Over 80% of surveyed LIBER libraries say they distribute Open Access (OA) books via a repository and include them in discovery services or catalogues. A further 40% publish OA books, or plan to do so, and a quarter provides library funding to pay author fees related to OA book publishing.
These are among the insights from a recent questionnaire on OA Monographs, circulated in April by LIBER’s Open Access Working Group. The survey aimed to investigate the activities and strategies related to OA books already in place across LIBER’s network and to identify best practices, opportunities and challenges related to the publishing and implementation of OA for monographs.
This fills a gap in the OA landscape, as currently, most OA initiatives focus on journal articles as the dominant format for sharing research, rather than monographs, edited collections and other forms of research outputs which require longer lead times and diverse funding models.
Sixty-seven people in 19 countries replied to the survey, the vast majority from LIBER institutions.
A quarter said they occupied a role as scholarly communications officer or publishing manager in their library, while a further 20% were library directors or deputy directors. Many also identified as Open Access coordinators, managers and officers. Nearly half worked in smaller libraries, with under 100 employees. University libraries made up three-quarters of survey respondents.
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