2019 Charleston Library Conference

The drive towards open access (OA) publishing is gathering pace, with international movements such as PlanS and US-based initiatives such as Open Access 2020 signalling the determination of policymakers and institutions to embrace open research. The challenges journals face in adapting to this new environment are well known, but monograph publishing has been comparatively neglected and, with BPCs typically starting at around $12,000, the question of how to enable OA for books is a pressing one for libraries, researchers, publishers and funders alike. Open infrastructure is increasingly being seen as a solution to this conundrum. Organisations such as SPARC and movements such as InvestInOpen, together with funding bodies, OA publishers, researchers and libraries are building the urgently-needed systems to ensure the creation, discoverability and long-term sustainability of open content. This panel includes publishers, researchers, and leaders in the development of open scholarly communications to discuss the recent acceleration in the drive towards open infrastructure, and how libraries and scholarly communication professionals can be part of the conversation. Each panellist is a Director of a non-profit OA company working collaboratively with other similarly-minded entities to create open infrastructures to support OA book publishing. They include Eelco Ferwerda (Director at OAPEN - board member DOAB, collaborating with OPERAS, COPIM), Rupert Gatti (Director & Co-founder of Open Book Publishers - collaborating with ScholarLed, COPIM, OPERAS, Coko Foundation/Editoria), Eileen Joy (Director & Co-founder of punctum books - collaborating with ScholarLed, COPIM, Coko Foundation/Editoria, OAPEN) and Pierre Mounier (Deputy Director at OpenEdition - coordinator of OPERAS, board member of DOAB) to discuss the challenges and opportunities for open infrastructure development and its significance for scholarly communication. Based in Holland, UK, USA and France, they will bring their diverse perspectives to a lively and wide-ranging discussion about the future of OA book publishing.