<div dir="ltr">A big question is the role that will be played by commercial publishers. Will they simply be marginalized or put out of business by the availability of OER, or will their skills be harnessed in different ways? Are open/commercial partnerships going to offer advantages?<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">
​</div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​</div></div><div><b><font color="#ff0000"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">
​​</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​</div>Already the trend emerging among the big international publishing companies is the purchase of online learning e<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">
​​</div>nvironments, so that their strategic focus starts to move from ownership of content to ownership of the technology, the delivery vehicle and the learning process</font></b>. Wiley, McGraw Hill and especially, Pearson are already moving in this direction. This new environment offers the opportunity for content to be disaggregated, customized and localized, something that South African lecturers have been asking for, for a long time.<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">
​</div><br></div><div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">​</div><br><a href="http://ip-unit.org/2014/fast-tracking-oer-policy-and-practice-in-south-africa-unisa-on-the-move/">http://ip-unit.org/2014/fast-tracking-oer-policy-and-practice-in-south-africa-unisa-on-the-move/</a><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">
​</div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><br></div></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><i>This looks like another "serials crisis" in the making, if the commercial publishers take over everything. How will academic libraries world wide respond?​</i></div>
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