Publishing within the Institutional Repository (IR)

Tim Tamminga, The Berkeley Electronic Press ALA Midwinter - 2009

Scholarly publishing today Changing role of Libraries Convergence of Institutional repositories (IRs and Publishing) IRs as archives alone tend to fail Strategies for Publishing as a Service

Examples of Publishing within the IR

Issues with scholarly publishing

Historical perspective
Scholarly publishing was largely based on the principle of gifts: authors give their treatises to others in exchange for access to theirs.

In the 1960s, commercial publishers began to produce scholarly journals and charge prices that produced a profit for them. This profit motive now drives many scholarly societies as well
David Shulenburger, Vice President for Academic Affairs, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), in the closing keynote, SPARC Digital Repositories meeting, November 2008

Publishing today
Vice Chancellors for Research and Deans are witnessing the gradual diminution of publishing options and opportunities for UC faculty, particularly in the arts and humanities.

Junior faculty are beginning to struggle to get the book contracts they need for tenure and promotion; faculty working in innovative fields or non-traditional projects are constrained by a publishing model that cannot serve their needs; and campus resources are increasingly compromised by the commercial publishing culture
University of California taskforce on University Publishing. 2008 by Catherine Candee & Lynne Withey

Small scholarly publishers are struggling

Many small publishers struggle with declining subscription bases, particularly domestically and even research libraries report regular journal cancellations projects. Most of the journals that are lagging in the development of electronic formats are from publishers who print one or a handful of titles

Research Library Publishing Services: New Options for University Publishing. Karla Hahn, March 2008. Published by ARL

Small societies are struggling

Most small societies have a journal or newsletter. The societies cannot sustain these publications in print form. They also are losing members, especially younger members.
They dont know how to transition from print to electronic Publications tend to lack the credentials of more mainstream journals Additional services are needed to retain members and keep them involved

Libraries are struggling economically

January 19, 2009. Email from the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) to the world:
The ICOLC library consortia consider the current [economic] crisis of such significance that we cannot simply assume that libraries and publishers share a common perspective about the magnitude of the crisis and the best approaches to cope with it.

Role of the Library in Changing publishing paradigms

Role of the Library and the University in Publishing

UC faculty would like to see the university play a more active role in blunting the effect of the commercialization of academic publishing, but they will not and cannot risk their own academic lives to make it happen. The university must step in.

University of California taskforce on University Publishing. 2008 by Catherine Candee & Lynne Withey

Library publishing services are happening now

65% of ARL libraries are delivering or planning to provide publishing services Of these, 88% were publishing journals 79% were publishing conference papers & proceedings 71% were publishing monographs

Research Library Publishing Services: New Options for University Publishing. Karla Hahn, March 2008. Published by ARL

Publishing Services not isolated

Publishing services are not usually treated as an isolated operating unit, the way a university press might be. They are typically embedded in an emerging program of related services digital repository development

Research Library Publishing Services: New Options for University Publishing. Karla Hahn, March 2008. Published by ARL

Convergence of Publishing and Institutional Repositories (IRs)

The IR as a repository alone has limited value for the university

-Faculty dont care and dont contribute -Provosts and Deans dont bless or fund because the IR doesnt seem relevant to their strategic mission

Paul Roysters initial approach to get faculty content

I started out armed with a slick PowerPoint presentation showing 1) the advantages of having your articles online in an open-access repository, and 2) how easy it was to do.

I went to dozens of department meetings and gave my spiel seeking to recruit participants who would upload their own articles. Response rate: <10%
Maybe I need a new metaphor?

If you build it, they will come.

W. P. Kinsella, Field of Dreams

A baseball fantasy ....

Baseball reality ....

Yogi Berra (looking at the empty seats in Clevelands Municipal Stadium):

If people wanna stay away, nobody can make em.

IR deposit is not an end in itself It should be a byproduct of the services you provide to your institutions. You provide services, you solve problems, and as a byproduct of that you get content in your repository. IR initiatives are ambitiously striving to make advancements in both [collection and service] areas, by offering alternatives to publisher-controlled access to scholarship, enhancing dissemination of grey literature and management of data sets, and building tools and services to promote growth and exploitation of content.
Catherine Mitchell, CDL. from Mellon Report on IR CIC success, Palmer et al.

