Ithaka ("an independent not-for-profit organization with a mission to accelerate the productive uses of information technologies for the benefit of higher education worldwide") has just released a new report, "University Publishing in a Digital Age". It is an impressive piece of work that has been constructed based on many interviews of academic administrators, librarians, and university publishers, as well as other sources.
Anyone interested in the future of academic publishing should study this report, but to whet your appetite here are the summary conclusions:
- Recognize that publishing is an integral part of the core mission and activities of universities, and take ownership of it.
- Take inventory of the landscape of publishing activities currently taking place within your university.
- Develop a strategic approach to publishing on your campus, including what publication services should be provided to your constituents, how they should be provided and funded, how publishing should relate to tenure decisions, and a position on intellectual assets.
- Create the organizational structure necessary to implement this strategy and leverage the resources of the university.
- Consider the importance of publishing towards an institution’s reputation, especially when associated with core academic strengths.
- Develop online publishing capabilities for backlist and frontlist content and for new emerging formats.
- Develop a shared electronic publishing infrastructure across universities to save costs, create scale, leverage expertise, innovate, extend the brand of U.S. higher education, create an interlinked environment of information, and provide a robust alternative to commercial competitors.
- Commit resources to deliver an agreed strategic plan for scholarly communication.
Among other gems included in the report is a summary listing of the strengths and weaknesses of both libraries and university presses in regards to this issue.
It’s unfortunate that this report is about ten years too late, since university publishing has been on the ropes at least that long. And some initiatives, such as one that I was involved with at my former place of employment, the eScholarship Repository, has been a shining model of library and university press collaboration in academic publishing for years. But better late than never. Highly recommended reading.
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