Sanford Thatcher: Neilly Series Lecture

Sanford Thatcher will discuss open access, which is viewed by librarians and their allies in academic administration as an antidote to the domination of certain sectors of higher education publishing by a few large internationally active companies. The talk will explore the various dimensions of the phenomenon, including the relative absence of discussion about open access as it affects book publishing, and attempt an assessment of its promises and pitfalls as a way to effect change to a new model, or models.

Thatcher is the former director of Penn State University Press. His most significant achievement was to forge a working relationship with the Penn State Libraries that resulted in the joint launching of the Office of Digital Scholarly Publishing in 2005, followed by the merger of the Press into the Libraries later that year. He has served on many boards, including the Copyright Committee of the Association of American University Presses, the Association of American Publishers, and the Association for Copyright Enforcement, overseeing the landmark suit against Texaco. In retirement, he will continue to work part-time as an acquiring editor in social sciences for Penn State University Press. This lecture celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the University of Rochester Press.

Introduction by Suzanne Guiod, Editorial Director, University of Rochester Press