Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lucy Barnes @alittleroad.bsky.social · 1d

I'm two weeks late reposting this but it's still quite the landmark for us. The press is old enough to drive now! 🚗 #OAbooks

Open Book Publishers @openbookpublish.bsky.social · 15d

Today is OBP's 17 year anniversary! We have... published 434 books; received 24 awards; surpassed 250 book reviews & 380 endorsements; worked on software development projects; and amassed 273 member libraries.

The code 17OBP2025 provides 17% off our books, available for 17 days! buff.ly/8tQiAjG

1 1 5

Lucy Barnes @alittleroad.bsky.social · 1d

Aggressive stupidity is their stock-in-trade now. They seem to think doubling down bullishly on all their worst ideas is the way to recover. Maybe it's the standard process political parties go through after an enormous defeat, but for the Conservatives it increasingly sounds like a death rattle.

2

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 3d

And it's also available open access, so public spirited enlightenment is free to download: www.manchesterhive.com/display/9781...

7 9

Lucy Barnes @alittleroad.bsky.social · 7d

According to this author (and another who quotes this post) their open access books acquired as part of the T&F deal with AUP are no longer listed as OA on the publisher's website.

Both books were openly licensed for non-commercial use, so this move breaches that licence, it seems to me.

Christoph Sorg @christophsorg.bsky.social · 8d

I'm so disappointed my book (funded by public money) was purchased by a rentier capitalist plattform registered in a tax haven. Open access file is not available anymore since today, but I uploaded it here:

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

3 6

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

ScholarLed @scholarled.bsky.social · 7d

SALON: At the next ScholarLed Salon we will discuss marketing and outreach. Anyone interested in scholar-led publishing is welcome to join us!

📆 Wednesday 8 October
⏰ 17:00 CEST/16:00 BST/11am EDT/8am PDT

The details will be sent via our mailing list -- sign up here: scholarled.org/salon.html

ScholarLed - Open Access Presses

ScholarLed is a consortium of scholar-led, not-for-profit, open access book publishers that was formed in 2018. We are seeking to develop powerful, practical ways for small-scale, scholar-led Open Acc...

scholarled.org

1 1

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Mark Elliott @profmarkelliott.bsky.social · 8d

Excellent (but depressing) analysis by @gsoh31.bsky.social on the fragile state of higher education in the UK. This passage particularly struck me. politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...

1 18 58

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Open Library of Humanities @openlibhums.org · 7d

“Ephemera and the Construction of First World War Life Writing” by Ann‑Marie Foster / @amfoster.bsky.social: doi.org/10.16995/olh...

Part of the #OLHJournal special collection Literature as Imaginary Archive: Ephemera and Modern Literary Production

Ephemera and the Construction of First World War Life Writing

In the years following the First World War, memoirs of combatants and those who experienced war in other roles proliferated the print market with their autobiographies. People made sense of their war ...

doi.org

3 6

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Open Access Books Network @oabooksnetwork.bsky.social · 7d

RECORDING: the recording of our recent webinar, 'Publishing Open Access Books: Insights from ERC-Funded Authors', organised with the kind support of the ERC Executive Agency, is now available to view and share:

📺 youtu.be/vVf9GspOs8g?...

#OAbooks #OpenAccess @operaseu.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

Publishing Open Access Books: Insights from ERC-Funded Authors

YouTube video by Open Access Books Network

youtu.be

6 6

Lucy Barnes @alittleroad.bsky.social · 8d

🤣🤣 The contrast was perfect

1

Lucy Barnes @alittleroad.bsky.social · 13d

Before you wrap up for the week, sign up for this webinar and join us on Tuesday!

#OAbooks #OpenAccess

Open Access Books Network @oabooksnetwork.bsky.social · Sep 4

EVENT: Join us at our next free webinar, 'Publishing Open Access Books: Insights from ERC-Funded Authors'

📆 Tuesday 30 September
⏰ 11am BST / 12pm CEST

Find out more & register: openaccessbooksnetwork.hcommons.org/2025/09/03/p...

#OAbooks @operaseu.bsky.social

An event card showing the details of the event that are given in the post. It also says 'An OABN webinar with the support of the ERC Executive Agency'.

2 4

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Open Access Books Network @oabooksnetwork.bsky.social · 13d

This event is on TUESDAY! Sign up and learn more about author experiences of publishing #OAbooks and editing #OpenAccess book series 👇

Open Access Books Network @oabooksnetwork.bsky.social · Sep 4

EVENT: Join us at our next free webinar, 'Publishing Open Access Books: Insights from ERC-Funded Authors'

📆 Tuesday 30 September
⏰ 11am BST / 12pm CEST

Find out more & register: openaccessbooksnetwork.hcommons.org/2025/09/03/p...

#OAbooks @operaseu.bsky.social

1 2

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 15d

Seriously, how many academic libraries have remodeled themselves to be hostile to print? How many staffing shortages have made print processing slower and more difficult?

I remain unconvinced print is actually in low demand across academic libraries.

What I think is that admin doesn't value it.

