Uptake?
So, looking at the numbers, can KU
work? The evidence is now coming in. In
the initial pilot, 13 scholarly publishers,
both commercial and not for profit, offered titles in a single 28-book collection
chosen by librarians. In early 2014,
Knowledge Unlatched set the goal of recruiting 200 libraries around the world,
which would each pay $1,680 for the collection, resulting in a title fee of $12,000
for each book. Ultimately, 297 libraries
from 24 countries joined, which reduced
the per-library cost to $1,195, or $42.67
per book, compared to an average hardcover price of $95. The publishers still
received the full-title fee of $12,000.
The first KU titles became available in
March, and the last in September. Print
is available, and PDFs are downloadable
on a Creative Commons license via the
OAPEN Digital Library and through the
Hathi Trust, two of the most prominent
partners backing this effort. The initial
metrics released in October (excluding
the title from September) show 12,763
downloads. The average number of
downloads per title was 473, and the
downloads came from 138 countries.
A draft version of the final report calls
these figures “impressive,” particularly
given that small print runs of a few hundred copies that have become standard for
most monographs. But perhaps more important than the numbers, says Kirk, is
that the pilot has helped build trust between libraries and publishers, showing
that publishers in both the commercial
and university-press sectors were interested in trying new business models.
“The idea that the publishing com-
munity as a whole is resistant to change
has been demonstrated to be a fallacy,”
Kirk says. “That’s very exciting.”
Concerns do exist, of course. Raym
Crow, of the Chain Bridge Group, agreed
that the pilot demonstrated considerable
interest in KU’s approach. But the jury
is still out, he cautioned, noting that a
certain degree of “institutional altruism”
may have been at work, given the small
size and limited risk of the pilot.
“To operate at scale, KU needs to en-
sure that it delivers exclusive benefits to
participating libraries that are sufficient
to overcome free riding,” he said.
Indeed, for some, the free-rider issue is a
major concern: in other words, all uni-
versities depend on the university-press
system, but many do not support a press
of their own; thus they benefit without
having any skin in the game.
Pinter, however, said that she did not
think free riding would be a problem, as
long as people did not expect all books to
be published this way. “The library community is full of initiatives that have
been successful despite free riders,” she
said. “We’ve shown that the financial
benefit to participants is significant, so
they are willing to accept that not everyone who should or could participate will
do so.” Even so, Pinter acknowledges, the
model will need tweaking.
Watkinson agrees that the number of
downloads were encouraging when compared with print sales, but he also had
questions. “We don’t really know the
relationship between downloads and impact,” he points out. “What are the individuals who download titles doing with
them? Are they placing the same value
on a free-to-download digital file as they
would on a resource they’ve paid for?”
Next Steps
The interest in open access and monographs is only likely to grow, and Pinter
says 100 libraries and 30 publishers already pre-registered for the next round.
“A lot of people want us to get on with
future rounds of unlatching books, but
I’d rather take this slowly and get it right
than falter just because we didn’t pay
enough attention to infrastructure is-
sues,” she said. “And we do need to un-
derstand how KU fits into a world where
some countries are mandating open ac-
cess, even for long-form publications,
when others are not.”
Without question, the pilot’s limited
scope has left some unresolved issues that
will need to be addressed as the project
scales up, including how to recognize ad-
ditional format purchases, and also the
lack of uniform metadata. But all seem to
agree that the project presents an opportu-
nity to sustain and enhance long-form
publications for scholars in the humanities
and social sciences. “Everyone wins,” Kirk
says, libraries, publishers, and scholars.
“And that is critical for ongoing success.”
PW Picks
Interested in open access initiatives?
Check out the Scholarly Communication Discussion Group, Sunday, Feb. 1,
2015, 3–4 p.m., at McCormick Place
West, room W176a, for an informal, in-depth discussion on hot topics in open
access initiatives, as well as the many
related opportunities to advance the dissemination of scholarship without economical, legislative, and technical barriers.” ■
an imprint of University Press of New England
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Michael Kelley is a contributing editor at PW,
where he writes the monthly Check It Out column.
He is a former editor-in-chief of Library Journal.
