JSTOR Plans to Add Full-Length Books to Its Offerings

The subscription-based research database JSTOR, which contains backlogs of scholarly articles going back centuries, has announced plans to begin adding full-length books to its catalog. Scholars using JSTOR’s recently revamped search interface will be able to access relevant book content from certain university presses with whom the organization has partnered -- a list that currently includes the Princeton University Press, the University of Chicago Press, the University of Minnesota Press, and the University of North Carolina Press. Ithaka, JSTOR’s parent organization, has advocated for more collaboration among university presses in the digital age; Ithaka researchers foreshadowed this week’s move in a 2007 report suggesting that making book content available through searchable online repositories could help ensure that long-form scholarly content finds a way to customers. The JSTOR announcement comes just days after the Oxford University Press unveiled its own plan to expand its existing repository for long-form content, Oxford Scholarship Online, to include content from other university presses.