The silver lining

Yes, Mary, but there is only a handful of presses that have
this 
capacity now, perhaps a half-dozen, including Chicago of
course, 
and I doubt that they could ramp up their carrying capacity
to 
the extent necessary to make the transition smooth. I'm
talking 
about thousands of journals, not a few hundred! Also,
university 
presses simply don't have easy access to capital resources.
We 
can't sell stock, few of us have any capital reserves to
speak 
of, we don't deal with investment bankers, and our parent 
universities aren't anxious to have us take out large bank
loans. 
So, where do the funds come from to increase our journal
carrying 
capacity a hundred fold?

--Sandy Thatcher
Penn State Press


>Fortunately some of the university presses have
organizations 
>and systems (Web-based peer review and online hosting
platforms 
>that are equal to those used by major commercial
publishers) 
>that give them the capacity to take on publication of
more 
>journals.  In fact, we are eager to do so in the years
ahead.
>
>Mary Summerfield
>Director, Business Development and Planning
>University of Chicago Press
>Chicago, IL  60637
>
>-----Original Message-----
>[mailto:owner-liblicense-llists.yale.edu] On Behalf
Of Heather Morrison
>Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 10:01 AM
>To: liblicense-llists.yale.edu
>Subject: The silver lining
>
>Sandy Thatcher expressed very well the fear that
self-archiving
>could lead to a "tipping point" which could
cause massive
>disruption to the scholarly publishing system.  Sandy
suggests
>that, even without cancellations, it is possible that
highly
>profitable publishers could still decide to leave the
business.
>If even a few of the large players were to leave the
system,
>Sandy argues, journals would have no where to go, as
university
>presses such as Penn State do not have the resources to
pick up
>all these journals.
>
>The silver lining in this scenario:  if even a few of
the large,
>highly profitable publishers were to suddenly decide to
go into
>another business - then libraries and universities would
have
>plenty of cash left over from subscription budgets they
could no
>longer spend , and this cash would then be available to
help
>scholars transition their journals, some through newly
resourced
>university presses.
>
>It is always possible, of course, that the few very
highly
>profitable publishers, continuing to enjoy high profits,
would
>not exodus the scholarly publishing system en masse
after all.
>
>For more detail, please see my blogpost, Transitioning
to Open
>Access:  Beyond Fear of Change, at: http://tinyurl.com/ygyspt
>
>Sandy Thatcher's original post to Liblicense:
>http://tinyurl.com/ynddnr


-- 
Sanford G. Thatcher, Director
Penn State University Press
University Park, PA 16802-1003
e-mail: sgt3psu.edu
http://www.psupress.org