LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper University Presses & Academic Libraries Christine Edwards

By submitting this paper, I am certifying that this paper represents my own academic work and has not been previously submitted for credit in any other course. Christine Edwards, 11-5-2012

LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper Christine Edwards ISSUE Academic libraries and university presses have been connected throughout history. Their budgets are often from the same allotment as well. As financial support has been cut and competitive technologies have risen to the market, university presses have struggled to create the revenue to survive. Frances Pinter (2012) argues that the monograph publishing of university presses is in trouble because they have been attempting to replicate print business models in a digital world. New technologies such as Open Access projects and eBooks have created challenges for both the academic library and the university presses that provide scholarly publishing for their shelves (Withey et al. 2011). Sue Polanka (2012) believes that despite the number of challenges to overcome, university presses want to transition to a mixed-model digital and print system of content delivery. Having survived for over a century in America and much longer in Europe, it is likely that the university press will be able to adjust to the digital world. What remains to be seen is how many presses might be lost in the process of adaptating. BACKGROUND University press publishing began in North America in the mid-nineteenth century at the universities of Cornell and Johns Hopkins (Jagodzinski 2008). As the number of universities grew, the number of university presses increased as well. By 2008, the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) counted among it members 125 presses (Jagodzinski 2008). Peter Givler (2002) attributes the rise of American university presses to their being an indispensable component of the

LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper Christine Edwards modern research university itself. From the beginning there has been a close relationship between the press and its partnering university. The most financially stable era for these presses was perhaps during the 1960s due to federal support and expanding academic programs, but, unfortunately, that is not the case in the twenty first century (Jagodzinski 2008). Many university presses are in financial struggle or have stopped production due to lack of budget and revenue (Withey et al. 2011). Another reason for this crisis is the now prevalent use of technology in academia. With the influx of eBooks and competition from Open Access publishing, several presses are finding it even more difficult to get back into the black. (Alire and Evans 2010). The hope is that presses will be able to adapt to the new technologies as they have done to other tightening budgets in the past. This could mean adopting entirely new strategies or simply building upon earlier practices, like the offering of paperback editions starting in the 1950s (Jagodzinski 2008). There is also assistance from outside sources. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has largely supported scholarly publishing since the 1970s (Givler 2002). A grant from this foundation funded a landmark project for the publishing of electronic journals by university presses Project MUSE (Jagodzinski 2008). This digital collection of scholarly journals provided no less than three articles for this very paper. Peter Givler (2002) declares survival requires adaptation. The surviving university presses are indeed adjusting to the modern technological world. SIGNIFICANCE

LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper Christine Edwards As has been earlier stated, the academic library and university press have been closely connected since the beginning. Scholarly publishing plays a critical role in promotion, tenure, scholarly recognition, and certification of research quality of the university and its faculty (Park and Shim 2011). If the library and press do not continue to support one another, then there are global digital libraries that are poised to replace the university academic library as the principle source of scholarly information (Greenstein 2010). There has to be some type of formal system to disseminate the knowledge produced by the research of universities (Givler 2002). The university scholars do the research, the press publishes the findings, and the library provides those publications for other scholars and researchers. STAKEHOLDER The faculty is highly dependent on university presses for the publishing of their research, which was part of the reasoning for the initial creation of the press (Jagodzinski 2008). Students often consult the works of these faculty members as well as other volumes produced by the university press from among the shelves of the academic library. This is especially true when a student is researching a specific specialty of the press. For example, the University of Oklahoma Press has a list on Native American studies dating all the way back to 1932 (Jagodzinski 2008). Alumni, faculty, administration, students, and communities all have reasons to see the university press succeed. Funds to support the library and press can come from public bodies, private grants, student tuitions and/or financial gifts (Greenstein 2010).

LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper Christine Edwards Additionally, there are proponents of electronic formats that wish to see digital materials to a greater effect in the academic library. The Columbia University Press has been an extremely active player in the electronic market. (Jagodzinski 2008). Stakeholders in the Gutenberg-e project see technology as a digital lifeboat for the already existing scholarly publishing system (Seaman and Graham 2012). The benefits of openly accessible electronic publications could be felt world-wide. As Pinter (2012) words it, by building a commercially sustainable market for open access books, readers in all markets, including the worlds poorest, will gain the widest possible access to high-quality scholarship. SOLUTIONS University presses face many challenges to their role as the primary conduit for the dissemination of the scholarly workand there is no shortage of advice for the presses and their directors. (Jagodzinski 2008). There are new business models being developed for traditional monograph publishing. For example, the nonprofit Knowledge Unlatched is experimenting by establishing a global literary consortium that would share the up-front costs of scholarly publishing in exchange for publishers posting the titles online on an open content license (Pinter 2012). Daniel Greenstein (2010) also proposes working together to develop vendor licensing arrangements that can help libraries and presses realize their shared collection goals. Janneke Adema and Birgitt Schmidt (2010) take a playful tone along the same theme; team up with presses, academics, and other interested parties to explore purely digital or hybrid Open Access publication outlets.

LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper Christine Edwards The Mellon Foundation, a long supporter of academic libraries and universities presses, is very interested in the application of technology to scholarly communications (Seaman and Graham 2012). Online distribution options are offered to university presses through no less than four separate nonprofit entities JSTOR, Project MUSE (Funded by the Mellon Foundation), Cambridge University Press, and the University Press Scholarship Online, sponsored by Oxford University (Polanka 2012). The development of standards for these digital publications should be undertaken by the presses, libraries, and scholars themselves (Withey et al. 2011). RECOMMENDATION Every university press has at one time or another found itself running out of money, and virtually all have recovered, battered but wiser. (Givler 2002). Just as the presses have survived financial burdens, so also can they survive the onslaught of new technologies and digital realms. Presses and libraries should adapt to these challenges by accepting change as inevitable. Once accepted, they can begin to adopt the Open Access projects and electronic formats that have become so popular for research and study on the university campus and abroad. Open Access literature is any literature that is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. (Adema and Schmidt 2010). Participating in the digital resource movements would be beneficial for both the library and the press connected to it. Taking an active role might improve their current situation as well as provide opportunities to influence the landscape of academic publishing (Adema and Schmidt 2010).

LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper Christine Edwards Collaboration may be the easiest answer to many presses current struggles in the new digital world (Withey et al. 2011). The University of California (UC), its press, and its libraries have already ventured into this territory by creating the California Digital Library, which offers scholarly communication and publishing services specific to the UC academic community (Adema and Schmidt 2010). Even creating awareness through social media such as Twitter or a blog could introduce the university press and academic library into the electronic playground (Park and Shim 2011). It is important for university presses to rise up and meet the obstacles and opportunities for scholarly publications. As Givler (2002) puts it, the twentyfirst century brings with it the opportunity for new relationships and new forms of collaboration between university presses, university libraries, and universities themselves.

BIBLIOGRPAHY Reference List: Adema, Janneke and Birgitt Schmidt. 2010. From service providers to content producers: new opportunities for libraries in collaborative open access book publishing. New Review of Academic Librarianship 16 (S1): 28-43. doi: 10.1080/13614533.2010.509542. Alire, Camila A. and G. Edward Evans. 2010. Academic Librarianship. Neal-Schuman: New York. (51-53).

LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper Christine Edwards Givler, Peter. 2002. University press publishing in the United States. AAUP website url: http://www. Aaupnet.org/about-aaup/about-universitypresses/history-of-university-presses. Greenstein, Daniel. 2010. Strategies for sustaining the university library. Libraries and the Academy 10 (2): 121-125. doi: 10.1353/pla.0.0093. Jagodzinski, Cecile M. 2008. The university press in North America: a brief history. Journal of Scholarly Publishing 40 (1): 1-20. doi: 10.3138/jsp.40.1.1. Park, Ji-Hong and Jiyoung Shim. 2011. Exploring how library publishing services facilitate scholarly communication. Journal of Scholarly Publishing 43 (1): 76-89. doi: 10.3138/jsp.43.1.76. Pinter, Frances. 2012. Open access for scholarly books? Publishing Research Quarterly 28 (3): 183-191. Polanka, Sue. 2012. University presses and ebooks: a new horizon. Online 36 (1): 53-56. Seaman, John T., Jr. and Margaret B.W. Graham. 2012. Sustainability and the scholarly enterprise: a history of Gutenberg-e. Journal of Scholarly Publishing 43 (3): 257-293. Withey, Lynn, et al. 2011. Sustaining scholarly publishing: new business models for university presses. Journal of Scholarly Publishing 42 (4): 397-441. Other recommended resources: Clement, Richard W. 2011. Library and university press integration: a new vision for university publishing. Journal of Library Administration 51 (5/6): 507528. doi: 10.1080/01930826.2011.589330.

LIS 5243 Current Issues Paper Christine Edwards Fritsch, David R. and Rachel Lee. 2011. Its time to join forces: new approaches and models that support sustainable scholarship. Serials Librarian 60 (1-4): 7582. MacAdam, Carol, Kate Duff and Wendy C. Robertson. 2012. Collaborating for sustainable scholarship: models that serve librarians, publishers, and scholars. Serials Librarian 62 (1-4): 73-78. Navin, John C. and Jennifer M. Vandever. 2011. The market for scholarly communication. Journal of Library Administration 51 (5/6): 455-463.