From Walled-Garden to Wilderness: Publishing in the Digital Age

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...

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.

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.

This article seeks to provide a general review of the publishing activities of some major libraries across the world. At a time when the publishing industry is experiencing profound challenges to its established business models and traditional routes to market through bookshops are under threat from online retailers such as Amazon it is timely to see how libraries are faring during this period and whether these developments are changing libraries’ publishing outputs. The publishing activities are considered in relation to the format of the titles available, how the titles are sold, the range of subjects covered in the programme and whether there are digital versions available. The numerous digital catalogues, learning materials and other online resources are considered out of scope for the purpose of this article and the focus is therefore on what we might consider ‘traditional’ publishing outputs. The article considers the publishing programmes of British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Bodleian library, the Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, the State Library of Victoria and the National Library of Australia.

New technologies have transformed the process of publishing and distribution of information. In view of growth information, electronic publishing has become a foundation for the new information society to get the right information to the right person at the right time. The transition of publishing literary and artistic works on tangible media to e publishing, i.e. publishing them as electronic files in databases accessible via the internet, also changes the rules by which libraries have so far operated. How libraries meet this challenge will decide whether and how libraries in the future will be able to fulfill their objective: to make a broad spectrum of published works available to the general public for the use of personal study and development, education and research. This Book Chapter will discuss the Overview of Digital Publishing, digital publishing technology, digital publishing trends, Models and challenges for libraries.

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.

The Southeastern Librarian, 2017

Self-publishing has been around as long as books have existed. Before there were big publishing houses there were authors publishing their own works. Although there is now an abundance of publishers, a large number of selfpublished books are still being produced each year. There are currently publishers that only assist authors with selfpublishing and the numbers are growing with the increase in formats of works, such as print books, e-books, audio books, zines (self-published magazines), etc. Selfpublished works can also be print-on-demand titles, and are sometimes referred to as vanity publications. There is some belief out there that self-published materials are of lower quality than books published by reputable publishers, that self-publishers have "never enjoyed stellar reputations, and were consistently on the sidelines of the publishing world." (Dilevko & Dali, 2006, p. 209) Is this really the case? Is this stigma really deserved? A large number of well-known and popular authors have at some point been self-published.

2011

Our topic today is the publishing of digital scholarship, most especially the currency of the realm in the humanities: the monograph. Our colleagues on this panel are addressing readership, economics, legal issues, and access to and preservation of digital scholarship. We will focus on the creation of these works and the age-­‐old collaboration between publisher and author. We've been asked to speak from the publishers' perspective, but we will speak here not as publishers in the business sense, but as publishers from the editor's perspective.

College & Research Libraries, 2011