2017 Charleston Library Conference

The move to a more sustainable model of publishing open access monographs is gaining momentum around the world, and brings into question some traditional relationships and workflows. In the United States, the new AAU/ARL/AAUP Open Access Monograph Publishing Initiative uses funds from the author’s parent institution to substantially support the publisher’s production costs, allowing for the distribution of an open access copy of the book. In this program, publishing open access humanities monographs requires not only that publishers distribute a book as open access, but also that authors agree to have their books available for free, that institutions financially support authors in publishing open access books, and that libraries select these books for their collections and preserve these digital publications.

While such a reconsideration of the roles and responsibilities of publishers, authors, and their affiliated institutions may seem daunting, a spirit of collaboration and experimentation is helping to make this shift possible. Members of a university press, a university humanities center, and a university library will discuss how they have moved forward with supporting open access monograph publishing, sharing the questions asked (and how they were answered) and the new processes and procedures adopted.

Open-ended questions posed to the audience will invite and encourage discussion, and the presenters will also share tools and processes developed for the support of open access monographs.