1. Open Monograph Press
Leah Hopton
LIBR 559
June 7, 2011

2. In defense of the monograph…
Scholarly Monograph in danger
So why fight for monograph publishing?
Presents a full, developed concept (Willinsky, 2009)
Putting a limit on monographs “restrict[s], in effect, what is studied” (Willinsky, 2009, para. 8)
What’s your role?
Future librarian: educate scholars on Open Monograph Press
Future Advocate: promote academic freedom
Future Author: Lead by example
Steele (2008) – monographs in danger – Uni presses don’t always want to take risk to publish books that won’t sell well; library budgets being strained by serials costs
Is the monograph worth saving?
In defense of the monograph: Willinsky (2009) points out their place in scholarship – the development of an argument and the building of research (p. 1)
- When monographs are seen as unsupportable, then the university is in a position of “restricting, in effect, what is studied” (Willinsky. p. 3)
Why should you Care:
As a future librarian, you might be involved with promoting alternative modes of publishing
Become an advocate for academic freedom, especially for smaller presses, disenfranchised, developing countries
You might want to publish your own work (librarians can lead by example)

3. Press… with benefits What is the Open Monograph Press? Benefits:
An online workspace (like OJS)
Not necessarily Open Access, but has that potential
Benefits:
Reduced costs (Willinsky, 2009)
Freely available to the academic community (the software AND the information produced) (Willinsky 2009)
Supports print or electronic formats (Willinsky, 2009)
Low cost provides more opportunities for developing countries (Willinsky, 2009; Geiser, 2010)
Developed by PKP ( it’s an open source publishing product “will establish an online workspace for publishing monographs, edited volumes, and scholarly editions, while keeping an archival record of the process” (
reduces overhead and production costs (Willinsky, 2009 p. 4)
“The program is also working on an open monograph press, which will allow for free access to monographs, edited volumes and scholarly editions, many of which are especially difficult for developing countries to access.” (Geiser, 2010, para. 17)

4. The process + a twist
1.Incubation
Testing ground
Use of Web 2.0
2.Assessment
Author Submits
(Peer)Review process
3.Preparation
Copyediting
Approval to production
4.Production
Marketing
Design
5.Publication
Book is published in Network
Indexing
OMP is based on a modular approach (Willinsky 2009):
Modules can be added or removed (allows for flexibility)
- transaction module *optional in open access
- scheduler
Explain the process – based on Willinsky, 2009

5. But wait… there’s more!
Lemon8-XML
XML conversion
Reading Tools
For self
For community
PExOD
Bibliographic management
Indexing
Promotes findability
Open source plug ins add even more value to OMP (Willinsky, 2009):
Lemon: converts word docs to XML – allows them to be read across platforms
Reading tools
Export bibliographic data to distribution sources like amazon
Allows for metadata harvesting

6. Where libraries can help…
Willinsky (2008):
Libraries can act as partners in seeking grants
Support projects by ordering print and electronic versions in advance
Provide funding for OA (create an “endowed monograph series”)
Defray costs by hosting software; providing support
Shearer (2010):
Libraries are hosting OJS ~ considering OMP as possible next step

7. Caveats Not completely “free” Promotion and tenure issues
More writing = poor writing?
- still costs associated
- promotion and tenure still connected to published works, but this is challenged in that notable partners in the OMP are getting involved – such as Open Humanities Press, which is an international open access publishing collective – getting on board (Willinsky, 2009)
- will the ease of publication lead to proliferation of poor writing? Willinsky (2009) is willing to take the risk – indexing will help the cream rise to the top.
Photo by evita2005, available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License

8. References
Geiser, K. (2010, January 26). Freeing knowledge. The Stanford Daily. Retrieved from
Open Monograph Press. Retrieved from
Shearer, K. (2010). A review of emerging models in Canadian academic publishing. Retrieved from
Steele, C. (2008). Scholarly monograph publishing in the 21st century: The future more than ever should be an open book. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 11(2) doi: / (free version available at
Willinsky, J. (2008). Monograph funding. Retrieved from
Willinsky, J. (2009). Toward the design of an open monograph press. Journal of Electronic Publishing, 12(1). (free version available at

9. John Willinsky
Photo by D’arcy Norman, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.