Off the Shelf: The Future of Electronic Reference Publishing, Part 2.

Polanka, Sue (author).

Over the last 10 years, the Reference Books Bulletin Editorial Board has seen a shift in the format and number of new reference titles, in addition to the launch of multiple reference platforms and databases. It’s new, uncharted territory, and we find ourselves consistently asking, “Where do we go from here?”

To assist us in answering this question, we gathered a panel of reference publishing executives to share their personal insight on the future of reference publishing. John Barnes, Executive VP, Strategic Marketing and Business Development, Gale/Cengage; Casper Grathwohl, VP/Publisher of Reference at Oxford University Press; Rolf Janke, VP/Publisher for Sage Reference; and Michael Ross, Sr. VP/Education General Manager, Encyclopaedia Britannica, were panelists at the program “The Future of Electronic Reference Publishing: A View from the Top,” sponsored by Reference Books Bulletin at the American Library Association Annual Conference in June.

The panelists share similar backgrounds in reference publishing. All have a passion for reference and authoritative content, all are progressive thinkers with unique views of publishing, and each panelist/company is trying to find the best path to the future—one that benefits librarians, users, teachers, publishers, and the overall collection of knowledge

We asked our panelists, “Will we still have reference in 10–15 years? If so, what will it look like?” The publishers agreed, YES, we will have reference in 10 to 15 years and hopefully beyond. But there will be differences including:

BARNES: Reference will be digital and more interactive. The transformation is already happening. The first step is to get our collections online to appease the “if it isn’t online, it doesn’t exist” philosophy of researchers.

JANKE: Google, Amazon, and others might share a stage like this with us. Five years ago, Google was a threat, but now we are finding ways to partner with them.

ROSS: The vocabulary will change. We won’t have collections or series, search will become find, and there will be birthing of products online, rather than in print. We will need to address the needs of a variety of people in a more transparent environment, in essence, becoming “unbound.”

GRATHWOHL: We are knowledge factories, and all of us, including Wikipedia, have a place in the environment. The information is there. We need to determine how to define it and add value to it, and there is no lack of ideas on where to go.

How can we deliver our content to end users?

BARNES: Discoverability is the key, and it is our greatest challenge. Reference products are not indexed in search engines, where the high traffic is. We need to find a way to include our reference products in the engines in order to lead users back to the library for content.

Who will be accountable for the authority of reference information?

JANKE: It is and will continue to be the reference publisher’s role to provide authoritative, reliable information. We have invested heavily in the editorial process and must maintain its integrity while adding more creative content like video and audio. In order for reference publishers to remain sustainable, they must remain accountable.

GRATHWOHL: It is the publishers’ responsibility to be more transparent and open about what they are doing.

BARNES: Our editorial process has been turned upside down. Reference has become something living and changing, and we now find ourselves updating information every day.

What are the biggest challenges for reference publishers today?

ROSS: One of the exciting things about reference today is there are no boundaries with e-books. Publishers are not constrained by page limits; they are “unbound.” The new challenges are in the quality of products, addressing end-user needs, and developing new business models. Publishers have to live up to user expectations, and it doesn’t matter what they say, it matters how they perform.

JANKE: Publishers and librarians need to educate users on where to find content. We need to have more marketing campaigns directed to faculty.

GRATHWOHL: The challenge is, “What kind of value are we adding?” The quickest, easiest information to get is always unvalidated, so where do the publishers add value? When does the user need validated information? Discoverability is another issue. How do we get publishers to integrate electronic resources into their work?

We’ve heard words today like open, transparent, updated, and living to describe the future of reference. How will this be accomplished—using monographs? Subscriptions? One platform? Or selling individual chunks of data?

JANKE: It could become the S word (subscription), but never one platform. There is always a new technology to discover and implement, which gives publishers the opportunity for a greater platform. Reference publishers have loyalty to the content they build, and they want a say in how it will look online. However, we do need to have more creative business and pricing models. Reference works used to be published once, and now they need to be updated monthly or daily. So, our future business models might include buying it once or by subscription.

Do we have too much content?

GRATHWOHL: We are in information overload, drowning in data. But good reference works gather all information and validate relevant content. The key is staying relevant and validating only the relevant content. We also spend a lot of time creating metadata, even more than we spend on creating and validating the content.

JANKE: Part of the validation process is knowing when to start and when to stop an article. That is a huge difference between a reference article and a Wikipedia entry. Unfortunately, a lot of reference content is not user friendly as well. For example, there may not be hyperlinks to or from other reference works.

What does the future look like for encyclopedias and dictionaries?

ROSS: It is a very confusing world, and the encyclopedia doesn’t mean anything to anyone. Our role is to provide accurate, readable, and interesting information that addresses the needs of the end users. It is the reference publisher’s role to lead people in the right direction and allow them options. For example, think about an online mapping service—you can go this way to get there or you can also go that way. It will be a combination of personalization and validation.

What are the advantages of today’s reference content?

BARNES: In an electronic reference world, we can measure and track usage, which is a huge benefit to publishers. We can use this information to pull people back into quality content, or introduce them to quality content via the library. Publishers are moving away from the book and taking our content directly to the Web. We hope this will lead users back to the library as well. Users like the features of online reference, and they like the choices available to them.

To close the program, Michael Ross asked the audience: “What do you want from us?” Among the answers:

—I need to make my purchasing decision based on reviews. So, I need to find reviews and awards information more easily on a publisher’s site, to determine and justify my purchase decision.

—More creative pricing models to support many sizes and needs of institutions.

—Reference sources are duplicated too much. We have dozens of articles with same information. Can you all publish unique things?

—Consistency in search protocols across platform.

Visit the blog No Shelf Required to read more about the program and to share your comments.