University of Michigan Press to go digital
By Paul Biba
Inside Higher Ed is reporting that:
Within two years, press officials expect well over 50 of the 60-plus monographs that the press publishes each year — currently in book form — to be released only in digital editions. Readers will still be able to use print-on-demand systems to produce versions that can be held in their hands, but the press will consider the digital monograph the norm. Many university presses are experimenting with digital publishing, but the Michigan announcement may be the most dramatic to date by a major university press. …
Michigan officials say that their move reflects a belief that it’s time to stop trying to make the old economics of scholarly publishing work. "I have been increasingly convinced that the business model based on printed monograph was not merely failing but broken," said Phil Pochoda, director of the Michigan press. "Why try to fight your way through this? Why try to remain in territory you know is doomed? Scholarly presses will be primarily digital in a decade. Why not seize the opportunity to do it now?"
There’s a lot more meat in the article. I suggest you check it out.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:35 pm
The concept of print-on-demand for academic texts has a multi-decade history. When I was working on my PhD thesis I purchased several earlier theses in the research topic area. The books I received were soft–covers that were clearly printed on demand by ProQuest UMI Dissertation Publishing (once University Microfilm International). The company blurb says “UMI offers a collection of more than 150,000 out-of-print books that can be xerographically reproduced on demand.” When I completed my thesis I was required to submit it to the same organization, so it would be easily available to other researchers.
In computer science the workflow started to shift years ago. Many papers and theses moved online, so a researcher could download a work and read it on a monitor or print it out locally.