A July evening in Hong Kong. Image – Getty Eugene Sergeev
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Nine Books Made Available Initially
While Publishing Perspectives readers are accustomed to reading news of the academic and scholarly publishing world’s transition to open access, the news this week that Hong Kong has trio of universities launching such a program is new.
The Association of University Presses (AUP) has alerted us to this development, which is based in a new collaboration between the libraries and university presses of:
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
- City University of Hong Kong
- University of Hong Kong
Their initiative has been arranged in a framework of a desire to use open access to help foster international knowledge-sharing and bibliodiversity. The AUP confirms that this is the first open-access books program in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday (July 17), the day on which the public-facing Hong Kong Book Fair opened, the initiative released nine books in the fields of the humanities and social sciences. These are Chinese-language works, authored by distinguished Hong Kong and international scholars, and they’re freely accessible to the international community, demonstrating the program’s commitment to the open up the dissemination of knowledge.
Additional books are expected to become openly available in coming months.
Open Books Hong Kong, according to its organizers, not only showcases the research published by Hong Kong’s three university presses but also addresses what they see as a significant gap in open-access resources for Chinese-language monographs. This pilot program, which the team concedes is modest in scope for now, is a step toward a sustainable model for sharing the insights and discoveries of the intellectual community of Chinese and international scholars.
The program aligns with the goals of the university grants committee of Hong Kong to embrace open access for the benefit of the academic community and the general public as well as to contribute to the global open knowledge movement.
The initiative, according to its players, builds on the strengths of Hong Kong as a bridge between China and the rest of the world and intends to foster cross-cultural understanding.
Benjamin Meurnier
In a comment on the media messaging about the new program, Benjamin Meunier, university librarian of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, is quoted, saying, “Open Books Hong Kong stands as a testament to the generosity and forward-thinking nature of Hong Kong people, offering a treasure trove of knowledge to all who seek it.”
Information on the program and on downloading books from it, is here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the Association of University Presses is here, more on Hong Kong is here, more on China is here, more on academic publishing is here, and more on open access is here.