The Changing World of Scholarly Books

Digital scholarly book technologies, especially print-on-demand (POD), directly impacted authors, readers, libraries, and publishers. It was possible to significantly reduce traditional lithographic (often called litho, offset, or photo-offset) print runs and rely on small runs, which were more likely to be sold, and then utilize POD for additional sales. This chapter addresses the impact of technological changes on print and digital scholarly books, including patron-driven access, and the impact on academic library collection development and electronic reserves. Attention is paid to the movement for open access scholarly books, libraries publishing academic books, and the growing threats and costs of book piracy to publishers, including Sci-Hub. Scholarly book revenues are presented and discussed.