COPIM Publishers Workshop: Collaborative Library Support and Archival Processes | Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs

by Elli Gerakopoulou and Dan Rudmann

Collating perspectives from a variety of regions and stakeholder positions, our workshop surfaced a number of crucial statements and questions to consider in developing a hub that would bring together open access presses and institutional libraries.

Through our conversations, a number of benefits and concerns arose around a hub for open access publishers and libraries. Publishers cited advantages in easing transitions to not-for-profit models as well as increasing efficiency and time spent on building and maintaining relationships with libraries. With the assistance of a hub, smaller publishers would feel more confident to transition to a not-for-profit model and reduce the resources needed to communicate and engage with libraries individually. At the same time, small presses expressed concerns and uncertainty in the market forces that would dictate support within a hub, as well as issues regarding their eligibility to join and ensuring homogeneity would not be imposed among presses. Could a multiplicity of approaches, workflows, and outputs be supported in a modular and contextually appropriate manner? How might such a proposed system avoid becoming a singular solution that would force everyone to bend their practices in compliance?

[...]