ARL Report Examines University Publishing and New Library Roles

ARL Report Examines University Publishing and New Library Roles (excerpt)

Washington DC A special double issue of the ARL Bimonthly Report, no. 252/253, focuses on the state of university publishing and the evolving role for research libraries in the delivery of publishing services.

The Ithaka report “University Publishing in a Digital Age,” is the focus of three articles in this special issue: a summary of the Ithaka report by its original authors, an assessment by NASULGC's David Shulenburger of the report’s recommendation that research institutions should have “publishing strategies,” and a description of the University of Michigan Library's hosting of social commentary on the Ithaka report using CommentPress.

Three additional articles look at new publishing initiatives involving libraries: the joint project of the California Digital Library and the University of California Press, the publishing services developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Canadian collaborative project, Synergies a national multi-institutional project to create a publishing infrastructure to support society publishing in the humanities and social sciences as well as other scholarly publishing. An overview of the changing environment of university publishing is provided by ARL's Karla Hahn.

Print copies of the issue have been shipped to ARL member libraries & subscribers. To order additional print copies, contact ARL Publications pubs@arl.org.

This issue is also freely available in PDF format on the Web at http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/br/br252-253.shtml.

The table of contents is provided below.


Table of Contents

The Changing Environment of University Publishing
by Karla Hahn, Director, ARL Office of Scholarly Communication

University Publishing in a Digital Age: Highlights of the Ithaka Report
by Laura Brown, former President of Oxford University Press USA
Rebecca Griffiths, Director of Strategic Services, Ithaka
Matthew Rascoff, Strategic Services Analyst, Ithaka

Encouraging Public Commentary on the Ithaka Report
by Maria Bonn, Director, Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library

University Research Publishing or Distribution Strategies?
by David Shulenburger, Vice President for Academic Affairs National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC)

The University of California as Publisher
by Catherine H. Candee, Director, eScholarship Publishing Service, California Digital Library, and Lynne Withey, Director, University of California Press

Publishing Journals@UIC
by Mary M. Case, University Librarian, and Nancy R. John, Digital Publishing Librarian, University of Illinois at Chicago Library

Synergies: Building National Infrastructure for Canadian Scholarly Publishing
by Rea Devakos, Coordinator, Scholarly Communication Initiatives, and Karen Turko, Director of Special Projects, University of Toronto Libraries

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is located on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.

From the SPARC Open Access Forum.