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活動状況/イベント参加報告

Miyuki Kita
(Society of Powder Technology, Japan)

For this SPARC Japan-sponsored ALPSP Training Course, entitled “Effective Journals Marketing,” an existing course was adapted to the Japanese context and, though normally costly to attend, was offered free on this occasion. Participants in the interactive course discussed journal marketing strategies with the expert guidance of two tutors: Mr. Nick Evans, Chief Operating Officer, Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), and Ms. Melinda Kenneway, a journal publishing consultant with TBI Communications Ltd.; Japanese interpretation was provided by assistant tutor Miki Matoba of Oxford University Press.

To enable the participants to get as much out of this format as possible, we were given “homework” to do beforehand. This turned out to be a questionnaire, mainly on our reasons for attending, plus “Background Notes for Attendees.” The latter required some serious preparation and helped me organize my thoughts. The key to a successful course, the notes suggested, was to share our experience and opinions, without being shy, and thus to tap our “collective intelligence.” It was the kind of homework that points to a highly participative course.

The morning program began with each of us introducing ourselves and stating why we had come. I gave the (prepared) reply: “Because if the staff of academic societies are to form equal relationships with publishers, who are marketing and negotiating professionals, we need to know as much about marketing as they do.” I had felt this need keenly during the negotiations when the journal I am in charge of moved to a new publisher. Mr. Evans said with a smile that he was sure I would learn a great deal.

Ms. Kenneway first explained the changes in the market using a wealth of materials. She highlighted the facts that libraries are no longer the only subscribers to journals, that authors today have their own ways of locating specific articles or parts of articles (no longer entire journals), and that they decide where to contribute papers strictly according to their own needs. I began to sense with a certain sense of urgency that, given the peculiar structure of the journal market in which the authors are also the customers, marketing to authors may now be indispensable to editorial policy as well as sales. We then broke out into four groups to discuss how the changing market affects authors, libraries, publishers, and societies. Many of us were facing these very issues and spoke about them with great urgency, but by analyzing the comments with care, in light of past cases and the latest information, the tutors showed us that what is needed is the creativity and resourcefulness to develop strategies from the client’s perspective and apply them to present conditions. We then focused on trends among end users and pooled our ideas in a case study, “Marketing Strategy-Forcus on End Users.” Drawing on the techniques we had been learning about, such as relationship marketing and viral marketing, each group developed a unique strategy, and both tutors and participants felt they were getting somewhere by the end of the morning.

After the break and a presentation about ALPSP, in the afternoon we first heard from Ms. Kenneway about the harsh realities facing libraries, then we debated marketing strategies for libraries exhaustively, using an array of case studies, including the effects of “big deals.” Working together, we then laid out a course of action that called for performing gap analyses and market segmentations for new and existing customers, developing closer and more timely dialogue with customers over the mid- to long term, and integrating strategies for customers, libraries, and end users to create new synergies. Although half of the participants were not librarians, with the help of the tutors’ precise explanations and Ms. Matoba’s quick interpreting, we reaffirmed the meaning and role of libraries and thought about the future of journals from an independent standpoint that transcended our own; I felt we had indeed succeeded in harnessing our “collective intelligence.” Just before the end of the afternoon program, which had lasted three hours with coffee breaks, Ms. Kenneway tossed out our last homework question: “What will you do when you get back to your office tomorrow?” Naturally, all of us were able to answer without a moment’s hesitation.

At the end of the day, I had a richly rewarding sense that I had gained more than just knowledge, not only from the active exchanges among the participants, but also from the tutors’ tireless willingness to answer our questions. It was a very meaningful course which convinced me of the need to shed the presumption that academic journals do not need promotion and to set about targeting the customer effectively, while also giving me a practical demonstration of that stance.


根岸 正光教授(国立情報学研究所) 退職記念講演会

Hiroko Shimokoshi
(Mathematical Society of Japan)

国際数学者会議

Exhibition dates:
Thursday, August 19 – Friday, August 27, 2010



To promote mathematical journals published in Japan as the SPARC Japan partner journals, Mathematical Society of Japan exhibited at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), the world’s largest international meeting in the field, which is held once every four years. ICM 2010 was held in Hyderabad, India, over a period of nine days. At the opening ceremony, the Fields Medal known as the “Nobel Prize for mathematics” was awarded, which drew an impressive turnout of over 3,000 attendees.

Our exhibit consisted of the eight SPARC-partner journals:Tohoku Mathematical Journal; Kodai Mathematical Journal; Nagoya Math­ematical Journal; Proceedings of the Japan Academy; Series A; Math­ematical Sciences; Osaka Journal of Mathematics; Hiroshima Mathematical Journal; Journal of the Math­ematical Society of Japan;and Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciencess; plus three others: Journal of Mathemat­ical Sciences; Kyoto Journal of Mathematics, and Tokyo Journal of Mathematics.

Our exhibition booth had a lively array of more than 100 sample journals, together with catalogs and posters. A particular attention-getter was the display of a mathematical objet named “Pentagon,” devised by Prof. Sadayoshi Kojima of Tokyo Institute of Technology. On the first two days, the booth attracted surprisingly large number of people and it was surrounded by layers of the crowd. Our novelty items, eco tote bags and Japanese fans, were also popular, and they drew a stream of visitors. Many showed a high level of interest in the journals as well as Japan and its culture, seeking our advice on how to pursue their research in Japan.

We were invited to receptions hosted by, among others, the London Mathematical Society, the Société Mathématique de France, and the Korean Mathematical Society. During the parties, we exchanged information and made personal contacts. Thus the nine days of the Congress yielded many rewards and benefits besides promoting the journals.


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Date Place Topic
2010
Fri., Dec. 10 Tetsumon Memorial Hall, The University of Tokyo Symposium: “Open Access Policy for the Dissemination of Research Outcomes from Universities”
Cosponsor: Japan Association of National University Libraries
2011
Fri., Jan. 14 NII 7th SPARC Japan Seminar 2010 “Author IDs”

For the latest news of events, see the SPARC Japan website: (http://www.nii.ac.jp/sparc/en/event/