Supporting Digital Scholarship

“The original concept of MUSE filled a desperate need in the marketplace. Journals in the humanities and social sciences might not have remained available and sustainable if smart people hadn’t figured out how to manage the transition from print to online publishing in a way that worked for libraries, publishers, and the whole community.

“When I arrived there were 46 journals online, when I left we were up to 130. Revenue well surpassed the one million dollar mark. We actually shared a healthy surplus with the early MUSE publishers. Some expected it and others saw it as a welcome surprise. I have a fond memory of one of the senior people on the book side at JHUP passing me on the stair after a meeting where Jim Jordan had shared financials about what MUSE revenue meant for the Press overall. He thanked me, and it meant a lot.

“From my perspective, Marie Hansen was the nucleus and the real mother of Project MUSE. Jim Jordan was a true champion for growing MUSE. The business model was evolving while I was there, and I give a lot of credit to Marie and Bill Breichner, and especially Robbie Dirks, for developing that. There was a real desire to make MUSE the best possible product for the library subscribers and to build great relationships with them. I think the greatest thing I did as a manager was hire Wendy Queen.

“We always tried hard to address the concerns of our stakeholders. I remember well the fear that publishers had that print journals were going to go away, while at the same time libraries were saying that if content is not online it doesn’t even exist for students. In 1999, I had to sign a lot of Y2K certifications for libraries, promising that access to MUSE would not be interrupted. I remember being asked by Jim and Marie to write a 5-year strategic plan for MUSE. Things were changing so fast at that time, we said that there were five internet years in one calendar year—so they were asking me to look ahead 25 years!

“Before MUSE, I had worked for a start-up and for LexisNexis. I wanted to work for another start up, but wanted a stable and successful place. I’m grateful that the Press and Johns Hopkins provided that, and I’ll always be proud of what we accomplished at Project MUSE.”

—Mark Nolan