The \u27Platinum Route\u27 to Open Access: A Case Study of \u3ci\u3eE-JASL: The Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship\u3c/i\u3e

Abstract Introduction. In 1999, with no money and no support from any library organization, the author partnered with the International Consortium for Alternative Academic Publication (ICAAP), later renamed the International Consortium for the Advancement of Academic Publication, to found a new electronic journal, The Journal of Southern Academic and Special Librarianship, renamed E-JASL: The Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship in 2002. Description. This case study is based on the author’s own experiences founding and developing a professional, independent, permanently archived, peer reviewed, open-access, electronic library journal, employing a scholar-led model of publishing. The author’s partnership with the ICAAP is discussed emphasizing the benefits of this collaboration. Conclusion. The ICAAP has demonstrated to the world that is possible to form independent scholarly journal publishing projects outside of the commercial mainstream. Also, the ICAAP has shown that there is an alternative to paying commercial publishers hundreds and even thousands of dollars to buy back the scholarly research of our colleagues in academia. The alternative is starting and/or supporting scholarly journal publishing projects that take the ‘platinum route’ to open-access. Everyone is encouraged to work to make academic research free and freely accessible on the Web for one and all. “The Platinum Route is the voluntary, collaborative, no charge model that is usually overlooked in the debates on OA” (Wilson 2007

Scholars Forum: A New Model For Scholarly Communication

Scholarly journals have flourished for over 300 years because they successfully address a broad range of authors' needs: to communicate findings to colleagues, to establish precedence of their work, to gain validation through peer review, to establish their reputation, to know the final version of their work is secure, and to know their work will be accessible by future scholars. Eventually, the development of comprehensive paper and then electronic indexes allowed past work to be readily identified and cited. Just as postal service made it possible to share scholarly work regularly and among a broad readership, the Internet now provides a distribution channel with the power to reduce publication time and to expand traditional print formats by supporting multi-media options and threaded discourse. Despite widespread acceptance of the web by the academic and research community, the incorporation of advanced network technology into a new paradigm for scholarly communication by the publishers of print journals has not materialized. Nor have journal publishers used the lower cost of distribution on the web to make online versions of journals available at lower prices than print versions. It is becoming increasingly clear to the scholarly community that we must envision and develop for ourselves a new, affordable model for disseminating and preserving results, that synthesizes digital technology and the ongoing needs of scholars. In March 1997, with support from the Engineering Information Foundation, Caltech sponsored a Conference on Scholarly Communication to open a dialogue around key issues and to consider the feasibility of alternative undertakings. A general consensus emerged recognizing that the certification of scholarly articles through peer review could be "decoupled" from the rest of the publishing process, and that the peer review process is already supported by the universities whose faculty serve as editors, members of editorial boards, and referees. In the meantime, pressure to enact regressive copyright legislation has added another important element. The ease with which electronic files may be copied and forwarded has encouraged publishers and other owners of copyrighted material to seek means for denying access to anything they own in digital form to all but active subscribers or licensees. Furthermore, should publishers retain the only version of a publication in a digital form, there is a significant risk that this material may eventually be lost through culling little-used or unprofitable back-files, through not investing in conversion expense as technology evolves, through changes in ownership, or through catastrophic physical events. Such a scenario presents an intolerable threat to the future of scholarship

