New Texts

Session 2: New “Texts”

Lynne Withey, director, UC Press; Catherine Candee, director of strategic publishing initiatives, California Digital Library
“New Texts, New Tasks: A Case Study from the University of California”

6-8 year collaboration; three kinds of projects (backlist titles online in XML — not being kept up; specialized monographs put online through eScholarship repository via PDFs; critical/documentary editions such as the Mark Twain project)

have reached limits of these three projects — replicating old forms

launched new project: systemwide committee on scholarly communication units with view toward offering services, operating more efficiently

findings based on: reflection, experience, use data, faculty survey, campus visits — determining what role of university publishing should be in 21st century

reflections:
— economics of scholarly publishing are still troublesome for nonprofit producers and consumers
— new technologies offer possibilities for innovative and more cost-effective publishing
— pressures and opportunities create new challenges for UC services in support of research and teaching
— experiments have extended as far as existing organizational structures (UC Press and CDL) and budgets will allow

article: Diane Harley, et al, “The Influence of Academic Values on Scholarly Publication and Communication Practices”

principles for university involvement in publishing services:
— the university must provide a research infrastructure that ensures productivity and stimulates innovation
— publishing is more than the production of an archival record; it is an integral part of the research infrastructure (must be provided by uni!)
— publishing must embrace a suite of production activities, some of which will be revenue generating
— publishing must enable faculty to create and distribute works via the most appropriate method
— publishing must enable the discovery, use, *and re-use* of content in support of research, teaching, and learning (publishing not as end point, but as marker along way of ongoing projects)

faculty survey:
— faculty in arts and humanities have the deepest concerns about publishing matters; those in the natural sciences are more content with the current system
— the tenure and promotion process inhibits faculty actions that might better address the scholarly communication crisis (MUST address peer review!)
— faculty want better university support for publishing books, journal articles, monographs, and, to a lesser extent, conferences papers and dissertations

findings from task force:
— surprising amount of formal publishing activity on campuses, in research centers and departments
— difficult to catalog and classify the existing publishing activities across UC campuses
— interdisciplinary work is burgeoning
— many UC faculty are desperate for support for creating, validating, publishing their digital scholarly research output

more findings… few surprises:
— faculty, especially in humanities, make a distinction between in -process communication and formal ‘archival’ publication
— prestige and visibility are crucial to faculty participation in new publishing initiatives
— in any new publishing forms, approval of tenure and promotion powers is critical
— UC press imprimatur is seen as valuable in most new publishing initiatives

specific needs:
— venues for born digital content; tools for content management
— slide changed too fast!

UC strategy:
— align UC publishing services with the UC academic enterprise
— broaden the capacity of the university press; reclaim its original role in service to the academic enterprise
— coordinate planning across the UC system; develop intersections in IT planning; digital stewardship, research data support, publishing and preservation
— develop publishing services to be interoperable with services for research data

UC Publishing, 2007-2008:
— seek efficiencies across traditional publishing modalities, to invest savings in R&D for emerging publishing modalities
— provide a more robust journal publication service
— formalize a collaboratory structure for UC press and CDL to focus efforts in strategic publishing initiatives
— employ cost-recovery mechanisms where necessary; secure open access options where appropriate
— establish methods and procedures for non-standard publications

Two brief case studies:
John Herbert and Karen Estlund, University of Utah
me, MediaCommons; peer-to-peer review