Guest Post: MLA InSight – A Constructive Forum Emerges
Steven Heffner and Shalu Gillum present the results of the first MLA InSight Summit, an innovative new forum helping libraries and publishers find common ground.
Libraries Face a Future of Open Access
Libraries and legacy publishers are in an unholy embrace. They need not love each other to feel they should stick together.
Are Library Subscriptions Over-Utilized?
Lisa Hinchliffe asks, if the true value is of a subscription is being obscured by over-utilization, should libraries seek to dampen such excess in order to have more appropriate measures of the real value of a subscription?
Guest Post: From Supermarkets to Marketplaces — The Evolution of the Open Access Ecosystem
Sven Fund from Knowledge Unlatched talks about new approaches needed to drive open access progress.
Guest Post: Research Deluge — Are Researchers Writing More yet Contributing Less?
Sneha Kulkarni from Editage takes a look at the ever-increasing global scientific output, and asks questions about quantity versus quality.
Is Copyright Piracy Morally Wrong or Merely Illegal? The Malum Prohibitum/Malum in Se Conundrum
Is copyright infringement malum prohibitum (wrong only because it’s prohibited) or malum in se (morally wrong in and of itself)? Interestingly, scholcomm commentators and legal reference materials often characterize it as the former–while both statute and case law treat it like the latter, classifying it as “property theft” and regularly awarding its victims both statutory and punitive damages.
The Race to the Bottom — Short-term Bargains versus Long-term Vitality
Haggling for cheaper content today will certainly have hidden and unpleasant costs — large and small — down the road.
FBI Indicts Nine Iranians in a Massive Scheme to Target Academic Credentials and Steal Content
At a press conference on Friday last week, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unsealed indictments of nine Iranian citizens. This sentence is an odd way to start a Scholarly Kitchen post, admittedly. What makes this case interesting to […]
Consolidation in Academic Publishing Has a New Target
Research publishers may acquire textbook publishers in order to increase market share in libraries with inclusive access programs
Guest Post: Institutional Alignment: The University Press Redux
A conference at the British Library provides ample evidence of the breadth of the university press sector and the absolute necessity of a clear institutional mission.
Myth Busting: Five Commonly Held Misconceptions About RA21 (and One Rumor Confirmed)
RA21 aims to promote a modern, standards-based access management system that preserves patron privacy & control. It is important to dispel some myths about RA21 so we can move on from the outdated world of IP-authentication.
Focusing on Value — 102 Things Journal Publishers Do (2018 Update)
In this update, the focus shifts to the value journal publishers offer, and who benefits.
Fixing Instead of Breaking, Part Two — The Subscription Model
Business models that exploit vulnerabilities are unfair. Can a model that aligns producer and consumers help fix the Internet?
The Varieties of Lock-in in Scholarly Communications
There are various ways that customers get locked in to services in scholarly communications. These methods are longed for by publishers and disliked by customers, but they naturally emerge as a part of the economy.
What Will You Do When They Come for Your Proxy Server?
RA21 aims to replace IP address authentication (and proxy servers) with federated identity authentication – but have we thought through the implications?