Program & CFP

Call for Proposals

The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) is now accepting proposals for the 2025 Virtual Library Publishing Forum to be held May 5–8, 2025! 

Proposal submissions for the Forum are welcome from LPC members and nonmembers, including library employees, university press employees, scholars, students, and other scholarly communication and publishing professionals. We welcome proposals from first-time presenters and representatives of small and emerging publishing programs.

We are committed to expanding the diversity of perspectives we hear from at the Library Publishing Forum. Working towards some of the “Continuing Initiatives” from the LPC Roadmap for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility, we ask all proposals to explicitly address how they are inclusive of multiple perspectives, address DEIA, or incorporate anti-racist and anti-oppressive approaches. Presentations about specific communities should include members of that community in their speaker list, and for sessions with multiple speakers, we seek to avoid all-white and all-male panels.

About the Forum

The Library Publishing Forum is an annual conference bringing together representatives from

libraries engaged in or considering publishing initiatives to define and address major questions and challenges; to identify and document collaborative opportunities; and to strengthen and promote this community of practice. The Forum includes representatives from a broad, international spectrum of academic library backgrounds, as well as groups that collaborate with libraries to publish scholarly works, including publishing vendors, university presses, and scholars. The Forum is sponsored by the Library Publishing Coalition, but you do not need to be a member of the LPC to attend.

We welcome proposals on topics including, but not limited to: 

  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) 
  • Integrating LPCs Roadmap for Anti-Racist Practice
  • Decolonial approaches 
  • Intersections of library publishing with broader social issues 
  • University based publishing 
  • Society and association partnerships 
  • Funding and sustainability models 
  • Staffing and labor 
  • Diamond open access publishing
  • Open Educational Resources (OER) production best practices
  • Copyright
  • Digital accessibility and remediation 
  • Ethics and legality of AI

Please review the event and session format descriptions carefully to determine which best fits your proposal.

Session Types 

Panel presentations 

These presentations are 60 minutes long, including time for Q&A, and are delivered live to an online audience. 

Panel presentations must involve presenters from more than one institution. If multiple proposals come in on similar topics, the committee may put you in touch with the other session presenters and encourage you to collaborate on a single session. 

Active sessions

Active sessions are 60 minutes long and are delivered live to an online audience. They should use interactive formats, possibly integrating polls, chat discussions, etc. Some examples include meetings, workshops, hackathons, deep dives, un-conference sessions, etc. In your proposal, please describe what resources you will need to conduct your session and whether there is a limit on the ideal number of session attendees.

If you have any questions about active sessions, please contact the Program Committee at contact@librarypublishing.org. 

Birds-of-a-Feather sessions

Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are 60 minutes long.

Birds-of-a-feather sessions allow for informal conversations around a certain topic using Zoom breakout rooms. This is an ideal opportunity to lead a discussion to help individuals work through issues at their particular institutions or to help formulate collective action plans. In your proposal please describe your general topic, what you hope session participants and/or the wider community will gain from the discussion, your thoughts on how to drive discussion within the groups, and what structures you will suggest to help participants turn conversation into action. While discussion leaders are not expected to be experts in the topic, they should be able to actively guide the session through talking points, discussion prompts, or some other method. 

Individual presentations 

These pre-recorded presentations are 15 minutes long and will be streamed to a live online audience. These presentations will be combined into 1-hour sessions. Presenters will attend the session and have the opportunity to answer questions from the audience during a live Q&A.

Individual presentations are appropriate for one to two presenters on a single topic. These may be project updates, research reports, or new ideas.

Lightning presentations

These pre-recorded presentations are 2–3 minutes long and will be streamed to a live online audience. Several presentations will be combined into a longer session. Presenters attend the scheduled session and will have the opportunity to answer questions from the audience during a live Q&A.Lightning presentations are an opportunity to share and describe a poster or brief slide deck. These sessions work well for visual content, brief concepts, and product or platform updates.

All proposals must include:

  • Presenter name(s), preferred pronouns, job title, and affiliation(s)
  • Session title (and a brief social-media-friendly title)
  • Proposal format (Panel, Active, Birds-of-a-Feather, Individual, Lightning)
  • Abstract (300 word max)
  • Information on any interactive components of the session activities, if applicable
  • 2–3 Learning objectives
  • 2–3 keywords/tags that represent the theme of your presentation and/or intended audience
  • An explanation of how the proposal is inclusive of multiple perspectives; addresses diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; or incorporates anti-racist or anti-oppressive approaches, topics, or presentation techniques. Diversity encompasses many dimensions such as racial identities, ethnic identities, languages, geographic locations, ages, people with disabilities, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and lived experiences. (100 word max)

Feedback from previous years indicates that sessions incorporating the following are particularly well received:

  • Case studies with timelines, costs and metrics for success
  • New initiatives, partnerships, or research
  • Sharing of best practices or lessons learned 
  • Examples of publishers working together to tackle challenges at scale
  • Exploring the role of library publishing in the bigger context of scholarly communication
  • Collaborations with on-campus, local, and international partners

How to Submit

Submit proposals using the submission form. 

Submission Deadline: January 6th, 2025

Acceptance Notification: February 2025

Criteria for selection

The LPC Program Committee will review and accept proposals based on:

  • Relevance to the audience
  • Originality of the topic
  • Clarity of description
  • Potential for inspiring discussion, collaboration, and innovation
  • Consideration of how the proposed session contributes to a diverse and inclusive Forum
  • Ensuring we provide opportunities on the program for as many voices as possible

Questions?

Email us at contact@librarypublishing.org.

On behalf of the Library Publishing Coalition Program Committee:

  • Corinne Guimont, Virginia Tech (2024-2025, chair) 
  • Elizabeth Bedford, University of Washington
  • Jennifer Coronado, Butler University 
  • Loftan Hooker, Virginia Commonwealth University 
  • Ryan Otto, Kansas State University  
  • Jessica Thorlakson, University of Alberta