3 3 23

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Ian Gibson @iangibson.bsky.social · 15d

Re: print usage - I think it really depends how easy we make getting print. Universities in Ontario created a shared catalogue and a very easy method to request print from anywhere else in the province since then we've seen our print usage go up... and we are not the only ones seeing this trend.

hyperbolbri @astrobri.bsky.social · 15d

Q: let's talk OA monographs. Anne - we are seeing a huge decline in the usage of print books, but OA eBooks are *used*, we know they have impact. OA books are able to be more experimental ie, Fulcrum developed tech for Lever to have French book with English translation & commentary. #OASPA2025

3 4 6

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Professor Caroline Edwards @theblochian.bsky.social · 15d

Anne Houston: checking out physical books at Swarthmore College Library has dropped to just a quarter of what it used to be 15 years ago. We’re close to seeing the disappearance of physical print books in academic publishing altogether #OASPA2025

2 3

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Copim @copim.bsky.social · 15d

Resharing as Anne Houston (Swarthmore College Libraries & Lever Press) is speaking on the #OASPA2025 panel

✏️ The library at the heart of the open access transition

🔗 katinamagazine.org/content/arti...

How Librarians are Advancing Open Book Publishing at the Lever Press

The Lever Press, an initiative led cooperatively by libraries and librarians, offers a compelling model for the publication of open access books

katinamagazine.org

6 9

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Professor Caroline Edwards @theblochian.bsky.social · 15d

Danny Kingsley @dannykay68.bsky.social telling a room full of publishers that the lack of good faith in R&P agreements has to stop. What planet are commercial publishers living on? Constant grind for library staff to deal with what she describes as this “garbage”. #OASPA2025

6 15

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

hyperbolbri @astrobri.bsky.social · 15d

Q: let's talk OA monographs. Anne - we are seeing a huge decline in the usage of print books, but OA eBooks are *used*, we know they have impact. OA books are able to be more experimental ie, Fulcrum developed tech for Lever to have French book with English translation & commentary. #OASPA2025

1 1 1

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

hyperbolbri @astrobri.bsky.social · 15d

Anne- what we need from publishers is transparency, and evidence of impact. Explain to us why you need the money you do. Seems overly difficult to get/ understand usage - need both data and user stories about impact. Helps make case to administration. #OASPA2025

1 4 3

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

hyperbolbri @astrobri.bsky.social · 15d

@dannykay68.bsky.social the "negotiations" with publishers are ridiculous and they are coming to us in bad faith - constant grind of dishonest conversation with increases beyond our budget increases, new terms and restrictions, embargoes with no evidence, etc. #OASPA2025

1 4 7

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Danny Kingsley @dannykay68.bsky.social · 15d

POSITIVE: from @samuelmoore.org - a resurgence in the UK of universities supported to have presses for OA publishing. Return to the 1960s tradition of the university press where there was no expectation that the books make a commercial return. This is a direct outcome of OA work. #OASPA2025

1 7

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Professor Caroline Edwards @theblochian.bsky.social · 15d

Thanks @samuelmoore.org for the shoutout for @openlibhums.org as an example of how the humanities / HSS had to solve their own publishing & infrastructure problems and, in so doing, provided examples for subjects in STEM. Fascinating panel at #OASPA2025 chaired by @charleswatkinson.bsky.social

2 8

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

hyperbolbri @astrobri.bsky.social · 15d

Jessica from Érudit as a comment - addition to knowledges that shouldn't be OA - Indigenous knowledges (ownership, access, some may even add the rest of OCAP ;) - Leslie Chan's work: openscholarshippress.pubpub.org/pub/w1ml61jl...

Open Science Beyond Open Access: For and with communities. A Step Towards the Decolonization of Knowledge

openscholarshippress.pubpub.org

1 1 2

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Niels Stern @nielsstern.bsky.social · 15d

Excited to present the OPERAS Research Infrastructure Special Interest Group on #OpenAccess Books at #OASPA2025. If you want to join the community then have a look at operas-eu.org/special-inte...

5 7

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Open Access Books Network @oabooksnetwork.bsky.social · 16d

For example, earlier this year a piece on Diamond #OpenAccess was published in Katina as the result of a collaboration between the Open Access Business Models WG and the OABN WG:

'How Should Diamond Open Access Work for Books?' katinamagazine.org/content/arti...

How Should Diamond Open Access Work for Books?

As infrastructures, policymaking activities, and funding for open access book publishing evolve, the question of how diamond OA might best be implemented for books becomes more pressing. A review of d...

katinamagazine.org

3 6

Reposted by Lucy Barnes

Open Access Books Network @oabooksnetwork.bsky.social · 16d

This poster shows how the OABN Working Group fits into the broader Open Access Books Special Interest Group of @operaseu.bsky.social.

The aim is to foster more effective collaboration on #OAbooks. (1/2)

OAPEN Foundation @oapenbooks.bsky.social · 16d

Coming up now at the #OASPA2025 poster session, @nielsstern.bsky.social will be presenting on behalf of the @operaseu.bsky.social #OABooks SIG.

Preview the poster, 'Building a Stronger OA Book Ecosystem' below!

Image of the OPERAS OA Books SIG poster for the OASPA conference

1 3 8