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Interview with SPARC's Rick Johnson
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Peter Suber
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Feb 13, 2003 11:58 PST
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Library Journal Academic Newswire (TM)
The Publishing Report for February 13, 2003
************NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW***********
THE LJ ACADEMIC NEWSWIRE NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: RICK JOHNSON, SPARC
ENTERPRISE DIRECTOR
My, how fast they grow! It seemed like only yesterday that SPARC, the
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, was just a gleam in
the eye of ARL, the Association of Research Libraries. But this June SPARC
will turn five years old--a significant milestone for an organization
constructed to address significant concerns of the library profession.
How's SPARC faring? How has it changed? We caught up with SPARC enterprise
director Rick Johnson to wish SPARC an early birthday and to talk a bit
about its accomplishments and what the future might hold.
LJAN: How has SPARC matured and how have its activities changed since its
inception in 1998? RJ: Quite a bit has changed, both at SPARC and in the
market. The most important SPARC change has been our growing focus on open
access. These open-access strategies are very compelling, offering benefits
for scholars and scholarship as well as for institutions, including
expanded dissemination of research and increased impact, while potentially
putting overpriced journals on the defensive. SPARC is playing a key role
in the development and demonstration of business models for open access
journals and in building support for deployment of institutional repositories.
What this reflects about SPARC as an organization is that we've become less
reactive to forces that are out of our hands and more proactive about
creating a winning agenda. At the same time, because scholarly
communication is such a complex ecosystem, with differences in the
traditions of various disciplines and deeply entrenched economic interests,
it is important that we not adopt a one-size- fits-all view of appropriate
solutions at this point. We continue to believe in the competitive value of
bringing small players together on subscription-supported digital
publishing platforms such as BioOne and Project Euclid. And we believe that
our continuing support of affordable alternative journals has a positive
influence on the market.
LJAN: A lot of people questioned whether an effort like SPARC could
succeed. Are SPARC's efforts working?
RJ: Yes, SPARC's efforts are working. Of course, the forces we're trying to
reverse have built up over many decades, so unfortunately the problems
aren't yet solved. But there's good news. Price rises have slowed. Faculty
members are widely engaged in discussions of how to solve the problem, not
whether there is a problem. Open access journals are attracting energy,
investment, and prestige. Alternative journals have become the leaders.
Libraries are asserting an important role in scholarly communication as the
instigators of and hosts for institutional repositories. Momentum is
building. Change is underway.
LJAN: The SPARC/ACRL session at this year's ALA Midwinter Meeting was
interesting, more an economics lesson as compared to the pep rallies of
years past. Is this a comment on SPARC's development?
RJ: SPARC's initial entry onto the scene may have brought about the venting
of some pent-up anger and unleashed some fiery rhetoric. This may have been
a good thing because it crystallized the issues. And remember, people such
as Henry Hagedorn [JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE], Mike Rosenzweig
[EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY RESEARCH], or Manfredi La Manna [ELECTRONIC SOCIETY
OF SOCIAL SCIENTISTS] are faculty members. Their indignation bubbles up
from a sense of having been exploited. Libraries aren't the only aggrieved
parties. But ultimately, SPARC is about what we build rather than what we
destroy. Our approach is to educate people about the issues at stake,
advocate potential solutions, and demonstrate how those solutions might
work in real life. Generally SPARC's approach has been relatively clinical.
While we've offered these voices a platform, more importantly, we've helped
build constructive channels for their energy. That is what our publishing
partnerships achieve. That's a role we want to play.
LJAN: Efforts like the Public Library of Science (PloS) seem to indicate
that change is on the horizon for scholarly publishing. Will SPARC
participate in emerging new scholarly publishing ventures, or is the goal
of SPARC to eventually make itself obsolete by achieving the kind of broad
change initially called for?
RJ: You're right, big change is on the horizon and PLoS is part of it.
SPARC's role continues to be that of a catalyst. We have no interest in
becoming a publisher or playing any other role in the scholarly publishing
value chain. We look forward to the day when it is time declare total
victory, close our doors, and move on to new challenges.
LJAN: What do you expect the next five years to look like for SPARC?
RJ: I'm less concerned about what SPARC will look likein five years than
what scholarly communication will look like. SPARC is a small organization
and we've operated with a couple of full-time staffers and a network of
specialists we can plug in when they are needed. I expect to continue on
this basis. That enables us to stay sharply focused on the problems and
opportunities at hand, not on our own future.
LJAN: OK, you're at the SPARC birthday party, and out comes the cake, five
candles burning. What do you wish for as you blow the candles out?
RJ: I would wish for a global network of interoperable open repositories of
scholarly content. And I would wish for a dynamic, self-regulating market
for services that add value to this information. I'd also like to be
handsome and rich, but let's be realistic.
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