Saturday, January 16, 2010
4:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Boston, MA

Three ambitious initiatives to deliver free online access to scholarly monographs were featured at the next installment of the SPARC-ACRL forum, “The ebook transition: Collaborations and innovations behind open-access monographs.” The market-based business model for scholarly monographs, long under pressure due to decreased library purchasing, must now accommodate a transition to ebooks. Many non-profit publishers, including university presses, are actively exploring new publishing models to support scholarly monographs, including open-access distribution and collaborative initiatives with university libraries. This SPARC-ACRL foruml featured three pioneering initiatives to deliver free online access to scholarly monographs, and highlighted opportunities for libraries to support innovations in this important area.

Maria Bonn, Director of the Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Libraries

Michael Jensen, Director of Strategic Web Communications, National Academies Press (NAP)

Patrick Alexander, Director University Press and co-director of Penn State University Libraries’ Office of Digital Scholarly Publishing, Penn State