Editorial

This issue of Libellarium features papers based on the presentations from the 2ndPublishing trends and contexts conference which took place in Pula, Croatia, on 8-9 December 2014. All papers were subject to evaluation and classification by two independent reviewers, according to the journal’s editorial policy. The conference gathered a group of experts from prominent European universities from England, France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, Sweden, Slovenia and Croatia–the details are available on the conference web site: http://epubconf.unizd.hr/hr/index.php. The papers published in this volume concentrate on four main problems: new possibilities for publishers, booksellers and authors caused by the introduction of digital technologies in the publishing processes, models used in the digital environment, teaching publishing at the university level, and finally, the status of publishing studies as an emerging scholarly discipline. The first part features five papers. Tom D. Wilson in E-books: the publishers’ dilemma reports on a study of publishers’ attitudes towards e-books in three countries: Sweden, Lithuania and Croatia, showing a great contrast between the rise of the e-book in English speaking countries and those of small languages. Elena Maceviciute, Birgitta Wallin and Kersti Nilsson (Book selling and e-books in Sweden) address the issue of the understanding of the book-selling situation in Sweden, by answering three crucial questions: how Swedish booksellers see the impact of e-books on their business, how and why they adopt and develop e-book sales, and what they perceive as barriers to e-book selling. Interestingly, the results have shown that the Swedish booksellers do not feel their business is threatened by e-books. In E-book aggregators: new services in electronic publishing Tomislav Jakopec investigates e-book aggregators as new services in electronic publishing, showing that e-book aggregation exists as a business model and that its further development will show the extent to which it is sustainable. Arūnas Gudinavičius (Is self-publishing a salvation for authors? The case of Lithuanian printed bestseller in the digital environment) deals with the possibilities of self-publishing, taking a case from a small language market (Andrius Tapinas’ book Hour of the Wolf) and analyzing the attempts of the author to translate it into English and sell it through the Amazon.com services. Asta Urbanaviciute (Self-publishing of Lithuanian cultural periodicals in Soviet and contemporary times) compares self-publishing in historical and modern contexts, demonstrating that contemporary self-publishing emerged under favourable circumstances, and that modern self-publishers associate this model with digital texts only, which, due to favourable conditions, spread easily through social networks and blogs. A completely different, historical self-publishing could have had serious political consequences, as summarized in the Russian description “I write it myself, censor myself, publish it myself and sit in jail myself”. Section two, models used in the digital environment, is comprised of three papers. Maja Krtalić and Damir Hasenay (Long-term accessibility of e-books: challenges, obstacles, responsibilities) ask how specific characteristics of e-books influence their preservation possibilities and who is responsible for the long-term accessibility of e-books? They concentrate on issues concerning the preservation and archiving of published authors’ works in the digital environment for the purpose of their long-term accessibility, and give an overview of relevant legal, technical, societal and organisational issues from which challenges, obstacles and responsibilities in ensuring long-term accessibility of e-books arise. Ivona Despot, Ivana Ljevak Lebeda and Nives Tomašević in the paper ’Freemium’ business models in publishing. New packaging for the needs of readers in the digital age explore how the emergence of subscription models influences the development of new publishing products which bring together the author and the publisher in a joint effort to reach a larger number of readers; and Ivana Hebrang Grgić (Publishing Croatian scientific journals: to e- or not to e-?) discusses the extent to which Croatian journal publishers adapted to the electronic environment. In section three, dedicated to the teaching of publishing at the university level, Aušra Navickienė (Third Level Publishing Studies: Lithuania, a Case Study), Ewa Jabłońska-Stefanowicz (Three R’s in publishing education), and Josipa Selthofer (What comes first? Publishing business or publishing studies?) provide examples of publishing studies programmes in Lithuania (focusing on the Institute of Book Science and Documentation of Vilnius University), Poland (focusing on the LIS Institute of the University of Wroclaw) and Croatia, in comparison with relevant programmes in Europe and the United States. Finally, section four presents three papers which petition for the status of publishing studies as an emerging scientific discipline. Sophie Noël in Publishing studies: the search for an elusive academic object questions the validity of publishing studies as an academic discipline, while trying to situate them within the field of social sciences. She argues that a more appropriate frame could be adopted to describe what people studying the transformations of book publishing do – or should do – both at a theoretical and methodological levels. Christoph Bläsi (Publishing studies: being part of a cultural practice plus x?) relates the question of an advanced self-conception of publishing studies to the question what criteria have to be fulfilled to call a field (such as publishing studies) a scholarly discipline. He presents the first results of an ongoing project in which he conducts extensive expert interviews with representatives of UK Publishing Studies study programmes and research institutions and, based on the interviews, defines the core questions related to publishing studies as a discipline. To finish, Bertrand Legendre (Publishing studies: what else?) tries to reposition publishing studies in the long process that starts with the beginning of book history and goes all the way to the current research on cultural industries. Overall, all the papers are concerned with new developments at the publishing scene, regarding its practical components, its educational scope, and its academic foundations. They reflect the general state of affairs in the comparably still very young scholarly discipline, which, since the late 1980ies, has been getting more and more attention both as research and teaching. In the last decade a number of significant monographs and scholarly papers have appeared, a few international conferences have addressed this topic, and more universities have included publishing courses. Yet, we still cannot say that today’s publishing studies are theoretically and methodologically mature enough to contextualize and analyse all the phenomena and developments in modern publishing, neither have we answered the questions such as what publishing studies are and what is their focus. Papers published in this volume of Libellarium could be taken as a contribution in building a general theoretical framework and methodological approaches that would fit publishing studies research best, and as attempts to answer the simple questions about the nature of the discipline and the background of scholars involved with it

