To help ensure customers are at the heart of our decision making, Cambridge University Press works closely with our five Librarian Advisory Boards to gain advice and feedback on our products, services and to help understand changing needs. This includes Advisory Boards for North America, South Asia, the broader Asia region, Australia and New Zealand, and a Global board which also includes Europe and the Middle East. We asked all of our Boards about the impact of COVID on areas such as research, Teaching & Learning, Open Access, and Read and Publish developments. Key findings from this are summarised below.

Declining Budgets

As librarians continue to navigate and overcome the challenges of lockdown and Covid-19, the Cambridge University Press Librarian Advisory Boards around the world have reported that worldwide library budgets are being reduced. Contributing to this decline are a variety of factors impacting university budgets overall; including lower recruitment of students at all levels, less state funding, reduced to no income from facilities hire or student accommodation, and reduced funding from donors.

Digital vs Print

Unsurprisingly, there is also a radical change in budget spend allocation in response to lockdown. The shift saw budget focused on e-format publications, with teaching and learning materials prioritised. Indeed, this increase in demand has exposed large gaps in e-collections and calls for increased digitisation, as many libraries expect acquisitions to be mainly digital-only in future.

Changes to Teaching and Learning

Lockdown hasn’t just lead to budget reductions, but a perhaps permanently transformed way of Teaching and Learning, which is anticipated to result in some form of blended face to face and digital learning. Consequently, there is growing recognition that there must be a change in how digital material is developed, manifesting in an innovative approach that will enhance learning.

The research slow-down

As universities rushed to provide provisions that would allow students to learn virtually, restricted access to laboratories and to print collections during lockdown meant that many research projects were put on hold. Whilst some have now reopened with social distancing measures in place, collaborative research between researchers in different countries or by those overseas who had to return home, has been difficult. It is believed that output may suffer, although only temporarily. Concurrently, there has been a global push to develop and support research on Covid-19 and issues related to its impact.

The Open Access angle

A further consequence of the pandemic is a growing appreciation of the capability of Open Access to provide resources which can immediately be accessed by all. Feedback indicates that librarians see lockdown accelerating the move to Open Access.

As the effects of the pandemic continue to reverberate across the academic community, the impact is also being felt in the transition of many institutions to the Read and Publish model. Librarians are assessing the value of Read and Publish agreements across content acquisition and publishing, applying increasingly sophisticated approaches to assess the right models for their institutions. Some publishers putting large price tags on the deals have also raised concern. Conversely, national mandates or guidelines create progress in mainland Europe and there are new expressions of interest in the Read and Publish model across the world.

As the Press continues to adapt to this ‘new normal’, the words of one librarian are vital to keep in mind: “We’re all in this together. If this ethos can be kept in mind, I’m confident that publishers and librarians can work earnestly together.”