The Times They Are A’ Changing: How Can We Fund Open Access Books Equitably and Sustainably

"We are witnessing a steady shift towards OA for books: government mandates and statements of intent are proliferating, and with them, funding schemes based on library memberships are proliferating as publishers look for ways to finance their OA book production. So how can we make sure this shift is sustainable and workable for libraries? Likewise, how can we make sure smaller publishers are not left behind, while the big players corner all the cash?

This 45-minute webinar is for anyone working in scholarly communications, library acquisitions, and/or publishing - in fact anyone with an interest in equitable OA models for scholarly monographs. Expert speakers from the California Digital Library will give a library perspective, then we’ll hear the publisher perspective from CEU Press, a small publisher with a big OA mission, who will talk about their Opening the Future program and where it fits within the evolving landscape of open access book publishing. We’ll fill in that broader picture with a speaker from the COPIM Project who has been working on multiple routes to collective equitable support for OA books, and Project MUSE will offer the perspective of intermediaries who play a crucial role in platforming several of these OA initiatives, big and small."