On the Marginal Cost of Scholarly Communication. Tiffany Bogich, et al. Science.ai by Standard Analytics. 18 April, 2016.
An article that looks at the marginal cost of scholarly communication from the perspective of an
agent looking to start an independent, peer-reviewed scholarly journal. It found that vendors can accommodate all of the services
required for scholarly communication for between $69 and
$318 per article, and with alternate software
solutions replacing the vendor services, the marginal cost
of scholarly communication would drop to between $1.36 and $1.61 per article, almost all of which is the cost of DOI registration. The development of high quality “plug-and-play” open
source software solutions would have a significant impact in reducing
the marginal cost of scholarly communication, making it more open to
experimentation and innovation. For the cost of long term journal preservation, the article looked at CLOCKSS and Portico.
Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Saturday, June 15, 2013
EPUB for archival preservation: an update
EPUB for archival preservation: an update. Johan van der Knijff's blog on Open Planets. 23 May 2013.
In 2012 the KB released a report on the suitability of the EPUB format for archival preservation. A substantial number of EPUB-related developments have happened since then, and as a result some of the report's findings and conclusions have become outdated, particularly the observations on EPUB 3, and the support of EPUB by characterisation tools. This blog post provides an update to those findings :
In 2012 the KB released a report on the suitability of the EPUB format for archival preservation. A substantial number of EPUB-related developments have happened since then, and as a result some of the report's findings and conclusions have become outdated, particularly the observations on EPUB 3, and the support of EPUB by characterisation tools. This blog post provides an update to those findings :
- Use of EPUB in scholarly publishing
- Adoption and use of EPUB 3
- EPUB 3 reader support
- Support of EPUB by characterisation tools
Friday, June 14, 2013
EPUB for archival preservation
EPUB for archival preservation. Johan van der Kniff. KB/National Library of the Netherlands. 20 July 2012.
The EPUB format has become increasingly popular in the consumer market. A number of publishers have indicated their wish to use EPUB for supplying their electronic publications to the KB. This document looks at the characteristics and functionality of the format, and whether or not it is suitable for preservation. Conceptually, an EPUB file is just an ordinary ZIP archive which includes one or more XHTML files, in one or more directories. Cascading Style Sheets are used to define layout and formatting. A number of XML files provide metadata.
EPUB has a number of strengths that make it attractive for preservation. It is an open format that is well documented, and there are no known patents or licensing restrictions. The format's specifications are freely available. It is largely based on well‐established and widely‐used standards so it scores high marks for transparency and re‐usability. For situations where authenticity is crucial (e.g. legal documents) all or parts of a document can be digitally signed. Also, EPUB 2 is a popular format with excellent viewer support, including several open source implementations. There is concern that its role is limited because the current e‐book market is dominated by proprietary formats. And EPUB3 is currently less stable. There is a chart of recommendations for using EPUB.
The EPUB format has become increasingly popular in the consumer market. A number of publishers have indicated their wish to use EPUB for supplying their electronic publications to the KB. This document looks at the characteristics and functionality of the format, and whether or not it is suitable for preservation. Conceptually, an EPUB file is just an ordinary ZIP archive which includes one or more XHTML files, in one or more directories. Cascading Style Sheets are used to define layout and formatting. A number of XML files provide metadata.
EPUB has a number of strengths that make it attractive for preservation. It is an open format that is well documented, and there are no known patents or licensing restrictions. The format's specifications are freely available. It is largely based on well‐established and widely‐used standards so it scores high marks for transparency and re‐usability. For situations where authenticity is crucial (e.g. legal documents) all or parts of a document can be digitally signed. Also, EPUB 2 is a popular format with excellent viewer support, including several open source implementations. There is concern that its role is limited because the current e‐book market is dominated by proprietary formats. And EPUB3 is currently less stable. There is a chart of recommendations for using EPUB.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
The Copyright Rule We Need to Repeal If We Want to Preserve Our Cultural Heritage
The Copyright Rule We Need to Repeal If We Want to Preserve Our Cultural Heritage. Benj Edwards. The Atlantic. Mar 15 2013.
