Knowledge Unlatched

A/Prof Lucy MontgomeryDirector, Centre for Culture and Technology,

Curtin

Research Director, Knowledge Unlatched

The Monograph

A long, academic and peer reviewed work on a single topic normally written by a single author, and extended to also include peer reviewed edited collections by multiple authors.

Hardback

£65 per copy $110 (Amazon)$57 (ebooks.com)

Usually sells around 200 copies.

1980

2010

3000

350

2000

19902000

Print Runs for Academic Books

1000

https://www.flickr.com/photos/schnappi/6116266037 CC-BY

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pmiaki/4524531267/ CC-BY

• A very small market (libraries)• Library budgets under pressure• Journals have become (much) more expensive• The number of monograph titles has increased• Print runs for each title have decreased• Publishers must spread the costs of publishing each

title over a smaller number of copies

Pressure on Monograph Publishers

• The cost of publishing a 70,000 – 100,000 word monograph higher than the cost of publishing a 5,000 – 10,000 word article

• Palgrave Open: £11,000/$17,500: CC-BY• Manchester University Press: £10,000: CC-NC • HSS research budgets are small• Some authors aren’t attached to a research budget

at all• Author pays models won’t work for most of us!

But…

The KU Model

• Not-for-profit• Libraries from around the world collaborate to

share the costs of making books open access

• CC licenses• Front-list titles (new books)• Immediate OA (no embargo)• Recent ‘backlist’. Collaboration with Language

Science Press.

What is Knowledge Unlatched?

Features of the KU Model

• Includes a market element (librarians choose which books to support on behalf of their communities)

• Globally funded• Accessing existing funds (library acquisition budgets

as well as OA funds)• Cost effective

Founding LibrariesQueensland University of TechnologyThe University of MelbourneThe University of Western AustraliaKey SupportersBig Innovation CentreBritish Library TrustOpen Society FoundationCurtin University

PartnersCasalini LibriCLOCKSSHathiTrustJisc CollectionsKarger LibriLYRASISMax Planck SocietyOAPENPaper-HivePorticoSchweitzer

Knowledge Unlatched

• Over 400 libraries participating so far

• 449 books unlatched from 54 publishers

• (2014 – 28 titles)

• (2016 – 78 titles)

• (2017 – 343 titles – announced Feb 25th!)

Institution-specific Usage Statistics

Version 1.0 of institution-specific stats are available and were sent out in November 2016

KU Research

• A serious program of critical research on understanding the uses of OA books

• Partnering with Curtin University (Australia) and University of Michigan Libraries

• Collaborating with platforms: HathiTrust and OAPEN

• Competitively funded research projects

• Intensive collaborations: UCL Press usage study

Knowledge Unlatched

Thank You

Winner: IFLA/Brill Award for Open Access 2014Winner: Curtin University Award for Best Innovation in Education 2015Shortlisted: ALPSP Award for Innovation in Publishing 2016