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Campaign launched by UoG librarian is shortlisted for Open Publishing Award

A campaign launched by University of Gloucestershire subject librarian Yohanna Anderson calling for an investigation into the e-book market has been shortlisted for an Open Publishing Award.

The Open Publishing Awards celebrate individuals and communities developing open creative, technological, scholarly, artistic and civic publishing projects.

Last year, Yohanna launched the #eBookSoS campaign – backed by the University of Gloucestershire – requesting an inquiry into the academic publishing industry over its pricing and licensing practices regarding e-books.

More than 4,500 people from across the sector signed a letter calling for an investigation, including many professional bodies, eminent professors, and Students’ Unions.

Yohanna has been asked to present at the 2021 Open Publishing Festival on 8-19 November, where the winners of the awards will be announced.

Yohanna, subject librarian for the University’s School of Natural and Social Sciences, was a guest speaker at a University College London and Copyright for Knowledge webinar entitled ‘E-Books: Scandal or Market Economics’.

She will be speaking about the campaign in a personal narrative headlined ‘#E-books UK: The battle for the basics’ at the 2021 Charleston Library Conference in the United States (1-5 November).

Yohanna said: “We’re thrilled to receive recognition from the Open Publishing Awards for the campaign and the issues we’ve been championing and pushing back against.

“Academic publishing practices are making e-books unaffordable, unsustainable and inaccessible to university libraries.

“Access to education materials is of international concern and we’re delighted to have the opportunity to raise the profile of our campaign on the global stage.”