Open Access Week (October 21-27)

Workshops: Digital Commons and SelectedWorks Room 1300, Henderson Library Monday, October 21 from 9-10 a.m. Wednesday, October 23 from 1-2 p.m. Thursday, October 24 from 3-4 p.m. Friday, October 25 from 9-10 a.m. Zach S. Henderson library is offering two new services: Digital Commons and SelectedWorks. Digital Commons@Georgia Southern is an open access repository that contains research, scholarship, and creative works of our faculty, staff and students. SelectedWorks consists of individual sites for faculty and staff that highlight their research and publications. In this workshop, you will learn about the benefits of these services and how to use them as well as the basics of open access and copyright. Presenters: Ashley D. Lowery, Digital Collections Specialist at GSU; Debra Skinner, Coordinator of Cataloging and Metadata at GSU Affordable Learning Georgia Library Conference Room Wednesday, October 23 from 9-10 a.m. Thursday, October 24 from 9-10 a.m. In this workshop, you will learn about Affordable Learning Georgia (ALF). Affordable Learning Georgia is: -A University System of Georgia (USG) initiative to promote student success by providing affordable textbook alternatives-A one-stop service to help USG faculty and staff identify lower-cost, electronic, free, and Open Educational Resources, building on the cost-effective subscription resources provided by GALILEO and the USG libraries-A California State University-MERLOT partner benefit service Presenter: Bede Mitchell, Dean of the Library at GSU Webinars: Scholarly Open Access Publishing and the Peril of Predatory Publishers Room 1300, Henderson Library Tuesday, October 22 from 12-1:30 p.m. Emerging scholarly publishing models are changing the culture of scholarly communication. One of these new models, gold open access, provides free, universal access to scholarly literature. However, this model, financed by article processing charges paid for by authors or their funders, has led to the publication of questionable research. Numerous unscrupulous or “predatory” publishers using the gold open-access model have appeared, accepting papers just to earn the author fees. Greater scrutiny is required by all involved in scholarly communication from authors, to reviewers, editors, and even tenure and promotion committees. This talk will tell the story of the emergence of questionable publishers and explain how scholars and academic librarians can identify them. A particular journal’s inclusion in a library database doesn’t always mean it is legitimate. This webinar will provide an overview of the issues related to scholarly open-access publishing of importance to academic librarians, focusing on the unintended consequences such as predatory publishers and their abuse of the gold open-access model. Presenter: Jeffrey Beall from the University of Colorado Denver Developing and Implementing Open Access Policies Room 1300, Henderson Library Tuesday, October 22 from 2-3:30 p.m. Gather a group on your campus and participate together as two experienced practitioners describe the elements of an effective OA policy, explain why each is important and detail the process for moving a policy forward on your campus. After a basic overview, join in a highly interactive opportunity to pose your questions to the speakers about the development and implementation of open access policies. We welcome participation from those who are both new to the process and issues as well as those already deeply in the policy development or implementation stages. Learning Outcomes: -Learn how to evaluate elements of policy;-Learn how to engage and assess stakeholders-Be able to identify the critical pieces for the implementation phase. Presenters: Ada Emmett, Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of Kansas; Suzanne Kriegsman, Program Manager, Office for Scholarly Communication, Harvard University Supporting and Showcasing Undergraduate Research through the Institutional Repository Room 1300, Henderson Library Thursday, October 24 from 2-3 p.m. A growing number of liberal arts college libraries are using their own institutional repositories to capture student works and foster student research. This webinar addresses the topics of: -Collecting and managing student works: undergraduate major papers, capstone and research projects-Campus based publishing: creating and publishing peer-reviewed student-run scholarly journals-Capturing and showcasing student events, student research conferences and workshops Presenter: Tim Tamminga, Berkeley Electronic Pres