The anti-circumvention section (1201) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act needs to be repealed. The law threatens consumer control over the electronic devices we buy, but if the DMCA remains unaltered, cultural scholarship will soon be conducted only at the behest of corporations, and public libraries may disappear entirely. The DMCA prevents sharing information and sharing is vital to preserve information. To properly preserve digital works, libraries and archives must be able to copy and media-shift them without fear of legal problems. The provisions in the DCMA are unacceptable and must change, or as a society we must be willing to say goodbye to libraries and the concept of universal public access to knowledge.
The anti-circumvention section (1201) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act needs to be repealed. The law threatens consumer control over the electronic devices we buy, but if the DMCA remains unaltered, cultural scholarship will soon be conducted only at the behest of corporations, and public libraries may disappear entirely. The DMCA prevents sharing information and sharing is vital to preserve information. To properly preserve digital works, libraries and archives must be able to copy and media-shift them without fear of legal problems. The provisions in the DCMA are unacceptable and must change, or as a society we must be willing to say goodbye to libraries and the concept of universal public access to knowledge.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Adding Value to Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Institutional Repositories
Adding Value to Electronic Theses and Dissertations in Institutional Repositories. Joachim Schöpfel. D-Lib Magazine. March/April 2013.
This paper looks at the differences with institutional repositories that contain electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs, particularly regarding metadata, policy, access restrictions, representativeness, file format, status, quality and related services. The intent is to improve the "quality of content and service provision in an open environment, in order to increase impact, traffic and usage". This paper shows five ways in which institutions can add value to the deposit and dissemination of electronic theses and dissertation:
This paper looks at the differences with institutional repositories that contain electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs, particularly regarding metadata, policy, access restrictions, representativeness, file format, status, quality and related services. The intent is to improve the "quality of content and service provision in an open environment, in order to increase impact, traffic and usage". This paper shows five ways in which institutions can add value to the deposit and dissemination of electronic theses and dissertation:
- Quality of content. A good IR not only defines a set of standards and criteria for the selection and validation of deposits but also communicates and promotes this editorial policy.
- Metadata. The description of the content and context of the ETD files will make a difference.
- Format. The IR should contain full text, offer different file formats, and have deposit formats are searchable, open, and appropriate for long-term preservation and use of the content.
- Repositories should network and interconnect.
- Provide needed services beyond basic searching, viewing, and downloading. Some possibilities are discussion forums, usage statistics and metrics, citations, Print On Demand in book format, copyright protection or Creative Commons licensing, and preservation.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Research Librarians Consider the Risks and Rewards of Collaboration.
Research Librarians Consider the Risks and Rewards of Collaboration. Jennifer Howard. The Chronicle of Higher Education. October 16, 2011.
Association of Research Libraries’ meeting discussed research and preservation projects like the HathiTrust digital repository and the proposed Digital Public Library of America, plans for which are moving ahead. Concerning the Digital Public Library of America: “Library” is a misnomer in this case, which is more of a federation of existing objects. It wouldn’t own anything. The main contribution would be to set standards and link resources. “The user has to drive this.”
They said that it’s almost three times more expensive to store materials locally than it is to store them with HathiTrust. Researchers now also create and share digital resources themselves via social-publishing sites such as Scribd. There is a need for collection-level tools that allow scholars and curators to see beyond catalog records.
Discussed Recollection, a free platform built by NDIIPP and a company named Zepheira to give a better “collection-level view” of libraries’ holdings. The platform can be used to build interactive maps, timelines, and other interfaces from descriptive metadata and other information in library catalogs. So, for instance, plain-text place names on a spreadsheet can be turned into points of latitude and longitude and plotted on a map.
“Rebalancing the Investment in Collections,” discussed that libraries had painted themselves into a corner by focusing too much on their collection budgets. Investing in the right skills and partnerships is most critical now. “The comprehensive and well-crafted collection is no longer an end in itself.”
On person told librarians that they shouldn’t rush to be the first to digitize everything and invest in every new technology. “Everybody underestimates the cost of innovation,” he said. “Instead of rushing in and participating in a game where you don’t have the muscle, you want to stand back” and wait for the right moment.
