The university press is back in vogue | The Bookseller

"Not so long ago the advent of digital printing and true print on demand saw flurries of university press start-ups. Now, and above all, it is Open Access (OA) that is acting as the driver. With government and funding organisations concerned that readership for the fruits of research should not be limited by the high price tags of a niche market (although unsure of a viable long-term model for OA books), and with universities obliged to maximise the “impact” of research, OA is seen by some as an inevitable future.

Logically, however, OA is additive not substitutive; for some authors in some circumstances it will be appropriate but for others it will not. OA should be a fundamental publishing option offered by academic publishers just like hardback, paperback or the assorted e-book types. There is no one future for the university press. In any case, campus-based OA advocates focusing on research have, by and large, overlooked an area of enormous potential: in an age when the “student experience” is king, with an increasingly diverse and international student body, and with teaching income by far the largest source of revenue for most institutions, the opportunity to develop bespoke OA e-textbooks, as is happening at Liverpool University Press—in a partnership between press and library— is a no-brainer. If that sounds parochial, consider that our first project will replace a textbook from a commercial publisher that costs £56 and has been a compulsory purchase for 900 students on campus each year...."