As the prevalence of technology in academic publishing mushrooms, the Lamar Soutter Library at UMass Medical School has embraced the movement in higher education toward open access—free, unrestricted, online access to scientific and scholarly research—with open arms. On Thursday, Oct. 18, the library will host “Kindles, iPads, and Nooks: Academic Publishing in the Age of eBooks,” a luncheon event to kick off Open Access Week. The event will also introduce the library’s first scholarly open access book: The History of UMass Medical School: Integrating Primary Care and Biomedical Research, Part I, written by Ellen More, PhD, professor of psychiatry and head of the Office of Medical History and Archives.
Dr. More will lead the discussion of the trends, challenges and opportunities for authors and publishers in the new era of scholarly electronic book (eBook) publishing, along with special guest Kent Anderson. Mr. Anderson, currently CEO and publisher of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery and previously an executive at the New England Journal of Medicine and director of medical journals at the American Academy of Pediatrics, will discuss the outlook for scholarly book publishing in the era of open access e-journals.
As the author of the eBook history of UMass Medical School as well as three previous print-only books, More will address the challenges and opportunities of publishing books in open access, digital format.
The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be available at 11:30 a.m., followed by the talk and discussion from noon to 1 p.m. in the Faculty Conference Room.
It precedes further activities for the UMMS and UMass Memorial Health Care communities taking place during the 6th annual Open Access Week, Oct. 22 to 28.
