The Challenge of Creating a Positive Change in Scholarly Communication: Knowledge Unlatched
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Creating Positive Change in Scholarly Communication: Knowledge Unlatched Lucy Montgomery
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The Challenge of Creating Positive Change in Scholarly Communication: Knowledge Unlatched Presentation to the Academy of Science of South Africa National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Conference. 27 February 2014 The global crisis in monograph publishing is impacting on authors, readers and publishers in every market. Those located in smaller markets face particular challenges. Monograph sales have declined by as much as 90% over the past thirty years and publishers are struggling to cope with digital disruption. This presentation looks briefly at why monographs are in trouble and asks whether Open Access has a role to play in reviving markets for this kind of book and addressing challenges of diversity and equality in scholarly communication landscapes. Knowledge Unlatched is one example of an attempt to create a globally coordinated route to open access for book length Humanities and Social Science monographs. It is doing this by helping libraries from around the world to work together to secure open access for specialist book-length publications. During the project’s proof of concept pilot, more than 200 libraries from 18 countries are sharing the costs of ‘unlatching’ a collection of 28 new books. Libraries taking part in the pilot are sharing the payment of a single Title Fee to publishers in return for open access. As more libraries join the cost for each library declines. About the Speaker Dr Lucy Montgomery is Deputy Director at Knowledge Unlatched. She is also a Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology and a Visiting Fellow at the Big Innovation Centre in London. Her own research explores the role of digital technology and intellectual property in business model innovation in the creative industries. Dr Montgomery trained as a China specialist at the University of Adelaide, before going to complete a PhD in Media and Cultural Studies at QUT. She is particularly interested in understanding the impact of transformative technological change on intellectual property and the growth of the creative economy. Her book, China’s Creative Industries: Copyright, Social Network Markets and the Business of Culture in a Digital Age is published by Edward Elgar.
Transcript of The Challenge of Creating a Positive Change in Scholarly Communication: Knowledge Unlatched
Creating Positive Change in Scholarly Communication:
Knowledge Unlatched
Lucy Montgomery
This Presentation
• The Global Crisis in Monograph Publishing
• Open Access and Knowledge Unlatched
• Smaller market challenges
• Can a globally coordinate model meet the needs of local communities?
The Monograph Crisis
• 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
Why Are Books In trouble?
• 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
Open Access for Books?
• 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…
• The cost of publishing a 70,000 – 100,000 word monograph higher than the cost of publishing a 5,000 – 10,000 word article
• Palgrave Open: £11,000/$17,500: CC-BY
• Manchester University Press: £5,900 - £7,800: CC-BY-NC
• HSS research budgets are small
• Some authors aren’t attached to a research budget at all
• Journal models won’t work!
KnowledgeUnlatched
What is Knowledge Unlatched?
• 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)
Partners
CLOCKSS
HathiTrust
Jisc Collections
LYRASIS
Max Planck Society
New York Public Library
OAPEN
Portico
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
Knowledge Unlatched Goals
• 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
How Does it Work?
• 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
What it Looks Like
• 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 upon publication
• Books are preserved and discoverable. MARC records available for all titles
What is a Title Fee?
• 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
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
• As more libraries pledge, the cost for each library becomes less
http://www.knowledgeunlatched.org/ku-in-60-seconds/
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
An Opportunity to Help Shape Knowledge Unlatched• Libraries that help unlatch the Pilot Collection
become Charter Members of Knowledge Unlatched
• They will be able to help shape the future of Knowledge Unlatched through:
• A Library Steering Committee
• A Collections Committee
• A joint Library/Publisher forum later in 2014
Avoiding ‘Double Dipping’
• The amount a library pays adjusted to reflect additional format purchases made by each library
• If a library orders 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
• This approach will be refined in future rounds
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 – 28 February 2014
Decision on Unlatching Books were ‘unlatched’ when we reached our target of 200 libraries in early Feb.
Calculate final unlatching fee for libraries
Early March 2014
Invoices issued to libraries Mid March 2014
Titles become available via OAPEN and HathiTrust
Immediate upon publication
Publishers paid by KU After books have been unlatched and libraries have paid
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
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
Smaller Market Challenges
• South Africa
• Australia
• Challenge of connecting effectively to international distribution networks
• Lack of scale
• Pressure to cover costs of operation
• Desire to publish high quality local scholarship
Can KU Help?
• Open Access increases access to specialist scholarly books for readers all over the world.
• How can Knowledge Unlatched also support diversity in monograph publishing?
• Can KU help ensure that high quality work by scholars from smaller markets is visible and accessible?
• How can we ensure that the KU model is friendly to different kinds of publisher? Pure OA? Independent? Library based? Digital?
KU South
• Understanding the needs of authors, libraries and publishers in Africa. • Can KU act as a channel for targeted funding support for publishers and libraries in specific markets?• Can KU provide services that help to level the playing field for smaller publishers?
• Marketing?• Print on Demand? • Digital formatting?
• Can thoughtful curation of collections encourage diversity?
Who Benefits?
• Readers
• Libraries
• Authors
• Independent Researchers
• Publishers
Open Monograph Models
– 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
Questions?
Suggestions?
