On Dec. 14, 2023, the CNY Humanities Corridor, the Syracuse University Office of Research, and the Syracuse University Libraries hosted a conversation with four academic press librarians:

While the conversations (and funding) for OA have primarily focused on journals and the STEM disciplines, OA book publishing options for humanities disciplines are expanding in university presses across the globe. What is “open access publishing?” Is open access right for me as an author? How do I cultivate relationships with presses? What should I ask my publisher? How do I advocate for open access support at my institution? What do editors think about our open access future? To hear the discussion around these questions, watch the video recording of the panel.

A selection of useful open access-related web links are compiled here from the Zoom chat:

Open Access Publishing Resources:

Data on Open Access Publications:

Getting Started with Open Access:

Articles on Open Access:

About the presenters:

Dylan Mohr is the Open Scholarship Library at Syracuse University. Dylan’s previous experience included serving as visiting assistant professor and librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College, instructor at the University of Minnesota, and program manager and editor for The Center for Austrian Studies at the University of Minnesota. He holds a master’s degree in Library Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a master’s degree in Creative Writing from University of Montana. He is finalizing his doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Minnesota.

Amy Harris has held various positions at the University Press of Florida, the University Press of Kentucky, and The MIT Press. Her eighteen-year career in scholarly publishing has had a particular focus on helping academic work find its widest possible audience and achieve its greatest impact, often in partnership and community with libraries.

Raina Polivka has been working in academic publishing for 15 years. Prior to her appointment to University of California Press, she served as Acquisitions Editor at Indiana University Press for music, film/media studies, Russian and Eastern European studies, and the humanities more generally. She has earned a graduate degree in Comparative Literature and holds an M.L.S. in Rare Books and Special Collections Librarianship from Indiana University.

Charles Watkinson has worked at University of Michigan since 2014. Previously, he was in a similar position at Purdue University Libraries and Director of Publications at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. He has a BA/MA from University of Cambridge in Archaeology and Anthropology and an MBA from Oxford Brookes University.

Sponsored by: CNY Humanities Corridor -- organized by the Corridor Futures & Initiatives (HF4) Working Group -- with additional support from the Syracuse University Office of Research and Syracuse University Libraries.