Digital Preservation Matters.
Association of Research Libraries’ meeting discussed research and preservation projects like the HathiTrust digital repository and the proposed Digital Public Library of America, plans for which are moving ahead. Concerning the Digital Public Library of America: “Library” is a misnomer in this case, which is more of a federation of existing objects. It wouldn’t own anything. The main contribution would be to set standards and link resources. “The user has to drive this.”
They said that it’s almost three times more expensive to store materials locally than it is to store them with HathiTrust. Researchers now also create and share digital resources themselves via social-publishing sites such as Scribd. There is a need for collection-level tools that allow scholars and curators to see beyond catalog records.
Discussed Recollection, a free platform built by NDIIPP and a company named Zepheira to give a better “collection-level view” of libraries’ holdings. The platform can be used to build interactive maps, timelines, and other interfaces from descriptive metadata and other information in library catalogs. So, for instance, plain-text place names on a spreadsheet can be turned into points of latitude and longitude and plotted on a map.
“Rebalancing the Investment in Collections,” discussed that libraries had painted themselves into a corner by focusing too much on their collection budgets. Investing in the right skills and partnerships is most critical now. “The comprehensive and well-crafted collection is no longer an end in itself.”
On person told librarians that they shouldn’t rush to be the first to digitize everything and invest in every new technology. “Everybody underestimates the cost of innovation,” he said. “Instead of rushing in and participating in a game where you don’t have the muscle, you want to stand back” and wait for the right moment.
Digital Preservation Matters.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Research Archive Widens Its Public Access—a Bit
Research Archive Widens Its Public Access—a Bit. Editorial. Technology Review. 7 September 2011.
JStor, an organization which maintains link to 1,400 journals for subscribing institutions, is providing free public access to articles published prior to 1923 in the United States or before 1870 in other countries, about 6 percent of its content. In a letter to publishers and libraries, JStor refers to plans for "further access to individuals in the future."
JStor, an organization which maintains link to 1,400 journals for subscribing institutions, is providing free public access to articles published prior to 1923 in the United States or before 1870 in other countries, about 6 percent of its content. In a letter to publishers and libraries, JStor refers to plans for "further access to individuals in the future."
Monday, August 29, 2011
Google Strikes Deal With French Publisher La Martiniere Groupe
Google has signed a deal with French publishing house La Martiniere Groupe for the scanning of books no longer on sale but still protected by copyright.They will jointly set up a catalog of books to be scanned that are no longer sold by the publisher. La Martiniere Groupe will decide which books Google is allowed to scan and also which of the scanned books can then be sold on Google's Ebooks platform. That deal was seen as setting a precedent for how publishing companies across the continent can make money via the digitization of books still under their copyright protection but no longer sold in stores.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Will Kindles kill libraries?
Will Kindles kill libraries? Eugenia Williamson. The Phoenix. July 27, 2011.
[There are many sources discussing this major change for publishing and libraries. This post really looks at the preservation aspect.]
"Preserving materials for future generations is a big part of why libraries exist in the first place. According to the American Library Association, preservation upholds the First Amendment by contributing to the free flow of information."
But a library can't preserve a book it doesn't own, and many digital works are now being licensed rather than purchased. One company, OverDrive, is a middleman negotiating between the libraries and publishers. It is unknown if there are long term rights for these materials, and if so, what the rights are, and how this fits into a preservation model.
As reported in Library Journal, that state's library system began using those services in 2006, and last year, that company proposed a new contract that would raise administrative fees 700 percent by 2015.
Kansas has announced their intent to petition for the right to terminate its contract which Kansas believes that it owns the e-books it licensed and has the right to transfer them to a new service provider. If the library cannot do this, they will have spent $568,000 for books it can no longer access, which is more than if they had purchased print copies that they would own.
[There are many sources discussing this major change for publishing and libraries. This post really looks at the preservation aspect.]
"Preserving materials for future generations is a big part of why libraries exist in the first place. According to the American Library Association, preservation upholds the First Amendment by contributing to the free flow of information."
