Upcoming Events: Newly Created University Press Content Consortium Featured in March 23 Webinar

From Info Posted on the NFAIS (National Federation of Advanced Information Services) Web Site:

NFAIS is pleased to announce that Dean Smith, Director of Project Muse, Johns Hopkins University Press, has been added as a speaker to the NFAIS-sponsored webinar on March 23rd to address the creation of the University Press Content Consortium. The new consortium was created based on the findings from research funded by the Mellon Foundation. Other featured speakers for this March 23rd Webinar include NFAIS Member October Ivins of Ivins eContent Solutions and Temple University Press Director, Alex Holzman.

About the Webinar

There is a tremendous drive in the academic library environment to reshape content and service models to deploy technologies in ways that more effectively and efficiently serve the user at the point of information need. One of the hottest topics for libraries in this regard is e-books. This is also an area of rapid development across the publishing industry – with activity to standardize file formats, a proliferation of dedicated devices, and the transformation of purchasing and copyright practices originally developed for print books. For libraries, there are associated issues in terms of both constrained purchasing budgets and the expanding popularity of patron driven selection. Recent key library events such as the ARL Membership meeting, Charleston Conference, and the ALA Midwinter Meeting highlighted the issues and interest seems to grow daily.
Publishers in a university press environment also face these new challenges. At a time when print sales are declining, how should e-books be integrated into production and distribution to demonstrate the ongoing value of a university press in support of academic research? Rising interest in the creation of cooperative branded consortia for purposes of distributing scholarly monographs is evident as several such initiatives that have emerged. (InsideHigherEd, New Models for University Presses, November 22, 2010.) The Andrew Mellon Foundation has funded one such exploratory initiative involving, among others, NYU Press, Temple University Press, Rutgers University Press, the University of Nebraska Press, and the University of Pennsylvania Press. The 60 presses that are joining the University Press eBook Consortium (UPeC) are focused on satisfying the needs of the scholarly community as they move forward in selecting a platform and planning their collections.This webinar will address key findings from the three year effort, including the following:

• Strategic vision
• Academic library budget developments
• Research about library eBook adoption
• Patron Driven Selection
• Current trends
• New and evolving standards
• Academic publishing in trends
• Exploring technology driven efficiencies in workflow and production
• Determining core competencies: what stays in-house
• Expanding service partner options
• Service level agreements
• New business models

For More Info About the March 23rd Webinar  and a Link to Register, Visit This Web Page
See Also: News Release From 2010 With A Bit of Information About Dean Smith’s Background
Mr. Smith joined Project Muse on March 10, 2011

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Associations and Organizations, Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Funding, Libraries, News, Publishing