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Open Access Monographs: What You Need To Know, Part Two

Webinar

About the Webinar

A 2019 article in The Atlantic observed that the current disruption in scholarly book publishing might result in the Great Sorting, what the author saw as a beneficial “matching of different kinds of scholarly uses with the right media, formats, and locations.” 

In that context, the second session of this two-part webinar focuses specifically on OA monographs. Which stakeholders are currently delivering them and using them? Which current business models are most likely to represent sustainability for those stakeholders? And, with a population of interested readers of these works that may be far larger than their actual revenues, what can publishers, librarians, vendors, and others do to help drive discovery and usage of  high-value OA monographs?

Our panel of expert speakers will share their expertise, as well as respond to your questions about OA monographs.

Confirmed speakers include Charles Watkinson, Director, University of Michigan Press and Associate University Librarian, Publishing, University of Michigan; Frances Pinter, Executive Chair of the Central European University Press and Founder of Knowledge Unlatched and Barbara K.  Pope, Director, Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Note: In response to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, NISO understands that staff at an increasing number of organizations are working remotely. During this unique situation, we are allowing registrants to share the sign-on instructions with your colleagues so that they may join the broadcast directly, irrespective of where they are located.

Event Sessions

Open Access Monographs in a time of COVID-19

Speaker

Charles Watkinson

Associate University Librarian and Director
University of Michigan Press

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the necessity of seamless online access to research and teaching resources. During the projected multi-year economic downturn to come, the importance of supporting scholars with increasingly precarious employment situations will only become more important. How can mission-driven publishers balance the imperative of providing the broadest possible electronic access with the risks of undermining their organizational sustainability and other negative unintended consequences? This is a particular conundrum when institutional resources will be declining and the finances available for universities to support public goods will be severely stretched. Drawing on experiences and planning at the University of Michigan, this presentation will discuss some possible ways of balancing the desirable goals of free-to-user access with the need to manage organizational risk.

An Open Access Odyssey

Speaker

This presentation will look at how business models for Open Access publishing of monographs have evolved over the past 12 years as Frances recounts introducing OA at Bloomsbury Academic in 2008, galvanizing new sources of support at Manchester University Press in the mid 2010s, and now at the Central European University Press - working on a new model in a post-Covid world. She will look at a number of business models, presenting the case for a multi-model approach to paying for OA and encouraging greater collaboration between stakeholders. 

Promoting Change and Managing Risk in Open Access

Speaker

Johns Hopkins University Press has been conducting a number of experiments in Open Access for books over the past few years in order to benefit from increased usage—serving to meet its mission—and to assess the risk to its financial model.  Its director, Barbara Kline Pope, who has a deep history with evidence-based OA models, will report on these experiments, providing some preliminary data and lessons learned.   The presentation recognizes the weathered call from publishers, libraries, and scholars for sustainable dissemination and business models for critical scholarly monographs in the humanities and qualitative social sciences.  

Additional Information

  • NOTE: Members of NISO automatically received sign-on credentials for this event as a member benefit. There is no need to register for the recording. Check your institutional membership status here.

  • Registrants will receive detailed instructions about accessing the archived recording within one business day. Due to the widespread use of spam blockers, filters, out of office messages, etc., we ask that you contact the NISO office at nisohq@niso.org if you do not receive these instructions in a timely fashion. This recording access is only to be used by the registrant's organization.

  • Speaker presentation slides are posted to this event webpage following the live broadcast.

For Online Events

  • You will need a computer in order to view the broadcast; audio should feed through your device’s speaker or attached headset.

  • If you have questions or concerns regarding this registration, please contact NISO headquarters via email to nisohq@niso.org. We appreciate your interest and hope that you will gain valuable insight from our speakers.