Charleston Conference – Funding of Open Access Books

"Frances provided a breakdown of first copy costs and what the proposed costs of open access titles would be if 4%, 10%, and 50% of libraries worldwide were able to fund the first copy costs of these monographs. She concluded that we need a conceptual mind shift. We need to uncouple getting to first copy from other publishing functions and income streams. Respondent – Sandy Thatcher, was completely in agreement to promote open access models for books. He disagrees regarding the STM biz model not being viable and that the cost to get to first copy is so high (he feels it is $25,000). There is a rich terrain available for funding options for open access but he discourages the use of patron driven models to accomplish this. He wrote an article for this conference and will adapt it for ATG and encourages us to read this...."