Making Research Books More ‘Discoverable’ Online

If a dissertation rolls off the presses, and no one reads it, does it make a difference? It’s a quandary no freshly minted PhD wants to ponder. Yet the longform research typical to disciplines like English, history and sociology can be difficult to share and find online. So two years ago, the Association of American Universities, Association of Research Libraries and Association of University Presses designed a pilot project to more effectively disseminate humanities and social sciences research. Called TOME, short for Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem, the effort raises money from universities to support the publication and digital distribution of open-access versions of the monographs that scholars write.