Open Access and the Future of the ASP Conference Series

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) has been publishing the proceedings of conferences in astronomy and astrophysics for more than twenty years. The ASP Conference Series (ASPCS) is widely known for its affordable and high- quality printed volumes. The ASPCS is adapting to the changing ways astronomers use our proceedings volumes, both electronically and in print. Recently there has been increasing pressure from government agencies and the academic community for "open access" (electronic copies of scholarly publications made freely available immediately after publication), and we discuss how the ASPCS is responding to the needs of the professional astronomical community, the scholarly society that supports us (the ASP), and humanity at large. While we cannot yet provide full open access and stay in busi- ness, we are actively pursuing several initiatives to improve the quality of our product and the impact of the papers we publish. 1. Background The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, an international, non-profit, scientific and educational organization, has served the professional, amateur, and educational astro- nomical communities since 1885. The ASP was born following a meeting between astronomers from the Lick Observatory and members of the Pacific Coast Amateur Photographic Association shortly after the New Year's Day total solar eclipse in 1889. Edward Holden, Lick's first director, complimented the amateurs on their service to science and proposed to continue the good fellowship through the founding of a Soci- ety "to advance the Science of Astronomy, and to diffuse information concerning it." The ASP continues this mission today, partly through the publication of the Proceed- ings of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP), the ASP Conference Series, and Mercury magazine. In 1988, Harold McNamara, the PASP editor at the time, founded the ASP Con- ference Series at Brigham Young University. Over more than twenty years, the ASPCS has published about 420 volumes. These volumes contain more than 30,000 papers by more than 35,000 authors from around the world. ASPCS contributions describe a wide array of research covering all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics, and in- clude volumes on public education and outreach in astronomy, astronomical publishing and archiving, computer software and data processing, summaries of space missions, and so forth. Recently the ASPCS has initiated a Monograph series, where appropriate