From: Eric Elmore <[log in to unmask]>

Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 15:43:43 +0000

There are times when Joe makes sense, and times when his capitalist tendencies run amok. This might be one of those times.

Getting your resources into the discovery systems isn't a bad idea - but you'd get more bang for your effort by making sure they are findable in Google Scholar.  GS tends to be most users first stop when doing research, and their libraries' individual search tool coming in as a sad second thought.  The good news is GS is free to get your resources into.  You have to jump through some of their hoops, but they aren't insurmountable and can be done in house.

I'd say creating solid metadata would be another huge helper, but if your budget is pretty limited that might not be a realistic option.  Being a librarian my first choice would always be quality metadata, but I understand that it's not always going to happen.

Joe is right about the marketing being an important option, only it doesn't necessarily require a fiscal commitment.  Libraries have learned to do a lot of self-marketing without needing to hire outside consultants and start attaching price tags to everything.

You might want to consider getting your book content into one of the open database/indexes like OAPEN.  http://www.oapen.org/home  We have the content listed in that database added to our discovery system to make it available to our users.  Loads of good academic content in there that's open access.


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Eric Elmore                                                             |
Electronic Resources Coordinator                     |
The University of Texas at San Antonio            |
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-----Original Message-----
From: LibLicense-L Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]CRL.EDU] On Behalf Of LIBLICENSE
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2017 6:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Oxfam Publications Program and a Big Question

From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2017 23:24:33 -0400

In media industries in general, including publishing and including scholarly publishing as well, marketing is typically half of all expenditures in one form or another. Putting metadata into a discovery service is a good thing, but it is not a very big thing.

More people would know about the Oxfam publications (which, BTW, I had never heard of until I saw this post, and I read about scholarly communications all day long) if they had a price on them and were actively marketed. Open access is not an innovation; it is a capitulation. If the products were worthy of grasping even a small amount of the attention of the potential readership, a paywall is no barrier at all. Many things become open access (this is particularly true of monographs) because there is no end-user demand for them.  And so I ask the obvious question: If these publications are so good, why won't anyone pay for them?

I would love to put together a marketing plan for the Oxfam publications. They would not be open, but more people would know about them and read them. Marketing is everything in media.

Joe Esposito