ACLS Uses History To Study the E-Book
Andrew Albanese (netConnect) -- netConnect, 7/15/2001
At a two-day colloquium in New York City, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and participating publishers and authors gathered to discuss progress on ACLS's ambitious History E-Book Project (HEBP). The assembled group demonstrated serious progress in its efforts to pioneer a digital future for e-books in history and examine myriad practical and conceptual issues still swirling over the use of e-books in academe generally.
"Our aim was to get everybody together on a working, not a theoretical, basis to actually contend with real projects," said Ron Musto, one of the HEBP coordinators. Bringing together the program's publishers, authors, administrators, and technologists created "a good bit of creative confusion," which Musto described as very healthy. The HEBP, funded with a $3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in June 2000, is planning to launch the program's first "500 or so" history e-book titles this summer.
Tech answers, rights questions
Not surprisingly, technology and rights issues dominated discussions, with questions about the program's potential audience and the future of publishing also coming into the mix. "We have a need for much more succinct, clear-cut information on the actual processes of converting text to XML at every stage," said Musto of the program's technical challenges. But progress was clear. Nancy Lin, e-book specialist at the HEBP and at NYU Press, demonstrated a selection of the project's frontlist e-books and impressed those in attendance with her discussion of issues such as coding text, tagging information in XML, and applying a general standard so e-books can be available and delivered in a variety of formats. Thornier issues, however, lingered. "Rights issues in the digital environment are exacerbated," said Musto, noting that some of the presses seemed to be unclear as to who their audiences are and in what domain their rights exist. "This is an issue that will need to be addressed in the very near future by everyone, not just the ACLS History E-Book Project."
With the first batch of backlist books now "shipped off for processing," Musto said it is now time for libraries to step up. Pricing models for the HEPB are based on ACLS's experience in the book trade and on such models as JSTOR and Columbia University Press's award-winning CIAO web site. "We've gotten, and are still receiving, a good deal of very useful advice from librarians, including those on our project review board, about pricing schemes, subscription models, access models, and consortial pricing," Musto said. "We've also been getting promises of purchases from consortial reps and a good bit of interest in our subscription info kits."
