'Gladys, the thing about books... well, the thing... I mean, just because it's written down, you don't have to... that is to say, it doesn't mean it's... what I'm getting at is that every book is-' He stopped. They believe in words. Words give them life. I can't tell her that we just throw them around like jugglers, we change their meaning to suit ourselves... He patted Gladys on the shoulder. 'Well, read them all and make up your own mind, eh?' Making Money / Terry Pratchett, 2007 Too much information, and so much of it lost. An unindexed Internet site is in the same limbo as a misshelved library book. This is why the successful and powerful business enterprises of the information economy are built on filtering and searching. The Information : a History, a Theory, a Flood / James Gleick, 2011 Many, many thanks This publication could only exist through the generous support of many people, and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks. Eelco Ferwerda triggered all this, by asking me-in 2008-to look into the role of open access on books. While I still feel I have not completely answered his question, at least we know more since then. Professor Paul Wouters has guided and challenged me throughout the PhD project, which started in 2011. Many of the improvements stem from his patience and knowledge. Since 2015, Professor Frank Huysmans has been an equally supportive mentor. Most of the chapters have been published-in open access-and this has been made possible by several publishers, copy-editors and peer reviewers. Much of my research revolved around the OAPEN Library and the Directory of Open Access Books. Many people were directly involved: Lotte Kruijt, Caspar Treijtel, Hans Gommers, Hans Scholte, Salam Baker Shanawa, Janneke Adema and Paul Needham among many others. Assistant Professor Lucy Montgomery and Alkim Ozaygen have been more than generous with their time. My colleagues at Data Office UWV and my former colleagues at Amsterdam University Press have always been forthcoming, enabling me to juggle two jobs and this project. I am also grateful for the assistance from CWTS. Rob Wadman helped to make this document presentable. My old friend Diebert van Rhijn acted as my IT advisor. All my friends and my family helped me by not minding my obsession with this seemingly endless project. But most of all I want to thank the two most important people in my life: my wife Dorien and my daughter Charlotte. Without them, I would not have been able to carry out this crazy project. For this reason-and many, many more-I dedicate this publication to them. 4.4.1 Characteristics of users and dissemination channels 4.4.2 Type of users and dissemination channels 4.4.3 Characteristics of internet infrastructure 4.4.4 Characteristics of content and dissemination channels 4.4.5 Language and dissemination channels 4.4.6 Subject and dissemination channels 4.5 Conclusions 4.6 Limitations 4.7 Acknowledgements 4.8 Annex 1: list of countries with a highly-developed internet infrastructure 4.9 Annex 2: downloads per language 4.10 Annex 3:...
