The existence of a ubiquitous and cheap worldwide communications network that increasingly makes documents easily and freely available will require a transformation of academic library collecting practice. It will be driven by a number of specific developments including: the digitization of content; the development of print repositories; the…

Annual reports aren't exactly beach reading, but for anyone interested in the current condition of scholarly communication, the just-published 2007 report of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation--particularly the essay on "Scholarly Publishing Initiatives" by Donald J. Waters and Joseph S. Meisel--is a page turner. The foundation's deep pockets and…

This article reports on reactions to the Association of American Publishers' new public-relations campaign, which has upset many university presses and research librarians, as well as open-access advocates. The effort, known as the "Partnership for Research Integrity in Science & Medicine," or Prism, is the latest tactic in a continuing…

In this interview Charles Henry, publisher of the Rice University Press (RUP), discusses RUP's rebirth as a fully digital university press. Henry addresses the circumstances that led to this decision, and he further outlines the RUP business model whereby the press will publish its own titles--both digitally and in print-on-demand--while…

Discussion of scholarly communication focuses on the prospects for structural reform based on a loosely coupled system instead of the often-assumed interdependent system. Topics addressed include libraries and academic institutions; library networks; scholars and journals; the role of university presses; price discrimination; informal information…

This volume contains the proceedings of the third joint symposium of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of American University Presses (AAUP). The following papers were presented: "Opening Remarks for the ARL-AAUP Symposium" (Lisa Freeman); the keynote address, "We're All in this Together, Aren't…