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Category: publishing

On “Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria,” by James Somers

On “Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria,” by James Somers

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In this article for The Atlantic, James Somers explores why the original dream behind Google Books — and perhaps even behind Google itself, Somers suggests — has been quashed. Somers traces the trajectory of Google Books, from the centuries-long pipe dream of creating the world’s largest library in “one place” to its current manifestation: alive, but with utopic vision unrealized. Somers provides a compelling account of the class action lawsuit between Google and a coalition of authors and publishers, as…

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On “Open Access is a Research Community Matter, Not a Publishing Community Matter,” by Stevan Harnad

On “Open Access is a Research Community Matter, Not a Publishing Community Matter,” by Stevan Harnad

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In this short article, Stevan Harnad repeats his argument that Green OA (i.e., depositing research in OA repositories) is the best path toward the widespread adoption and implementation of open access. In “Open Access is a Research Community Matter, Not a Publishing Community Matter,” he aims to convince researchers to self-archive or deposit their own output because publishers do not yet have enough impetus to commit wholly to open access. Further, Harnad argues, “researchers’ institutions and funders need to mandate…

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On “A Good Idea, a Difficult Reality: Toward a Publisher/Library Open Access Partnership,” by Rowland Lorimer

On “A Good Idea, a Difficult Reality: Toward a Publisher/Library Open Access Partnership,” by Rowland Lorimer

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The title of this article by Rowland Lorimer, “A Good Idea, a Difficult Reality: Toward a Publisher/Library Open Access Partnership,” may be a bit misleading. When one reads through the article itself, it seems to argue that libraries should not have a substantive role to play in OA, or at least in the publishing side of OA. (Is that a partnership?) Lorimer rightly acknowledges the complexities of scholarly communication, and the need for objective study into successful models. But its…

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On “‘Free to All’: Library Publishing and the Challenge of Open Access,” by Michah Vandegrift and Josh Bolick

On “‘Free to All’: Library Publishing and the Challenge of Open Access,” by Michah Vandegrift and Josh Bolick

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In the published conference paper “‘Free to All’: Library Publishing and the Challenge of Open Access,” Micah Vandegrift and Josh Bolick argue that libraries need to be unwavering forces in the promotion and implementation of open access (OA) publishing. They contend that libraries are increasingly becoming “library publishers” (107). Although I do think there’s an argument to be made to this end, it is not overwhemingly clear to me, from the paper itself, just how libraries are publishers. My immediate…

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On “Beyond Open: Expanding Access to Scholarly Content,” by Alice Meadows

On “Beyond Open: Expanding Access to Scholarly Content,” by Alice Meadows

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Alice Meadows provides a review of major low cost or public access initiatives  in “Beyond Open: Expanding Access to Scholarly Content.” She summarizes the New School for Social Research’s Journal Donation Project , Research for Life, the International Network for Access to Scientific Publications (INASP), Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), patientACCESS, Access to Research, Emergency Access Initiative (EAI), and Strengthening Research and Knowledge Systems (SRKS). Meadows’ review is useful insofar as it provides a broad sense of low cost / public…

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On “Beyond Open Access to Open Publication and Open Scholarship,” by John Maxwell

On “Beyond Open Access to Open Publication and Open Scholarship,” by John Maxwell

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In “Beyond Open Access to Open Publication and Open Scholarship,” John Maxwell imagines what a humanities-based digital scholarly communication system would look like if it was modeled after prevalent web technologies, practices, and metaphors. He compares the opportunities that this approach might bring against traditional (read: current) academic publishing practices. This “webby model of scholarly communication” (5) would need to produce recognizable academic artifacts. Maxwell concludes that for digital scholarly artifacts to succeed in our current climate, they require at…

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On “Open Access Publishing and Academic Research” by Rowly Lorimer

On “Open Access Publishing and Academic Research” by Rowly Lorimer

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Rowly Lorimer begins this chapter by surveying the history of corporate journal publishing as we know it today. It began, Lorimer tells us, shortly after the Second World War by a fellow named Robert Maxwell, whom Lorimer paints as a “scoundrel, thief, probable spy, and publisher” (177). He traces it to the release of the World Wide Web, and the Internet’s gift to scientists of allowing them to share their work online at a much lower cost than publishers charge…

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On “Publication Fees in Open Access Publishing,” by David J. Solomon & Bo-Christer Björk

On “Publication Fees in Open Access Publishing,” by David J. Solomon & Bo-Christer Björk

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In their article “Publication Fees in Open Access Publishing: Sources of Funding and Factors Influencing Choice of Journal,” David J. Solomon and Bo-Christer Björk report on a study of authors who have recently paid Article Processing Charges (APCs) to publish journal articles open access. Solomon and Björk consider journals across the disciplines, although they only include 1 humanities journal out of their survey of 74. They aim to determine the author reception of APCs, as well as what factors are…

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On The Access Principle, by John Willinsky

On The Access Principle, by John Willinsky

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In The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship (2006), Dr. John Willinsky lays out an expansive argument for open access to scholarly research, based on a steadfast belief, articulated from the outset, that open access has the potential to change the public presence of science and scholarship, and increase the circulation of these particular forms of knowledge (xi). Willinsky concludes that knowledge is, inherently, a public good (like lighthouses [9]), and as such the public should…

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