Academic Libraries Expand Their Publishing Services, but With Limited Resources - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

"Publishing services offered by academic libraries are “expanding and professionalizing,” says a new report based on a survey of library directors at research and liberal-arts institutions. But those publishing operations are often still hampered by a lack of full-time staffing and by the small scale of much of what they do....In good news for advocates of library-based publishing, the report says that more than half of all respondents reported that their institutions have developed or are developing library-based publishing services, and that faculty demand for those services is high....Library-based publishing programs “were originally founded to shake up the scholarly communication system,” and the survey showed that most remain strongly committed to open access, Mr. Watkinson told The Chronicle. But open-access publishing [also] has a pragmatic appeal. It tends to be easier and more economical for library publishing programs that are understaffed...."