Hello all,

I'm running a bit late in posting this message.  This might be of 
interesting to many of you.

m

-------- Original Message --------

For immediate release
January 22, 2009

For more information, contact:
Jennifer McLennan
(202) 296-2296
[log in to unmask]
*
New SPARC Guide and Online Community Aid Library-University Press
Collaboration*
Free Resource Offers Practical Help with Setting Up Successful Campus
Publishing Partnerships

Washington, DC – January 22, 2009 – SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and
Academic Resources Coalition) today released Campus-based Publishing
Partnerships: A guide to critical issues, by Raym Crow. The guide is the
core of a new Web site, the Campus-based Publishing Resource Center,
designed by a panel of advisors from the library and university press
communities to support successful publishing partnerships.

Campus publishing partnerships can offer universities greater control
over the intellectual products that they help create. But to fully
realize this potential, partnerships need to evolve from ad hoc working
alliances to stable, long-term collaborations. SPARC’s guide will help
partnering organizations to:

•    Establish practical governance and administrative structures;
•    Identify funding models that accommodate the different financial
objectives of libraries and presses;
•    Define objectives that advance the missions of both the library and
of the press, without disrupting the broader objectives of either; and
•    Demonstrate the value of the collaboration to university
administrators.

Campus-based Publishing Partnerships will help libraries, presses, and
other campus units to structure successful partnerships—and to recognize
when collaboration is not the right course of action. The guide reviews
current library-press initiatives, describes the potential benefits of
partnerships, and provides an overview of the financial and operating
criteria for launching and sustaining a successful collaboration. It
provides practical guidance on structuring a publishing partnership,
including case studies that illustrate key concepts.

“This is a moment of great opportunity for academic publishing and for
university presses, in particular,” said Laura Cerruti, Director of
Digital Content Development for the University of California Press.
“SPARC's efforts to survey those in the trenches – librarians,
university press publishers, and other active campus publishing entities
– have resulted in an invaluable resource for those who are just
beginning to tap into their campus's publishing needs and priorities. It
gives them a head start, if you will.”

“It’s clear that university publishing needs to respond to the changes
in our economic and technological environments to meet the needs of our
scholars,” added Maria Bonn, director of the University of Michigan
Scholarly Publishing Office. “Partnerships allow us to bring our
collective expertise to bear on the challenge of creating an affordable
publishing system. More universities will be looking to forge such
partnerships in the future, and resources like those provided by the
Campus-based Publishing Resource Center will be of great value in that
process.”

“While the missions of libraries and presses differ,” said Heather
Joseph, executive director of SPARC, “both entities recognize the
growing need to address fundamental problems in scholarly publishing and
to understand the interdependence of their organizations. By developing
this resource, we hope to drive a shared exploration of new, innovative,
sustainable publishing models.”

SPARC is releasing Campus-based Publishing Partnerships in conjunction
with the launch of the new Web-based “Campus-based Publishing Resource
Center” at http://www.arl.org/sparc/partnering. The resource center
currently features case studies, a bibliography, and a listserv as well
as the SPARC guide. In cooperation with its editorial board, the site
will be expanded to include FAQs, sample planning documents, an index of
collaborative initiatives, and other content suggested by the community.

The editorial board includes:

•    Patrick Alexander, Penn State University Press
•    Maria Bonn, University of Michigan Library
•    Laura Cerruti, University of California Press
•    Raym Crow, SPARC
•    Teresa Ehling, Cornell University Libraries
•    Mike Furlough, Penn State University Libraries
•    Karen Hill, University of Michigan Press
•    Rebecca Kennison, Columbia University
•    Monica McCormick, New York University
•    Catherine Mitchell, California Digital Library
•    Managing Editor: Jennifer McLennan, SPARC

SPARC’s Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A critical guide and
Campus-based Publishing Resource Center are free online at
http://www.arl.org/sparc/partnering.

###

SPARC
SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), with
SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance of more than
800 academic and research libraries working to create a more open system
of scholarly communication. SPARC’s advocacy, educational and publisher
partnership programs encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC
is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/sparc.

-- 
--------------------------
Jennifer McLennan
Director of Communications
SPARC
(The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition)
http://www.arl.org/sparc
(202) 296-2296 ext 121
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Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.


-- 

Mike Furlough
Assistant Dean for Scholarly Communications and
Co-Director, Office of Digital Scholarly Publishing

Penn State University Libraries
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-5447