Last year, in preparation for the launch of the UKRI open access policy for monographs, book chapters and edited collections, Jisc and the Open Access Books Network came together to hold a series of online events which focused on different publishing models for open access books. We held three 90-minute webinars with panel speakers including publishers, librarians, and open access infrastructure providers. Read a summary of the webinar series.
In the second webinar, there was particular interest in an evaluation template used by the University of St. Andrews (USTAN) to assess and manage their read-and-publish deals. Adapted from a template created by the University of Salford, USTAN also considered new OA publishing models such as Subscribe2Open, open infrastructures, and collective action and community frameworks. Jacqueline Proven, Head of Open Research at USTAN, further expanded on this in a follow up blog post for us.
Responding to demand, a follow-up workshop was held with the aim of surfacing practical tips for libraries to consider when evaluating collective funding models for open access books and developing their own institutional policies. Discussions from the workshop breakout rooms, online conversations and sector feedback form the basis of a fantastic new community resource from the Open Book Futures project. It uses a number of evaluation criteria libraries could consider when assessing open access book models, such as the financial benefits, the value to institution AND the scholarly community, considering the transparency of model, costs and process, and lastly, measuring (and maximising) impact. It also lists examples of assessment criteria already in use at several libraries and other practical links to support the creation of an evaluation template.
The idea of the resource is for libraries to take what they need and use it to create their own assessment rubrics. So if you find it useful, and use to create your own assessment criteria, please let the Open Book Futures team know! You can find them on social media at Blue Sky, LinkedIn and Mastodon.
Plus you could share your work with the wider community so others can use your ideas as a springboard to creating their own. The Open Access Books Network (OABN) is a good forum for sharing, as are the Jisc email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities, for example, UK-CORR and OAGoodPractice.
