THE ACADEMIC BOOK OF THE FUTURE Michael Jubb Academic Books and their Future June 2017 A Report to the AHRC & the British Library 2 Preface Imprint This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Academic Books and their Futures A Report to the AHRC and the British Library Michael Jubb London, June 2017 Design and typesetting by Marcel Knöchelmann Cite as: Jubb (2017), Academic Books and their Futures: A Report to the AHRC and the British Library, London. This report, Academic Books and Their Future, written by Dr Michael Jubb, is one of two final outputs from the Arts and Humanities Research Council/ British Library Academic Book of the Future Project, (2014-16) and explores the policy perspectives of this important issue. It forms a companion to Professor Marilyn Deegan’s Academic Book of the Future Project Report. The two reports complement each other, and reflect the wide set of communities and contexts the Project engaged with, highlighting positive collaborations, creative solutions and business models, and ongoing research tackling the tensions that surround academic book production, dissemination, consumption, and conservation. 3 Preface Table of Contents PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................................... 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 10 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 21 1.1 Questions of definition: books ............................................................................................................. 23 1.2 Questions of definition: authors .......................................................................................................... 26 1.3 Questions of definition: publishing .................................................................................................... 27 1.4 Questions of definition: readers and users ..................................................................................... 28 1.5 Why write—or read—academic books? ......................................................................................... 29 1.6 Communities of the book........................................................................................................................ 30 1.7 Forecasting the future.............................................................................................................................. 32 2. PUBLISHER PERSPECTIVES ....................................................................................................................... 35 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 35 2.2 Publishers and the academic environment .................................................................................... 37 2.3 Publishers and their roles ...................................................................................................................... 42 2.4 Supply and demand .................................................................................................................................. 50 2.5 Quality and types of books ..................................................................................................................... 55 2.6 Print and e-books ....................................................................................................................................... 58 2.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 60 3. ACADEMIC LIBRARY PERSPECTIVES ........................................................................................................ 61 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 61 3.2 Collection development .......................................................................................................................... 63 3.3 Discovery and access in libraries ........................................................................................................ 70 3.4 Shared services ........................................................................................................................................... 73 3.5 Curation and preservation ..................................................................................................................... 75 3.6 National libraries and their roles ........................................................................................................ 76 3.7 Libraries as publishers ............................................................................................................................ 78 3.8 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................... 81 4. INTERMEDIARIES: DISTRIBUTORS, LIBRARY SUPPLIERS, BOOKSELLERS, AND OTHERS ......................... 83 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 83 4.2 Bibliographic data...................................................................................................................................... 83 4.3 Distribution of physical books ............................................................................................................. 84 4.4 E-book distribution ................................................................................................................................... 87 4 Preface 4.5 Digital printing and print-on-demand .............................................................................................. 88 4.6 Market consolidation ............................................................................................................................... 88 4.7 Developments in the library supply chain ...................................................................................... 89 4.8 Developments in the retail supply chain ......................................................................................... 90 4.9 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................... 92 5. PHYSICAL PRINT AND E-BOOKS ................................................................................................................ 94 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 94 5.2 Authors and readers ................................................................................................................................. 95 5.3 Print and e-books: benefits and limitations ................................................................................... 96 5.4 E-books and libraries ............................................................................................................................... 99 5.5 E-books and publishers ........................................................................................................................ 101 5.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 104 6. PUBLISHING PROCESSES ........................................................................................................................ 106 6.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 106 6.2 Publishing workflows ........................................................................................................................... 106 6.3 Commissioning and commissioning editors ............................................................................... 107 6.3.1 Editorial development ..................................................................................................................................... 110 6.4 Change and innovation? ....................................................................................................................... 111 6.5 Production.................................................................................................................................................. 112 6.6 Marketing, distribution, and sales ................................................................................................... 113 6.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 116 7. LEGAL AND CONTRACTUAL ISSUES........................................................................................................ 118 7.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 118 7.2 Authors and