Transcript Journal Study - Jisc Involve

Case Studies in Sustainability
An SCA-Ithaka Peer Review Workshop
Kevin Guthrie
Laura Brown
Nancy Maron
Kirby Smith
Ithaka
25 March 2009
Why are we here?
• Many scholarly, cultural and other digital projects keep returning
to funding agencies for additional grants to support core
operations.
• This limits the funds available to support new initiatives.
• The problem is heightened as the current economic crisis puts
pressure on all sources of revenue.
The questions:
• What sustainability models are currently in place across
the digital scholarly landscape?
• How have these models been successful for specific
projects, and what challenges do they bring?
• How can the stories behind these digital resources inform
project managers and funders in the community?
Brief Background: Sustainability and Revenue Models
The Ithaka report (2008) identified the need for a change in
the cultural environment surrounding grant-funded Online
Academic Resource projects (OARs).
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OARs must aim to benefit users, not providers. Impact?
Project leaders must not assume ongoing grant support.
Sustainability plans should anticipate and pursue future growth.
Projects should consider benefits of scale—if not on their own,
then through partnerships.
In a competitive world, strategic planning is essential.
Needs of users and the competitive environment are changing.
OAR leaders must embrace accountability.
Creating structures that encourage creativity, risk-taking and
innovation is imperative.
From theory to practice
Sustainability and Revenue Models for Online Academic Resources
(2008)
The Ithaka report, sponsored by JISC and the SCA, outlined
broad recommendations for OARs to survive and thrive in the big
pond of Internet-based resources.
Case Studies in Sustainability
(2009)
This stage of work takes the ideas expressed in the report and
examines how they are taking shape at different OARs today.
Beyond studying revenue models, we explore the evolution of
strategy and the decision-making process of those managing the
projects.
Selection criteria and methodology
We evaluated the cases with an eye to assembling a set that would
provide a wide range of:
• Revenue models we think will be most instructive to the
community
• Sectors
• Organizational models
• Outcomes
Important factors for selection included:
• Evidence of a track record and measurable results
• Many projects have recently implemented interesting models, but
these would be difficulty to analyze at an early stage.
• Preference for content-based projects in a range of media
• We sought projects offering a variety of content types, including text,
data, images, audio and video.
• Willingness to participate
• Many organizations are not willing to be open and candid about their
sustainability strategies, particularly in fields that are highly
competitive.
Research methodology
1. Target 2-4 interviewees for each case, including
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Project leaders
Business development personnel
Content developer or contributor
Funding ally (fundraiser, sponsor)
Liaison within a partner or host institution
2. Conduct interviews, based on discussion guide
• On-site or by telephone
3. Follow up with calls or emails as necessary
4. Fact-check with project leaders and other key sources
The Cases
8 SCA/JISC-funded cases in the UK and abroad:
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Centre for Computing in the Humanities
Electronic Enlightenment
V&A Images, Victoria & Albert Museum
The National Archives
University of Southampton Library
Hindawi Publishing Corporation (Egypt)
DigiZeitschriften (Germany)
L’Institut national de l’audiovisuel (France)
As well as 4 cases in the US:
• eBird
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Thesaurus Linguae Graecae
• NSDL Middle School Pathway
Centre for Computing in the Humanities
• Academic department at
King’s College London focuses
on research in the digital
humanities. Currently
engaged in 34 diverse
research projects
• Achieves economies of scale
for research projects through
shared infrastructure and
staffing
• In addition to generating
income through research and
teaching, offers consultancy
services to outside
organizations
Primary contacts: Harold Short, CCH Director; Simon Tanner, Director, King’s College
Digital Consultancy
Electronic Enlightenment
• Online edition of
correspondence from
the long 18th century
• Funded through
institutional subscriptions
• Partnerships within an
institution: started at the
Voltaire Foundation, now
overseen by the Bodleian
Library and distributed by
Oxford University Press
Primary contact: Robert McNamee, Director of Research and Development
V&A Images
• Provides digital images of
objects from the Victoria &
Albert Museum’s holdings for
commercial, educational, and
personal uses
• Generates revenue through
image licensing, custom
photography, and on-demand
generation of prints
• Sustainability is dependant
not just on direct costs and
revenues, but also on the
unit’s integration into the
work—and mission—of the
Museum as a whole
Primary contact: Andrea Stern, Head of V&A Images
The National Archives
• Public-private partnerships:
outside partners digitize TNA
content in exchange for
exclusive partner benefits
• Licensing arrangements
generate some revenue but
save a huge amount in
upfront digitization and
ongoing hosting and delivery
costs
• Demonstrates a pragmatic
solution for large-scale
digitization and a marketfocused content selection
strategy
Primary contact: Caroline Kimbell, Head of Licensing
University of Southampton Library Digitization Initiatives
• Constellation of hosted
digitization projects, including
British periodicals and
parliamentary papers
• Experimenting with a variety
of revenue streams: funding
from JISC, institutional
memberships, and
partnerships (with ProQuest
and JSTOR)
• How to maintain
infrastructure when first flow
of projects has concluded?
