Speaker: Lucy Montgomery (Knowledge Unlatched)

Although digital technology has made it possible for many more people to access content at no extra cost, fewer people than ever before are able to read the books written by university-based researchers.

This presentation explores the role that open access licenses and collective action might play in reviving the scholarly monograph: a specialised area of academic publishing that has seen sales decline by more than 90% over the past three decades.

It also introduces Knowledge Unlatched, an ambitious attempt to create an internationally coordinated, sustainable route to open access for scholarly books.  Knowledge Unlatched is now in its pilot phase: seeking support from at least 200 libraries from around the world to ‘unlatch’ a collection of 28 new titles.

Dr Lucy Montgomery is a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology and Deputy Director of Knowledge Unlatched. She is interested in the role of digital technology and intellectual property in business model innovation in the creative industries.

All are welcome, no registration is necessary. For more information, please contact Dr. Rogier Creemers (convener): rogier.creemers@csls.ox.ac.uk