Oxford University Press (OUP) has struck a deal with the Manhattan Research Library Initiative (MaRLI) and the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) that will deliver monograph content via its University Press Scholarship Online (UPSO) e-book program as well as a “shared collection” of print copies of all 2012 published scholarly works. Under the program, the affiliated institutions will have unlimited use and access to all new content added to UPSO in 2012, along with “a fiscally-viable plan” for purchasing one print copy of new scholarly books produced by the participating presses, through Yankee Book Peddler.
“This agreement provides a new blueprint for providing scholarly content in the most convenient and accessible, user-friendly format to academics, students, and researchers,” said Angela Carreño, head of collection development at New York University. “This deal redefines the relationships between publishers, library suppliers, and librarians, and advances the MaRLI initiative to expand collections and better serve their users.”
The agreement with OUP offers “a welcome opportunity to experiment,” added Sarah Michalak, university librarian and associate rovost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chair of the TRLN executive committee, who said the program builds on the principles discussed at the August, 2011, Beyond Print Summit, which explored “a dual electronic-plus-print environment” for the academic community.
“While the shift from print to digital for book content is a growing trend across research libraries, our market intelligence and partners in the library community have made it clear to us that print availability of titles continues to be of importance to certain audiences,” said Rebecca Seger, director of institutional sales for Oxford University Press. “The goal of this program is to strike a balance by ensuring that librarians and their patrons have access to the content they want in the format they prefer, in a model that makes it affordable when dual access is still a need.”
The deal is another major advance for Oxford University Press’s University Press Scholarship Online (UPSO) platform, which recently added the University of Chicago to its list of partners.
