Our September Open Book event focussed on two topics we haven't
previously covered, selling into academic libraries and Open
Access.
Our guest speaker was Jeremy Upton, Director of
Library and Collections at the University of Edinburgh. Previously
Deputy Director of Library Services and Assistant Director of
Systems and Resources at the University of St Andrews, Jeremy has
long experience in this area, and has been involved in several
Scottish-wide book and journal procurements.
Jeremy presented us with a brilliantly prepared summary of the
complex process of academic buying and selling,
telling us about both traditional models and the current situation
using consortia and tendering. We looked at how budgets are
allocated, with an overwhelming amount being spent on e-journals v
print books. We also discussed how students can know which books to
recommend to the university library to purchase. With a purchase
driven acquisition scheme, when an individual accessing an
electronic book could trigger a purchase, the suppliers, both
publishers and agents will supply the library with metadata records
for the potentially relevant books they would like to sell in. This
makes it even more important for academic publishers to ensure
information about their books is held on the databases of the
agents and that they are thinking carefully about the subject
descriptions they add.
We then looked at Open Access, currently a very
active area of discussion. There is a recognition that the current
academic monograph publishing model is not working. So
there needs to be change, but it will occur slowly, as the academic
world is very conservative. Technology will eventually drive
change.
Eleanor
Logan, Trade Liaison Manager, organises our Open Book
events.