Scottish academic publications implementing an effective networked service (SAPIENS) project

This article describes the aims and continuing progress of the Scottish Academic Periodicals Implementing an Effective Networked Service (SAPIENS) project which has been running at the University of Strathclyde's Centre for Digital Library Research since September 2001. Initially funded for two years, the project has been extended until October 2004. The rationale behind SAPIENS is the concern that small Scottish publishers, operating on limited budgets, are in danger of finding themselves marginalised in the modern information environment. The project's primary objectives are to explore the viability of, and launch, an electronic publishing service to assist small-scale Scottish publishers of academic and cultural periodicals to publish online. It has achieved these aims by implementing a demonstration service which is gradually moving into an operational mode, delivering current journals

What's the 'big deal', and why is it bad deal for universities?

At first sight the “big (or all-you-can-eat) deal” seems excellent value for libraries and their users, and represents the shining possibilities of the electronic age. A more thorough-going evaluation, however, exposes dangers for universities, their funders and publishers. This paper examines the big deal in the light of fundamental market conditions and suggests alternative models for procuring electronic resources. The roles and strengths of the players in the information supply chain are defined and traditional hard-copy procurement is analysed in terms of these roles and the concepts of authority, branding and monopoly. The fundamentals of procuring electronic resources and prevalent purchasing models are discussed in terms of the same roles and concepts. The advantages of the big deal are laid out - access to resources, low unit costs etc. The dangers are also discussed. These arise mainly from the publishers’ position as monopolists. The possible long-term effects, on library budgets and academic publishing, of dealing with monopoly suppliers are examined. Means of avoiding or minimising these dangers – consortia, alternative publishing methods, new economic models to promote competition – are examined

Christian Publishing: A Panel Discussion

The 2007 conference of the Association of Christian Librarians convened in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the campus of Cornerstone University. Conference planners invited representatives of four prominent Christian publishers headquartered there (Baker, Eerdmans, Kregel, and Zondervan) to participate in a panel discussion on June 13. The panelists’ 65-minute exchange is transcribed here in slightly abbreviated form. At the beginning of the discussion, panelists were asked to reflect on general trends in the Christian publishing industry. This led naturally to a lengthy conversation about the publishers’ involvement in the creation and licensing of ebooks and other digital products. Finally, panelists were asked to address the proliferation of English Bible versions aimed at the evangelical community

University press publishing consortium for Africa : lessons from academic libraries

This paper presents the results of a case study of the policies and practices of six African university presses. Based on the findings, it posits the formation of a consortium of African university presses. It borrows heavily from consortium formation in the library world

Open Access Publishing: A Literature Review

Within the context of the Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy (CREATe) research scope, this literature review investigates the current trends, advantages, disadvantages, problems and solutions, opportunities and barriers in Open Access Publishing (OAP), and in particular Open Access (OA) academic publishing. This study is intended to scope and evaluate current theory and practice concerning models for OAP and engage with intellectual, legal and economic perspectives on OAP. It is also aimed at mapping the field of academic publishing in the UK and abroad, drawing specifically upon the experiences of CREATe industry partners as well as other initiatives such as SSRN, open source software, and Creative Commons. As a final critical goal, this scoping study will identify any meaningful gaps in the relevant literature with a view to developing further research questions. The results of this scoping exercise will then be presented to relevant industry and academic partners at a workshop intended to assist in further developing the critical research questions pertinent to OAP

Librarians as midwives of change in scholarly communication

History testifies to two ICT revolutions. In my reckoning scholarly communication is now in the grip of a third. The point of this chapter, to paraphrase Marx, is to show that librarians are in a position not simply to interpret the world of scholarly communication, but to change it, or at least to act as the midwives of that change. The chapter discusses the information value chain, the economic background to scholarly communication, and trends in pricing and negotiation with publishers. It closes by suggesting that the electronic age offers the potential to turn academic library practice on its head. University libraries until now have promised to collect or gain access to the research outputs of all other universities and research institutions, a task that is both impossible to accomplish and costly to attempt. With the widespread introduction of institutional repositories, however, it is now feasible for each university or research institution to collect all the research outputs of its own scholars, and make them available to all other universities. This task, by contrast, is finite and achievable; the costs are commensurate with the research standing and income of the academic institution