Open access monographs

["Istvan Rev" <Revist AT ceu.hu>]

Dear All,
Prickly Paradigm Press, the reincarnation of Prickly Pear, publishes  
pamphlets, something  that is not far both as far as the  number of pages and 
 the genre are concerned from what has been proposed as the niche for 
OA-monographs. It is obvious that OA monographs would have a role only if 
besides new principles and techniques of  distribution and dissemination, 
they would be able to offer unique content as well: works that others are not 
willing to publish, despite the intellectual merit, the importance or the 
probable impact of the work even in small academic circles. 
I would like to call attention to two points in John Willinsky's excellent 
summary of the state of the debate so far: "Subscription patronage" and 
"Library partnerships" that could be merged. Academic libraries in the more 
fortunate parts of the world have substantial funds for acquisition, parts of 
which could be used for supporting the publishing of, advancing the costs or 
purchasing OA monographs. Academic library consortia, including eIFL, (about 
which Jean-Claude knows at least as much as I do) could play an active role 
in the initiative, instead of approaching individual libraries. The 
electronic copies would be available  through the libraries that contributed 
to the production costs of the monographs, but the libraries would be 
entitled to lend the books to academic libraries in the poorest parts of the 
world. In this way the contribution coming from the library (on the expense 
of the acquisition budget but with the compensation of the savings on OA 
monographs, which will be substantially cheaper than printed hard copies) 
would be almost automatically perceived philanthropic academic support to 
sister libraries in other parts of the world. I would emphasize the role of 
libraries as opposed to the role of federal, state of private grant giving 
agencies. The involvement of libraries in the process of the publication 
would bring the library closer to the author and to the publisher; the 
relationship would become more symmetrical, authors would not write for 
granting agencies but for the community of the readers who would pay for the 
publication. Libraries would be able to involve the patrons already at the 
stage of making financial decisions in advance, the readers would have a 
(sort of ) say in the decision of publishing a particular title, etc. The 
arrangement might help libraries to find their new place in the changing 
publishing-reading environment too. And Open Access monograph publishing 
would not require additional resources - not even from the funding agencies - 
just a slight redistribution of the existing library budgets.
istvan rev