Open Access News

SPARC has launched a guide, a bibliography, a set of case studies, a discussion forum on campus-based publishing, and a Resource Center to pull them all together.  From today's announcement:

SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) today released Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A guide to critical issues, by Raym Crow. The guide is the core of a new Web site, the Campus-based Publishing Resource Center, designed by a panel of advisors from the library and university press communities to support successful publishing partnerships.

Campus publishing partnerships can offer universities greater control over the intellectual products that they help create. But to fully realize this potential, partnerships need to evolve from ad hoc working alliances to stable, long-term collaborations. SPARC’s guide will help partnering organizations to: 

• Establish practical governance and administrative structures;
• Identify funding models that accommodate the different financial objectives of libraries and presses;
• Define objectives that advance the missions of both the library and of the press, without disrupting the broader objectives of either; and
• Demonstrate the value of the collaboration to university administrators....

The guide reviews current library-press initiatives, describes the potential benefits of partnerships, and provides an overview of the financial and operating criteria for launching and sustaining a successful collaboration. It provides practical guidance on structuring a publishing partnership, including case studies that illustrate key concepts.

“This is a moment of great opportunity for academic publishing and for university presses, in particular,” said Laura Cerruti, Director of Digital Content Development for the University of California Press. “SPARC's efforts to survey those in the trenches – librarians, university press publishers, and other active campus publishing entities – have resulted in an invaluable resource for those who are just beginning to tap into their campus's publishing needs and priorities. It gives them a head start, if you will.” ...

“While the missions of libraries and presses differ,” said Heather Joseph, executive director of SPARC, “both entities recognize the growing need to address fundamental problems in scholarly publishing and to understand the interdependence of their organizations. By developing this resource, we hope to drive a shared exploration of new, innovative, sustainable publishing models.” ...

[T]the site will be expanded to include FAQs, sample planning documents, an index of collaborative initiatives, and other content suggested by the community....