Primary contact: Mark Brown, University Librarian
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
• Cairo-based publisher of open
access STM journals
• Entirely Open Access and
funded through Article
Processing Charges to
individuals and institutions
• Sustainability model based on
rapid growth through new
journal launches
• Partnerships with publishers
and societies help to manage
editorial process and provide
marketing support; partners
value Hindawi’s platform and
OA expertise
Primary contact: Paul Peters, Head of Business Development
DigiZeitschriften
• The “German JSTOR”: an
archive of German-origin
academic journal back issues
• Operates under a partnership
model, with 14 special
collections libraries
contributing discipline
expertise and help with
content selection and rights
negotiations
• Funding model is based on
institutional subscriptions
Primary contact: Norbert Lossau, Chairman of DigiZeitschriften and Director of the
Göttingen State and University Library
L’Institut national de l’audiovisuel
ina.fr and Inamédiapro
• French national archive for
radio and television
broadcasts
• Government-supported
through an audiovisual tax,
plus diverse revenue streams
including rights licensing,
advertising, and sales of its
original productions and
custom DVDs
• Exemplifies ability to use free
and toll content to support
both audience and revenue
goals.
Primary contact: Roei Amit, Head of Publishing, ina.fr
eBird
• Joint project of Cornell Lab of
Ornithology and the Audubon
Society with the National
Science Foundation
• Solicits observations of bird
migration from bird-watching
enthusiasts; aggregates,
cleans, and packages the
observation data for download
and use by researchers
• eBird model demonstrates
key elements to address to
build a thriving two-sided
market of researchers and
hobbyists
Primary contact: Steve Kelling, Director of Information Science, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Online reference work for
philosophy; entries
volunteered by academics
• Operates from an
endowment funded by
academic libraries, with
additional direct funding
from institutional host
Stanford
• Demonstrates significance of
addressing user needs and
building community support
as a key factor to
sustainability strategy
Primary contact: Edward Zalta, Principal Editor
Thesaurus Linguae Graecae
• Online corpus of ancient and
Byzantine Greek texts
• Funded through institutional
subscriptions, an endowment
created with a National
Endowment for the
Humanities grant, and direct
funding from its host, the
University of California, Irvine
• Highly specialized content
which is necessary for
researchers in the classics
and medieval studies
• In existence nearly 40 years!
Primary contacts: Maria Pantelia, Project Director and Betsy Shanor, Assistant Director
Today’s Objectives
• To get your input on which models and mindsets resonate the
most.
• To hear your thoughts on which elements of these cases may
help you think of your projects in new ways.
• To understand common obstacles to sustainability and start to
think about ways to deal with them as a community.
Goal of Morning Breakout Sessions
For each case, we’d like to hear your thoughts on the following
questions:
• What lessons does this case offer?
In terms of revenue model? Mindset? Organizational structure?
• To what extent could the lessons from this case be transferrable
to other projects?
• What might limits of this model be, for this or other projects?
End of Day Summary Slides
Three themes
• What are the revenue models people are trying out to support
open content?
• What are some key factors in successful efforts to build virtual
communitiesi?
• What types of partnership are being pursued. Bi-lateral? Peerto-peer?
Models Supporting Open Access
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Build or partner to provide services on top of raw/free content
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Advertising
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Licence content to third parties
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Take advantage of contributors to lower costs (metadata)
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In-kind contributions from host institution
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Premium content
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Increases in visits (physical visits)
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Analog productions (cd, book, etc.)
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Let users help improve the content to develop new products
Some Comments on Community Building
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Must invest in a good platform
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There is a need for experimentation and prototyping
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Not just money, about generating loyalty and fulfilling mission
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Must know what community YOUR institution must build. Let others
build other communities
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Create incentives for interaction. What can I do for you, instead of what
you can do for me.
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Put all the systems together, editorial, marketing, technology. They
cannot function as independent silos.
What Types of Partnerships are Being Pursued
• Commercial monetization
• Using others’ infrastructure. For dissemination. For
preservation.
• Relying on peer-to-peer networks facilitated by portals (i.e.
Europeana)