Human and economic impacts of electronic publishing at the NRC research press : A case study

The NRC Research Press has a seventy-year history of provision of high-quality scientific journals, currently totalling 14 titles in various areas of science and technology. These titles were made available to our clients electronically in 1996, [see http://researchpress.nrc.ca] and we are currently engaged in a second phase of what will likely be an ongoing process of technical evolution. This paper focuses on the impacts of such rapid change on our organization and people, and discusses change management principals, which have been found to be effective. Such impacts include the recruitment, and retention of appropriately qualified staff and the costs associated with each; and the design of space to facilitate new working styles. We will explore the "build-or-buy" conundrum and present our current philosophy on this issue. Strategies such as matrix management and out sourcing for managing technology workers in a hitherto non-technical operation; and techniques for learning and transferring technology to and among staff will likewise be addressed. This paper will also discuss our co-evolution with our clients, the journals' readers, authors and editors, and ways in which their development and changing expectations have informed our products, systems and processes.