Scholarly Publishing in an Electronic Era: International Yearbook of Library and Information Management 2004‐2005

If you have ever wondered where scholarly publishing is going in the age of the Internet, this is the book for you. While not a comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the subject (G.E. Gorman, the editor, notes that copyright has been left out of consideration partly due to its complexity), the ten excellent chapters in this book together constitute a tightly structured discussion of the latest developments in topics as diverse as open access publishing, open archiving, usability issues, and electronic books.

The collection is comprised of four parts. In the first, an overview of scholarly publishing in the twenty‐first century, Fytton Rowland sets the scene by describing traditional scholarly publishing, culminating in the formation of library consortia and the “Big Deal”. He describes various options for the future, and provides the context for many of the contributions that follow. Part 2 introduces institutional perspectives on electronic scholarly publishing: Colin Steele ponders (amongst other things) the role of libraries in the future of the monograph, while John Cox assesses the evolving world of STM publishing, and asks tricky questions, such as what authors will want from publishers. In Part 3, three authors look at issues in access and preservation of online publishing: the design of online information systems, the development of new publishing models in the SPARC initiative, plus the benefits of – and barriers to – self‐archiving publications. The final part examines the economics of online scholarly publishing. Louise Edwards explains that for e‐books, versatility of pricing models will need to match versatility of function, and Peter Shepherd describes the aims of project COUNTER in establishing credible and consistent online usage statistics that are comparable between vendors of online information.

Gorman and Rowland have assembled an impressive line up of contributors from the world of library and information management; however, writers from other fields bring fresh perspectives to the subject. For instance, open access publishing (not surprisingly) forms a major theme in the collection. SPARC Europe director David Prosser summarises the state of play, and recommends actions for authors and librarians who wish to promote it, while publishing consultant John Cox assesses the challenges of open access publishing to publishers, and asks if scholarly publishers in the electronic era will have to re‐invent themselves as quality‐control providers. John Houghton's wide‐ranging chapter examines the future of scholarly publishing and the serials crisis from an economist's point of view. He describes the difficulties that flow on from open access publication supported by author charges, not least of which is the promotion of publication according to means rather than merit.

And a wake‐up call comes from Alicia Wise, whose chapter early in the book argues for better cooperation between librarians and publishers. She warns that, while the debate about scholarly publishing has raised the profile of the information professions, we had better start working together and with the creators and consumers of electronic information, or “risk being written off as finger‐pointing whiners who cannot organise ourselves out of a tricky position.” This book describes our position, and raises the right questions about where we go next.