The situation. The cycle of knowledge production depends on a symbiotic relationship among academics, publishers, distributors, librarians, and users who build on and challenge present and past knowledge to forge new knowledge. As an editor who acquires scholarly book manuscripts in the Usa , I have watched this cycle become alarmingly dysfunctional in recent years, although the roots of the crisis go back several decades—to a decline in library budgets (the largest portion of which is now ...