Libraries as Universal Service Providers

Journal of deliberative democracy, 2010

This is the fixed version of an article made available by an organization that acts as a publisher by formally and exclusively declaring the article "published". If it is an "early release" article (formally identified as being published even before the compilation of a volume issue and assignment of associated metadata), it is citable via some permanent identifier(s), and final copy-editing, proof corrections, layout, and typesetting have been applied.

Since ancient times human beings have been communicating to express their ideas through various medium, be it for any personal or public expression. One of the most dominant and currently relevant media of communication is publishing. Publishing is the act of communicating a message to the public through a medium. Publications link authors and their creation with readers. With evolution in technology, there has been a shift from the publisher-centric model to the author-friendly model of publishing. Many platforms assist the authors and the users in getting access to quality material for an affordable price. In this era, it thus becomes necessary to have an overview of the new publishing models. A critical analysis is conducted for each model starting from post-Gutenberg to open access publications of the modern era. The impact it has on libraries is also studied and how a library can play a crucial role in this new publishing scenario. This paper will discuss how various publishing model works and how authors, users, and librarians are benefiting from them.

2003

The paper focuses on the possibilities and problems created for the humanities by the usage of Digital Libraries. The exchange of information, forms of discussion and the process of publication in the scientific communities have changed over the recent years. On the other hand the user group of digital libraries is heterogeneous and difficult to define. We discuss the organization structure and the working process of two communities, which have quickly adapted their communication process to the use of web-technologies: the Open Source community and the scientific research community. We have to distinguish the communication technique, the applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), including search engines, and the barely started developments to realize new Web Services for DL-oriented applications, to support the library services and finally to obtain a new concept, which we call long-term access to digital structured resources by contract. A DL user views a Web Service as a “black bo...

This is an invited piece (solicited by Bob Nardini) for a special issue of Against the Grain on libraries and university presses. Bob writes: Wait till you read Paul Royster, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Paul, in “A Library Publishing Manifesto,” explains exactly why he thinks library publishing is needed to atone for the “sins” of commercial publishers and what he counts as the failings of university presses. If readers find his contribution “overly rhetorical” or “hyperbolic,” as he admits they might, they’ll be clear on where Paul stands. They’ll also find as vigorous an argument for the value of library publishing as they’re likely to encounter anywhere, as well as some practical advice for library publishers, all of it based in part upon what Paul has learned directing Zea Books, Nebraska’s own program. Last spring I heard Paul deliver a version of his article at the Library Publishing Forum, a meeting mentioned by several contributors. Library publishers and university press publishers were side-by-side for the first time at a national meeting like this one, and when they met in Kansas City there was an extraordinary level of energy. Sometimes it was energy over what libraries and university presses could do together. Sometimes it was energy over what libraries should do on their own. Sometimes the mood was friendly. Sometimes it was not.

2015

This report looks at topic of libraries as publishers, with investigations mainly in the U.S. research institution context. Specifically, we reviewed existing literature and conducted a survey of members of the Library Publishing Coalition, seeking to learn the kinds of activities they are undertaking as publishing, the business models they are using, their definitions of success, and their attitudes tow ard open access or end-user pay models. Our aim was to better under - stand this emerging sphere of library activity and its possible future in the scholarly communication and publishing sphere. Will library publishing grow and be sustainable? Will libraries play a new and permanent role? If so, in what way and what will be required? When we refer to libraries as publishers, we consider the range of transactions in which library leaders and staff conceive, evaluate, support, and ultimately produce what we now call content for broad public dissemination, in whatever medium. We say th...

The paper focuses on the possibilities and problems created for the humanities by the usage of Digital Libraries. The exchange of information, forms of discussion and the process of publication in the scientific communities have changed over the recent years. On the other hand the user group of digital libraries is heterogeneous and difficult to define. We discuss the organization structure and the working process of two communities, which have quickly adapted their communication process to the use of web-technologies: the Open Source community and the scientific research community. We have to distinguish the communication technique, the applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), including search engines, and the barely started developments to realize new Web Services for DL-oriented applications, to support the library services and finally to obtain a new concept, which we call long-term access to digital structured resources by contract. A DL user views a Web Service as a "black box" and the service has an interface. The user has only to know the preconditions so that the postconditions will support his/her requirements. We conclude by stating that we should accept that publishing and distributing structural digital resources/information is a new way of (scientific) publication based on collaborative structures. Libraries should respond to this development by providing dynamic metadata in a decentralized network of libraries.

Rudiments of Library and Information Science, 2024

Few inventions in the history of mankind have had such a profound effect on knowledge, culture, and the dissemination of ideas as the speciality of distribution. The shift from oral traditions to written records was a revolutionary leap forward that forever changed the course of human development. Within this, libraries act as knowledge-based fortresses and guard over our collective wisdom. The shift from printed books to digital archives reflects the development of distribution technologies as well as the expanding role of libraries in handling data access. Publishing is the process of creating, producing, and disseminating information resources in any form in order to make information available to the general audience. The print and electronic publishing methods currently coexist. Many publishers are ambitious for electronic publications in an effort to cross this line. Today's publishing has advanced beyond the usage of physical books and other tools, and as a result, publishing practices like e-publishing have become standard. Technologies have been upgraded to improve the publishing industry.

Issues in science and technology librarianship, 2009

This is the fixed version of an article made available by an organization that acts as a publisher by formally and exclusively declaring the article "published". If it is an "early release" article (formally identified as being published even before the compilation of a volume issue and assignment of associated metadata), it is citable via some permanent identifier(s), and final copy-editing, proof corrections, layout, and typesetting have been applied.

Serials Review, 2011

Increasing library involvement in journal hosting and publishing is an important topic for serialists. This installment of “The Balance Point” column presents articles that offer descriptions and analyses of the current state of ideas and activities related to libraries as publishers. Featured authors discuss the publishing and journal hosting tasks libraries can perform, programs and activities related to journal hosting, titles hosted, challenges, next steps and the benefits or drawbacks foreseen in the current paths of the libraries they represent.