Officials at Oxford University Press (OUP) say their Oxford Scholarship Online program (OSO), a digital database of the press’s monographs, will expand by September to include nearly all of its monograph titles. OUP vice president and publisher Niko Pfund said that the successful program, will add new “modules” in math, physics, biology, psychology, business/management, history, literature, classics, and linguistics, adding nine new disciplines in all to the original four “modules” (economics, politics, religion, and philosophy). “This will in effect double the number of new titles we’re putting into OSO to approximately 400-450 new books a year,” he told the LJ Academic Newswire.
Pfund said the bold effort to launch OSO has taken “thousands” of hours of effort between publishers and authors and “lots” of m taoney, though he declined to estimate theb. OSO launched in 2003 as a subscription database before switching to a “perpetual access” model in 2005. The press’ massive effort, Pfund says, is paying off, with usage up over 450 percent. Pfund said OUP may even add more of its mainstream books to OSO, titles not necessarily considered monographs. “One of the challenges of academic publishing is the different way in which scholars, librarians, and publishers define the term ‘monograph,'” he conceded. “But one of the animating principles behind OSO is to maximize exposure for our books. So, if we think that inclusion of a specific academic trade or trade title in OSO would make for a good fit in the site, we’d include it.”
Of course, inclusion in OSO depends on a host of other factors as well, including the wishes of authors, some of whom may fear that an online offering will diminish book sales. In an age when Google is roiling the marketplace with its scan plan, prompting lawsuits and forcing many presses and authors into sometimes uncomfortable choices, OSO represents a significant strategic commitment of resources by OUP. And so far, authors have enthusiastically embraced the venture. “I’d say 90-95 percent of authors are initially positive, with about 20-25 percent having substantive questions that involve a few rounds of conversation,” Pfund said. Only “a very few” authors have declined inclusion. “In fact,” he added, “it’s been inspirational to see how many are willing to put in extra work on drafting abstracts and keyword lists to ensure their work is not only included in OSO but well-represented.”
It’s difficult to judge whether OSO has had an effect on book sales, Pfund said, noting that overall monograph sales have not decreased since OSO launched and some titles may appear to have benefited from increased exposure. But focusing on book sales, he suggests, is simply too narrow a measure in today’s “fragmented,” increasingly digital world. “We’re not seeing the end of the book, we’re seeing the galloping diversification of how its message can be conveyed,” he explains, describing the press’ philosophy as “format agnosticism,” that is to deliver content in whatever format is desired. “If dissemination and influence is our primary currency, then having books available via OSO, or netlibrary, in print perpetuity via print-on-demand, or in Google Book Search and Amazon’s Search Inside the Book means that more people can access your work in more ways from more places than ever before. That does translate to dollars.”
Library Journal Academic Newswire, Feb. 1, 2007
