Michael Jubb Gregynog Colloquium 12 June 2017 Some Findings from the Academic Book of the Future Project Some basics books are important basic infrastructure for arts and humanities definitions ID: 611527
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Slide1
Academic Books and their Futures?
Michael JubbGregynog Colloquium12 June 2017
Some Findings from the Academic Book of the Future ProjectSlide2
Some basics
books are importantbasic infrastructure for arts and humanitiesdefinitionsbooks?
publishing?authors?readings and readers?Slide3
Some basicsSlide4
Communities of the Book
an ecology with complex interactionsinternationalUK, Europe, North America, RoW
universities and other research institutionsfunders and policy-makersacademics: authors, readers, teachers
publishers
libraries
booksellers, intermediaries (Google and Amazon among them)Slide5
Supply and demand: I
dearth of comprehensive and reliable data, butnumber of titles published is increasingespecially in the UKincentives for authors and for publishers
difficulties in assessing actual and potential demand, but overall sales decliningsales per title falling sharply
are too many books being published?
if so, what should we do?Slide6
Supply and demand: II
turning potential into effective demandrange of agents involved in marketing has fallenretailfall
in numbers and scope of academic titles held by bricks-and-mortar bookshopsinstitutional
new
collection development strategies
& models
preference for e-books, and packages
DDA, EBA, STL, approval lists…..experimentation, and problemsSlide7
Publishers and their roles
dominance of a relatively small no. of commercial and university presses, but
REF 2014 submissions came from <1200 publishers
new university presses in the UK
UPs and
universities
seeking closer links between strategies
publishers aware of growing questioning of their rolesneed for innovation in a digital world (with tech costs)dangers in getting too far ahead of their core academic audiencesSlide8
Commissioning and contracts
academic books are commissionedcommissioning editors and their rolesimportance of contracts
protection and exploitation of rights fundamental to publishers’ businessfor most academic authors, scholarly and professional rewards more important than protection of economic rights
tensions with publishers
complex 3
rd
party digital rights issuesSlide9
Physical print and e-books
no wholesale shift to digital (unlike journals)digital printing has probably to date had a greater impact than e-booksreader preference for printissue for libraries?
digital alongside print for the foreseeable futureproblem of dual cost base for publishers, libraries and intermediaries
e-book sales tend to cannibalise print sales
long term preservation issuesSlide10
‘Enhanced’ e-books
progress in exploiting scholarly potential of digital technologies not accelerating as some had hopedpotential for dynamic and interactive images, graphics and sound
links within and beyond the ‘book’updating and annotationbut relatively few examples to date
time-consuming and costly to produce
non-scalable bespoke processes
need for funding to accelerate progressSlide11
The supply chain
much more complex than for journals (too complex?)volumes of titles in front and back listsabsence of repeat orders
retail as important as library salesprint as well as digitalhuge array of intermediaries, with complex interactions
bibliographic data
suppliers, sales agents, wholesalers, distributors, ordering
, e-commerce and invoicing
services, library suppliers, booksellers(bricks-and-mortar
and online), aggregators, platform providers, digital warehouses, market intelligence Amazon…………..
need for improvementsinteroperability
and data
exchange
simple
but flexible
workflows
reductions
in stock
holding
improved
support for digital
content
too much outsourced?Slide12
Discoverability
confusing and frustrating?metadata quality variableMARC and ONIX records
need for more granular and comprehensive metadata (and schema)need for discovery services better suited
for academic
books and
behaviours
of potential readersSlide13
Open access
potential to increase reach and impact of academic bookslots of experimentationKnowledge Unlatched, OAPEN, Open Book Publishers, Ubiquity, Open Library of the Humanities, UCL and other new university presses…………… others in Europe, Australia, North America…….
challengescosts and funding
author
behaviour
rights regimes
international ecology
scalabilityquick wins, alongside more steady progress and dialogue?
REF rules?Slide14
Some conclusions: I
build communications and relationshipssustain qualityaddress issues of supply and demandimprove systems and processes
more bespoke publishing services for authorsdevelop collection development strategies for both print and e-booksSlide15
Some conclusions: II
stimulate innovationmaximise reachsupport development of OA
develop policies built on deep understanding of the academic books ecologyabove allnew structures to support and sustain dialogue Slide16
Thank you
Questions?Michael Jubbmichael@jubbconsulting.org.uk
Academic Book of the Future Project
PIs: Samantha Rayner, Marilyn Deegan
https://academicbookfuture.org
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