Presentations on PDA from the AAUP Conference, 2012
PDA as presented to the AAUP. Slides from Joe Esposito and Rick Anderson. Enjoy!
The Bookstore of Last Resort
When on-demand systems for bookselling, such as patron-driven acquisitions, are set up, they create an unexpected problem: How do you know the book will still be available when you finally get around to ordering it? The bookstore of last resort is a preservation-based commercial venture to ensure that books are always available.
Using the Scholarly Kitchen for Research
The Scholarly Kitchen can be a useful research tool for its contributors, as it enables the community to participate in certain kinds of questions. But group blogs don’t work for everyone.
Hawking Radiation: Figuring Out How Many Books Are Sold to Libraries
An odd circumstance of the book business is that no one really knows which books are sold to libraries and how important libraries are to overall book sales. At the heart of the problem is the fact that Amazon, which sells books to libraries, does not share any sales data. This post suggests a couple ways to get at that data in the face of Amazon’s obstinacy.
Setting the Agenda: Key Issues for Scholarly Publishing
What are the key issues for scholarly publishing today? Setting the agenda for productive discussion.
Data-mining the Library
Libraries generate a great deal of information about their own processes, including circulation records. Making that information available to others could be the basis for a consortium to share and market such library data.
The Rapture of Demand — Caring for Orphan Works Left Behind
The orphan works problem is not easily resolved, but it may not be such a big problem, as books mostly become orphans because there is little demand for them.
Revisiting Demand-driven Acquisitions
Following up on a report posted on the Scholarly Kitchen two years ago, this essay addresses some ways university presses can mitigate some of the effects that demand-driven acquisitions have on book sales.
Vestron's Law: The Propensity for Rights to Revert to the Original Publisher
Vestron’s Law refers to the propensity for the rights to content to revert to the original publisher. The Law applies to all media types and accounts for some of the industry’s structural changes.
The Face-down Publishing Paradigm
The face-down publishing paradigm involves the display of content on mobile devices that are constantly altered by computer processes in the Internet Cloud.
Lumpers, Splitters, and Policy Debates in Scholarly Publishing
Lumping concepts and players in scholarly publishing together — or merging them with analogs outside — may be confusing us in our policy debates. Can the splitters do better?
The Best Dishes of 2011 — A Selection of Remarkable Posts from Another Great Year
When the data fail us, it’s up to the palate to discern the finest creations from the Kitchen. This year, there was a feast of offerings. This is one attempt at listing the most savory.
The Stubborn Persistence of the Subscription Model
The clear benefits of the subscription model make it enticing even for those who supposedly abhor it. And while it’s right to try to make it as efficient as possible, it will likely be with us for a long time to come.
The Vexed Problem of Libraries, Publishers, and E-books
The recent brouhaha about HarperCollins’ policy of restricting ebook circulation in libraries misses the larger point that libraries and publishers can work toward satisfying their respective interests.
Inadvertent Innovation
While we usually think of innovators as visionaries with big ideas that challenge the very assumptions of the way we conduct our lives, many innovations seem to happen almost by accident. The challenge is how to make these accidents occur more often and to benefit from them.