But a library can't preserve a book it doesn't own, and many digital works are now being licensed rather than purchased. One company, OverDrive, is a middleman negotiating between the libraries and publishers. It is unknown if there are long term rights for these materials, and if so, what the rights are, and how this fits into a preservation model.
As reported in Library Journal, that state's library system began using those services in 2006, and last year, that company proposed a new contract that would raise administrative fees 700 percent by 2015.
Kansas has announced their intent to petition for the right to terminate its contract which Kansas believes that it owns the e-books it licensed and has the right to transfer them to a new service provider. If the library cannot do this, they will have spent $568,000 for books it can no longer access, which is more than if they had purchased print copies that they would own.
Friday, August 12, 2011
New Statistics Model for Book Industry Shows Trade Ebook Sales Grew Over 1,000 Percent
New Statistics Model for Book Industry Shows Trade Ebook Sales Grew Over 1,000 Percent. Library Journal. Michael Kelley. August 9, 2011.
A new annual survey of the total U.S. book publishing industry shows growing revenue and exponential eBook sales.
The industry sold 2.57 billion books in all formats in 2010, a 4.1 percent increase over 2008. Publishers' net sales revenue grew to $27.94 billion in 2010, a 5.6 percent increase over 2008. Net revenue from trade books grew 5.8 percent since 2008, to $13.94 billion.
Within the trade segment, eBooks, again excluding the robust growth that has occurred in 2011, grew from 0.6 percent of the total trade market share in 2008 to 6.4 percent in 2010, which translates to a 1,274.1 percent increase in publisher net sales revenue year-over-year, with total net revenue for 2010 at $878 million. In the same three years, 114 million ebooks were sold, a 1,039.6 percent increase. In adult fiction, ebooks represent 13.6 percent of the net revenue market share.
Online sales became an increasingly important distribution channel. Net sales revenue for content distributed online was $2.82 billion in 2010, a three-year overall growth of 55.2 percent. Net unit sales by publishers to online channels grew 68.6 percent, to 276 million in 2010.
For 2010, overall bricks-and-mortar trade retail remained the largest distribution channel in the United States (40.8 percent). In contrast to the eBook numbers, total net sales revenue of trade hardcovers in 2010 was $5.26 billion, an increase of only 0.9 percent over the three years, and its share of the market declined from 39.6 percent in 2008 to 37.7 percent in 2010. Softcover revenue was up 1.2 percent to $5.27 billion, with a similar decline in market share, and mass-market paperback net sales revenue was down 13.8 percent to $1.28 billion.
A new annual survey of the total U.S. book publishing industry shows growing revenue and exponential eBook sales.
The industry sold 2.57 billion books in all formats in 2010, a 4.1 percent increase over 2008. Publishers' net sales revenue grew to $27.94 billion in 2010, a 5.6 percent increase over 2008. Net revenue from trade books grew 5.8 percent since 2008, to $13.94 billion.
Within the trade segment, eBooks, again excluding the robust growth that has occurred in 2011, grew from 0.6 percent of the total trade market share in 2008 to 6.4 percent in 2010, which translates to a 1,274.1 percent increase in publisher net sales revenue year-over-year, with total net revenue for 2010 at $878 million. In the same three years, 114 million ebooks were sold, a 1,039.6 percent increase. In adult fiction, ebooks represent 13.6 percent of the net revenue market share.
Online sales became an increasingly important distribution channel. Net sales revenue for content distributed online was $2.82 billion in 2010, a three-year overall growth of 55.2 percent. Net unit sales by publishers to online channels grew 68.6 percent, to 276 million in 2010.
For 2010, overall bricks-and-mortar trade retail remained the largest distribution channel in the United States (40.8 percent). In contrast to the eBook numbers, total net sales revenue of trade hardcovers in 2010 was $5.26 billion, an increase of only 0.9 percent over the three years, and its share of the market declined from 39.6 percent in 2008 to 37.7 percent in 2010. Softcover revenue was up 1.2 percent to $5.27 billion, with a similar decline in market share, and mass-market paperback net sales revenue was down 13.8 percent to $1.28 billion.
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