Open access monographs

[Sigi Jöttkandt <sigij AT openhumanitiespress.org>]

Another possible idea for content is important new work in languages 
other than English. Perhaps a community translation project, headed of 
course by a serious scholar with impeccable credentials, might be worth 
thinking about too. There is Peter Sloterdijk's massive Spheres trilogy, 
which as far as I know has not been picked up by the flagship university 
presses because of its gargantuan size, and I'm sure there are plenty of 
others in this situation too.

The idea of republishing classics has the immediate benefit that we 
could get going with it pretty quickly, whereas a new series will take 
considerable time to build before we get to the point of producing 
anything. J-C's model of adding layers of symbolic value might overlap 
here as well, if there were new contributions from the original author 
and/or simultaneous re-readings along the lines of Hillis's and Manuel 
Asensi's "boustrophedonic" text, Black Holes. Otherwise it seems a bit 
hard to justify the effort in re-issuing work since much can already be 
found (albeit in crippled form) through Google Books.

As for what Istvan describes, libraries are of course our natural 
allies. If people can think of ways we can bring some of them in at the 
planning level, that would be enormously helpful.

Best,
Sigi



Istvan Rev wrote:
> 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 ev
>  en from the funding agencies - just a slight redistribution of the existing 
> library budgets.
> istvan rev
>
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