From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 17:17:13 -0800 I don't think there is a place for libraries here, at least not over the long term. The author-pays world is getting competitive. In addition to PLOS, Hindawi, and BioMed Central, we have services from (among others) Wiley and Sage, and odd hybrids ("cascading peer review") at BMJ. And let's not forget the advent of the service by scientists for scientists (but not assuredly by or for economists) eLife, which is proposing to charge no author fees--until they figure out a business model. So you will have downward pricing pressure even as the need to provide enhanced services grows. How can libraries compete here? Of course, they may choose not to compete; they may choose to get the faculty senate to mandate that authors at their institution use the library's service first. This would be an enforced monopoly. The service level would be comparable to what you get at the Division of Motor Vehicles. There was an earlier comment on this thread (which I lost, alas) to the effect that one way to build an author-pays service is with a fee for submission rather than for publication. This is a great idea, and in a world without ruinous competition (John D. Rockefeller's phrase), it would work beautifully, as it aligns the cost to authors with the actual cost of delivering the service. But what happens when your competitor offers a free Christmas promotion? Of if eLife takes 10 years to figure out a business model? In a competitive market, you can never be smarter than your stupidest competitor, and if that competitor wants to give away the store, I can see your store loaded onto someone else's truck. Joe Esposito On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 4:24 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > From: "Bargheer, Margo Friederike" <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2011 01:36:32 +0100 > > > Is there a role for libraries in an Open Access model funded at the > production side, e.g. "author paid"? > > Indeed there is, it's done already, and this role has several aspects > to it. Informing authors about this emerging market, supporting them > in their new economic role, delivering bibliometrical data for > evaluation systems based on publications (a system however that as a > social scientist I see as flawed), managing central publication funds, > negotiating agreements between publishers and institutions, running > complementary infrastructure and so on. > > Best > Margo Bargheer > > Electronic Publishing > SUB Göttingen > Margo Bargheer > +49 1515 288 1644