UCL Press 10th Anniversary: Open Access Monograph Panel & Drinks Reception

Business & Professional

Celebrate UCL Press’s 10th Anniversary with a panel session featuring speakers from the university and publishing sectors.

Speakers

Chair

Dr Paul Ayris, Pro-Vice-Provost, LCCOS, UCL, and CEO of UCL Press

Panellists

Anthony Cond, President of the Association of University Presses and Chief Executive of Liverpool University Press
Prof Margot Finn, Chair in Modern British History, UCL, and former President of the Royal Historical Society
Dr Rupert Gatti, a Director of Open Book Publishers, Thoth Open Metadata and the Open Book Collective, actively engaged in the COPIM/OBF initiative and Fellow in Economics, Trinity College Cambridge
Benjamin Meunier, University Librarian, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and lead for Open Books Hong Kong
Stephanie Smith, Deputy Director of Policy, Russell Group of Universities
Niamh Tumelty, Director of LSE Library and Managing Director of LSE Press

Event Description

In the 10 years since UCL Press launched as the UK’s first fully open access university press, the open access landscape has changed considerably, with other new OA presses launching, the development of numerous OA initiatives supporting monographs, new funder mandates and a demonstrable shift in the perception of OA from a niche activity to a mainstream one, adopted by publishers large and small. An impressive number of OA books have been published in the last 10 years, with over 13,000 listed on JSTOR’s OA monographs platform and 30,000 on OAPEN’s. With so many OA books in circulation, the sector is seeing impressive download figures that demonstrate the global reach of OA books, with benefits for institutions, authors, policy makers and the wider public. This panel celebrates the progress made with OA monographs during the last 10 years as well as touching on the challenges to come. Featuring key actors in university press publishing, open access, libraries and funding, the panel will debate what the sector needs to do next to drive the growth in OA monographs further, as well as addressing the financial crisis in the sector that is affecting universities’ funding priorities and the humanities and social sciences, the backbone of monograph publishing.

This in-person event will be followed by a drinks reception to celebrate 10 years of UCL Press.