and Social Science (HSS) books

• Spread costs of OA across many institutions globally

• Ensuring that humanities and social science books 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 around the world coordinate book purchases

• Libraries share the Title Fee (first copy cost) as a payment to publishers

• Publishers make titles selected by the community available as 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 – contributed by OCLC.

What it Looks Like

OAPEN offers publishers, libraries and research funders new ways to distribute scholarly books.

• Their services include a platform for dissemination, quality assurance and digital preservation.

• Advisory Board chaired by Caroline Sutton, President of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)

• Titles are in WorldCat; working with discovery tools

• Working on Counter compliant usage

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

o Library Steering Committee

o Collection Committee

• KU 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 pans 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’

Pledging – Sign Up

Title Publisher Primary / Secondary Subject AreasPurchasing Route

Fighting for a Living Amsterdam University Press History / Military History

On Global Citizenship Bloomsbury Academic Politics / Political Theory vv

China's iGeneration Bloomsbury Academic Media & Comms / Cinematography

Your invoice will be adjusted to reflect the purchases of titles included in the Knowledge Unlatched Pilot Collection via other routes.

You can always revisit this page later, before the end of the pledging period, to update the information on other formats.

I’ll do this later I’ve completed this page I’m not buying any other formats

None

None

For each Title you can tell us if you

are buying Ebook or Print versions

Then tell us how you expect to be purchasing

these –• Ebook collection• Approval Plan• Firm Order (E or P)

None

Pledging – Title Page

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

• Organize library advisory Committees

• Repeat the cycle again with more books, more publishers signing up, 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 collect up to 5% of Title Fees to cover costs, reducing as volume goes up

• Readers – access to content

• Authors – extends reach

• Libraries – opportunity to participate

• Publishers – opportunity to learn

• Independent Researchers - access

• Everyone else too

Who Benefits?

Sign Up for the Pilot Collection!

http://www.knowledgeunlatched.org/

info@knowledgeunlatched.org

Twitter: @Kunlatched #KUPilot