One of those services can and should be Publishing

This suggests a role for the IRs beyond that of archival storage and accessibility enhancement: in fact, they are well-suited to become online publishers giving voice to a wide range of authors normally excluded, put off, or ill-served by the vagaries, idiosyncrasies, delays, obligations, and hoops-jumping of the conventional publication routes.
Paul Royster, "Publishing Original Content in an Institutional Repository" Serials Review (2007).

Strategies for publishing as part of the Librarys portfolio of IR services

Developing the Service Model

Positioned not as a technology but a set of services
Profile creation, digitization, copyright clearance, description & upload on behalf of the faculty

Out with jargon & in with benefits Assertive & persistent outreach methods
Use of several different methods to contact faculty
Institutional Repository Colloquium Building an Institutional Repository For Your Campus Colloquium, by Marisa Ramirez. San Luis Obispo, CA, 10, 2008 October October 10, 2008.

Early Wins
Thought leaders (administration)
Opinion leaders (key faculty) Unexpected champions (campus entities)

Institutional Repository Colloquium

October 10, 2008

October 10, 2008

Original photograph by Jesse Millan

Examples of publishing services

Size of institution is no barrier

Collaborative projects between the university and external partners

Regional and collaborative publishing

A collaboration between the UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment, the State of California The Resources Agency and the US Federal Dept of the Interior.

Preservation of discontinued publications

Contributions in Black Studies: A Journal of African and Afro-American Studies (CIBS) was launched in 1977. CIBS was a Five College collaboration of Africana Studies scholars at UMass Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, and Smith Colleges. that lasted over two decades. The journal ceased publication in the 1999.

Issue page

Collaborations with the university press

Open access journals: University Presses looking for low-cost options and collaborations with the Library.

Reviews and outreach to external communities that need to share in the Universitys expertise

Editors and small societies looking for a home for their journals and publications

The Electronic Green Journal (EGJ) is one of the first peerreviewed environmental online journals promoting an open access publishing model. Since its inception in July of 1994, the EGJ has allowed all Internet users unrestricted access to original articles, book reviews, and information on international environmental topics.

Scholarly niche or specialty journals

Originally started in 1971 as a print journal. The Library persuaded the editors to switch to electronic format in 2003. This is a subscription-based journal

Publishing within DC allows additional content, providing a rich context for the journal

University centers or institutes who need a forum to share their research

UMass Amhersts Center for Etruscan Studies

DC supports creation of valuable collections as part of the publishing service

New sources of original content student journals

Journals for or about students. Student-run journals

Journals page at Illinois Wesleyan University

Res Publica is a nice example of a journal celebrating the scholarship of undergraduate students. Faculty selected those papers that make the most contribution to Political Science

ETDs

The ability to store and disseminate original research by Masters & PhD students is powerful, both for the student and the university

Cal Poly's President Baker sees the repository as a place to show off Cal Poly students' senior portfolios. He got excited when he understood that he could point prospects and their parents to the portfolios as examples of what their student can accomplish at Cal Poly.
Paraphrased from a speech by Michael Miller, Dean of Library Services, Cal Poly, Closing Remarks, Putting Knowledge to Work: Building an Institutional Repository for Your Campus, October 10th, 2008.

Conferences, proceedings & workshops

Events Handling submissions Peer review for selection of papers Proceedings and presentations managing and displaying

An annual conference at UMass that is expanding to a journal and supporting materials like a downloadable poster

A one-time conference. The library hosted a Colloquium on IRs on Oct 2008. The presentations by Marisa Ramirez and Brian Kennelly are particularly interesting.

Non-journal publications e.g., dictionaries

Dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference works

Could even provide alternative revenue streams

As of Jan 22, 2009, SPARC has established a resource center for library publishing

The Library has the structure in place:

You have the people. Your subject librarians talk to your faculty. They know where the research is happening.
You have the expertise. The library is an expert in the management, preservation and dissemination of scholarly communications. You have the technology. The repository is the technology that can preserve, publish, and publicize. Why should the library care? As a publisher and service-provider, the library has the chance to establish itself as the hub of campus wide scholarly communications.

Basic principles of having a successful publishing service

Establish a business case aligned with the university mission and mandates Ensure that Provosts and Deans are partners and stakeholders Align customer-facing librarians with the project Research, plan, market, publicize and sell on an ongoing basis