From: Lorraine Weston <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2015 12:29:09 -0700

University of California Press Publishes First Monographs in Luminos,
Announces Inaugural Luminos Member Libraries

With the same high standards for selection, peer review, production,
and marketing as our traditional publishing programs, Luminos is a
transformative model, built as a partnership where costs and benefits
are shared.

October 13, 2015 (Oakland, CA)—Today, we are happy to announce the
culmination of the launch phase of an important new concept in
monograph publishing, with the first five scholarly monographs open to
the world, many more titles to come, and the first of our inaugural
Luminos Member Libraries ready to support the transformation of
monograph publishing.

“As an author writing about mass violence in the global south, I was
intrigued by the option of making my insights available to broad
publics, including in countries where, for a variety of reasons, paper
copies cannot be as easily ordered as in Europe or North America,”
notes Joachim Savelsberg, author of the new Luminos title Representing
Mass Violence: Conflicting Responses to Human Rights Violations in
Darfur.

Authors have been eager to publish in the Luminos program not only
because it guarantees the same standards of excellence as all of UC
Press’s programs, but also because of the opportunity to bring their
work to the larger, global audiences that open access provides. As
co-author Manuel Pastor has stated regarding their decision to publish
Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from
America's Metro Areas in Luminos, rather than in a more traditional
format, “we have long valued our role as public intellectuals who are
willing and indeed, eager, to bring ideas into the messy real world
and participate in the debates that change lives—and this model is
perfectly suited to that sort of effort. Moreover, the central
messages of our book—that equity and opportunity are key for
sustainable growth, that cross-sector conversations can bring new
common ground, and that data deliberations in knowledge communities
can forge productive solutions—are all really reflected in the
open-access model Luminos is helping to pioneer. It’s a perfect fit
for us and we’re proud to be part of this launch.”

Institutions of higher education have long advocated for open access
responses to changes in scholarly communication as well as to the
challenges they face meeting the ever-expanding information needs of
their students, researchers, and faculty. In response, Luminos helps
broaden access to scholarly content, and injects some much-needed
sustainability into monograph publishing by sharing cost burdens
across stakeholders. For each title published, UC Press makes a
significant financial contribution, which is augmented by membership
funds from Luminos Member Libraries. Each author is then asked to
secure a title publication fee to cover the remaining costs. Any
additional revenue from Luminos Member Libraries, as well as funds
from optional purchase of print editions, help support a waiver fund
for future Luminos authors. Together, this shared financial support
helps ensure a sustainable monograph publishing ecosystem for authors,
readers, institutions, libraries, and UC Press.

UC Press is proud to have the dedicated support of inaugural Luminos
Member Libraries including University of Texas at Austin; University
of California, Los Angeles; and University of California, San Diego.
For information on Luminos Member Library benefits, or to become a
Luminos Member Library, please visit
http://www.luminosoa.org/site/for_libraries.

According to UCLA’s University Librarian, Virginia Steel,  “Market
forces have made it increasingly difficult for faculty, particularly
early career, to publish scholarly monographs. As one solution to that
problem, the UCLA Library strongly supports Luminos, which expands
options for authors and increases discoverability and readership of
published research, while maintaining rigorous academic publishing
standards.”

“As a non-profit publisher, partner with scholars, and part of the
world’s greatest public research university, we are committed to
maximizing the reach and impact of the scholarship we publish” said
Alison Mudditt, Director of UC Press. “UC Press is a leader in
exploring how this important and distinctive vehicle for communication
in the humanities and social sciences can not only be preserved but
also reinvigorated as we move towards open, digital models, and we are
proud of the resounding support for Luminos we have seen from authors,
faculty, and from librarians around the world.”

University of California Press is one of the most forward-thinking
scholarly publishers in the nation. For more than 120 years, it has
championed work that influences public discourse and challenges the
status quo in multiple fields of study. At a time of dramatic change
for publishing and scholarship, UC Press collaborates with scholars,
librarians, authors, and students to stay ahead of today’s knowledge
demands and shape the future of publishing.

www.ucpress.edu

For more information on Luminos, visit www.luminosoa.org or contact
Lorraine Weston at [log in to unmask]