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Subject: Open access monographs

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  • From: Sigi Jöttkandt <sigij AT openhumanitiespress.org>
  • To: Istvan Rev <Revist AT ceu.hu>
  • Cc: ohp AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [OA-monographs] (no subject)
  • Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:15:12 +0200

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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