PDF - CARL - ABRC

criticized for failing to exploit the benefits of online publishing models. Yet such criticism often
ignores the constraints under which the presses operate, including a financial model that typically
requires them to recover almost 90% of their costs, and—more significantly—the expectations of
their host institutions, indeed of the entire academy, that they continue to fulfill their traditional
roles as publishers of original scholarly monographs.” 13 In addition, “university presses have
become less integrated with the core activities and missions of their home campuses over the
years — a drift that threatens to widen as information technology transforms the landscape of
scholarly publishing.” 14 Without strong institutional support, it has been difficult for presses to
adapt to changing circumstances.
Despite these challenges, a recent survey by the Association of American University Presses
found that many of their members are moving towards e-book publishing and marketing their
content through digital content vendors and aggregators. The survey also found that some presses
are also experimenting with open access by making some of their digital monographs available
free of charge. Below are a number of case studies describing new approaches being undertaken
Canadian university presses in order to adapt to the changing publishing environment:
Case Study: Athabasca University Press
www.aupress.ca
Athabasca University Press (AU Press) is the centre of scholarly publishing expertise at
Athabasca University. It was launched in 2006 and is the first scholarly press to be established by
a Canadian university in the twenty-first century. It publishes from 10-20 monographs per year
and also 7 academic journals. The Press has an active, interdisciplinary editorial board that
ensures that it publishes only high quality manuscripts and its books won 4 awards in its first year
of production.
Athabasca University is dedicated to the removal of all barriers to knowledge. As such, the AU
Press is committed to the dissemination of knowledge and research through open access and the
digital environment. The Press is completely open access. All of its digital publications are
available for free over the Internet and, wherever possible, its publications are licensed with
Creative Commons licences.
AU Press receives funding from Athabasca University, government grants, and it actively pursues
co-publishing agreements with other universities. It also receives revenue from the licensing of ebooks
to content aggregators, as well as sales of print editions Although difficult to assess, staff
do not believe that free online access to the monographs have had a negative impacted print sales
13 Crow, pg.1
14 Brown, pg. 4
18