A Changing Landscape: the Role of Ebooks in Scholarly Communication
Our Journal of Perpetual Sorrow (Student Edition) (2011) 1 A Changing Landscape: The Role of EBooks in Scholarly Communication S.Gunderson School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, University of British Introduction What does it take to become a monograph? Webster dictionary defines monograph as “a learned treatise on a small area of learning” also “a written account of a single thing”.1 This speaks to the intangible nature of the monograph, but what about its physical form? As a tangible product, mentioning a monograph is likely to conjure up images of hundred‐plus page ‘books’ complete with ink, paper, binding, and page numbers. Print publishing of monographs has stood as a respectable and meaningful form of communication for centuries now, yet the viable future of the hard copy now faces a formidable counterpart: the electronic book (hereafter referred to as the eBook). In this paper, the changing landscape of academic book publishing and distribution will be explored, namely by analyzing the emerging role of the eBook. At the heart of this paper is a simple notion, that much like the transition from print to electronic journals that has taken place since the 1990s, a similar transition from print monograph to eBook is already underway in scholarly communications, and is being driven by a number of forces that will be presented throughout this discussion. Without question, writing a monograph for print publication can be a critical academic achievement for scholars, particularly those pursuing tenured positions.2 Our Journal of Perpetual Sorrow (Student Edition) (2011) 1 This is just one of the many challenges that eBooks still face.
[Show full text]