Abstract
This article discusses the thoughts of a humanities researcher in relation to open access (OA) publishing. Digital media have dramatically improved access to historic texts but library e-books are frustrating due to software and loan arrangements. Authors of illustrated books risk losing control of book design, although new media offer opportunities to improve image quality and access. Alfred Tennyson's career shows that authors have been sensitive about the physical form of their work since the Victorian period and ignoring the material significance of the book could make us overlook the fundamental changes that the e-book represents. Monographs retain value as a way of evaluating substantive research projects and those published through the OA process will have great advantages over the commercial e-book. ‘Green’ OA publishing is impractical for humanities scholars and funded ‘gold’ OA publishing is likely to involve a labour-intensive application process.
Highlights
Books are important to me for three related reasons
I conform with most of the opinions expressed in the earlier Insights snapshot of academic attitudes towards the e-book[1], and the monograph that I am writing for Palgrave Macmillan will be published as a traditional book and an e-book
This article will reflect on my current attitude towards e-books and speculate on how this experience might be influenced by the open access (OA) business model
Summary
Books are important to me for three related reasons. As an academic, the writing and reading of monographs is an important part of my professional life. I am currently writing a monograph about Alfred Tennyson’s difficult relationship with the Victorian publishing industry; Queen Victoria’s Poet Laureate struggled with the new formats of the 1860s in a way that has interesting resonances with our current situation. I conform with most of the opinions expressed in the earlier Insights snapshot of academic attitudes towards the e-book[1], and the monograph that I am writing for Palgrave Macmillan will be published as a traditional book and an e-book. This article will reflect on my current attitude towards e-books and speculate on how this experience might be influenced by the OA business model
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