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Scholarly Communication Today: What’s Wrong and What Together We Can Do About It

SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING & ACADEMIC RESOURCES COALITION An initiative of the Association of Research Libraries. Scholarly Communication Today: What’s Wrong and What Together We Can Do About It David Kohl • Dean & University Librarian • University of Cincinnati

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Scholarly Communication Today: What’s Wrong and What Together We Can Do About It

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  1. SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING & ACADEMIC RESOURCES COALITIONAn initiative of the Association of Research Libraries Scholarly Communication Today: What’s Wrong and What Together We Can Do About It David Kohl • Dean & University Librarian • University of Cincinnati Open Meeting on SPARC • February 21, 2001 • London

  2. Scholarly Communication Crisis • Faculty and students need greater access than ever before to journal literature • Libraries almost universally are being forced to reduce access to journals • Even monographic acquisitions have suffered We are spending more money but getting fewer books and journals

  3. Immediate Cause • For almost two decades, journal costs have far outpaced inflation • Primarily commercial publishers • Particularly STM journals

  4. Scholarly Communication Impeded Prices are high and rising... Examples For a list of 100 of the most expensive journals (including 4-year price trend and editors), see: www.createchange.org/resources/journal.html

  5. Underlying Causes • Academy has lost control of scholarly publishing • Academic publishing is now big business • Commercial publishers dominate the market • Focus of academic publishing has shifted from scholarly communication to generating profits

  6. Early Days of Happy Innocence • For 300 years, scientific communications was a community enterprise • Scientists organized themselves in societies to: • Share ideas with colleagues (e.g., conferences) • Verify the quality of work (peer review) • Disseminate new ideas (e.g., publishing)

  7. Traditional Role of Libraries • Organize knowledge • Help scholars know what work has already been done • Overcome inability of individuals to collect all published works • Distribute information to a wide range of users

  8. Traditional Knowledge Exchange LEARNED SOCIETY LIBRARY AUTHOR READER

  9. The Roots of Dysfunction • Beginning after World War II: • higher education enrollments grew • expanded funding flowed into academe • faculty size increased • quantity of research increased • demand for publication increased • to disseminate research • to obtain tenure & promotion • to compete for grants

  10. The “Fall” • Society publishers failed to meet demand • insufficient publishing capacity • unwillingness or inability to expand • Commercial publishers entered market • many existing journals outsourced by societies & journal size expanded • new journals started to accommodate growth - growing quantity of research - new increasingly specialized domains (“twigging”)

  11. Goal Strategy Reward Clash of Cultures Scholarship wide distribu-tion of work publish reputation, tenure, promotion Commerce maximize share-holder value control info access & price increased financial return

  12. Scientific Publishing Today Source: Outsell Inc.

  13. Library Strategies • Journal cancellations & reduced monograph acquisitions • Purchase “by the drink” rather than by subscription • Cooperative collection development and consortial purchase • Site licensing of electronic information

  14. The Fundamental Problem Remains • How to restore journal publishing to its primary academic purpose • Reasonable pricing • Focus on scholarly communication rather than profits • Active exploration of the possibilities of new technologies to enhance scholarly communication • Consciousness-raising within the academic community

  15. In Other Words… Don’t get better at the game, Change the Rules of the game!

  16. How to Accomplish Fundamental Change • The North American research library community began to discuss this issue in the biannual ARL meetings of the mid/late 90’s • Out of a series of internal discussions a consensus arose that we would use our buying power to actively intervene in and change the direction and nature of academic publishing

  17. Four Things Were Necessary • Core group of libraries representing a significant market share who would act together • War Chest • Action organization • Staff • (A sexy name for the organization is optional)

  18. Core Group • The obvious core group for North America were the ARL libraries • Voluntary association (peer pressure) • Provided foundation and visibility • Founding group: 81 libraries; $500M purchasing • Then membership opened up to the broader academic library community • Membership options broadened as well • Currently 200 members • Finally, developing cognate organizations worldwide

  19. War Chest • Upfront money necessary • Encourage competitive publishing • New journals • New models • New technologies • Pay for staff and organizational costs • Each ARL member paid $5000/year • Upfront commitment necessary • Moral commitment to purchase SPARC supported journals (a minimum of a specific amount each year)

  20. Action Organization • Separate organization established • Distinct identity, purpose and focus • Higher visibility • Action agenda • Interlocking arrangements • Promote communication and joint action • E.g. SPARC Board has strong ARL presence • Practical cost savings and synergies • E.g. SPARC housed at ARL and hosted on ARL website

  21. SPARC Staff • Enterprise Director, Rick Johnson, was hired first in June 1998 • Communications Officer, Alison Buckholtz, hired in January 1999 • Part-time Public Programs Officer (campus programs liaison/speakers bureau coordinator), Julia Blixrud, retained in August 1999 • Business Development Officer, Dr. Elisabeth Lutanie, hired November 2000

  22. SPARC Agenda • Promoting lower cost, competitive journals • Preserving scholarly society role in publishing • Enhancing scholars’ role in exploring new communications technologies and communities • Raising academic consciousness on publishing issues and solutions

  23. SPARC The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition 21 Dupont Circle, NW Washington, DC 20036 E-mail: sparc@arl.org Tel: 202-296-2296 Fax: 202-872-0884 Create Change! New York Times “Although the battle is being fought over subscription prices, what is really at stake...is the scientific process itself.” Dec. 8, 1998

  24. So What Has SPARC Done? And Where Is It Headed Now? Rick Johnson Enterprise Director, SPARC

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