Pathway: Starting a Library Publishing Program

The Library Publishing Curriculum is a comprehensive document, comprising four modules and an introduction, with multiple units on a variety of topics. Readers new to the curriculum can easily be overwhelmed by the breadth of content, especially when approaching it without any background in library publishing.

The Library Publishing Curriculum Editorial Board collectively reviewed each module and unit in a series of working meetings, identifying the most relevant content for a library publishing worker tasked with starting up a library publishing program. We did so with a keen eye for reducing the cognitive load of someone encountering the substantial curriculum without the mediation of in-person facilitated workshops.

This Pathway is a curated guide to the curriculum for a reader who is starting a library publishing program, a suggested entryway to the full curriculum highlighting the topics most essential for the task. Notes in each section of the Pathway direct the reader to particular units and give context about the topics addressed; some sections suggest further reading, acknowledge missing content, or prompt future study. The suggested material is still extensive, and other parts of the curriculum may prove useful later, but the editorial board hopes that this Pathway makes entry into the curriculum more manageable—and the curriculum as a whole less overwhelming—for the new library publisher.

Different sections will be relevant to differently scoped programs. For each module, the Summary and Introduction in the Instructor’s Guide can give you a sense of whether the material will be relevant to your planned program. Included are the sections in each unit that the Editorial Board recommends as essential for a library publisher starting a new program. 

Content Module

Note that parts of Unit 6, Working with Multimodal Materials, are important in a digital scholarship context, but the Unit isn’t necessary for this pathway.

Editorial Strategy (Unit 1)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Introduction: Publishing Service or Publisher?
  • Activity: Crafting Mission and Vision Statements

Journal Publishing (Unit 4)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Introduction: Fundamentals of Journal Publishing

If you plan to include monographs

Nuts and Bolts (Unit 2)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

Long Form Content (Unit 3)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Introduction: What is Long-form Content?
  • Activity: Thinking Like an Editor (optional)
  • Presentation: Peer Review for Long-Form Content

If you plan to include open educational resources:

Publishing Educational Materials (Unit 5)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Activity: Identifying Opportunities for OER
  • Discussion: What Kind of OER Program?

Policy Module

Copyright (Unit 1)

Copyright is an area where many have an overconfident but shallow understanding, but which is critical to publishing. The “Copyright Fundamentals for Publishers” presentation goes into the history of copyright, but basics of copyright in North America is a complicated subject that new publishers should pursue in addition to this module.

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Why Do Publishers Care About Copyright?
  • Introduction to Creative Commons Licenses
  • Using Others’ Work

Optional:

  • Author Agreements
  • Creating Copyright Policies

Legal Agreements (Unit 2)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Introduction to Legal Agreements and Stakeholder Identification
  • Types of Legal Agreements

Diversity (Unit 3)

This unit under-describes the risks involved in library publishing to marginalized communities and how policy can contribute to harm reduction (for instance, accessibility is entirely missing). It also omits some topics that are at the forefront in the field right now (2024), e.g., name change policies for transgender creators and contributors.

Optional:

Preservation (Unit 4)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Why Digital Preservation Matters to Publishers
  • Why Preservation Policies Matter

Optional: 

  • How Do Libraries Currently Preserve Digital Content?

Additional resource:

Impact Module

Regarding Unit 4 (Strategies for Enhancing Discovery and Accessibility) and Unit 7 (Social Networking for Publishers): Accessibility, discovery, and social media are important to a publishing program, but these units aren’t where a startup program needs to focus right away.

Trends Affecting Scholarly Publishing (Unit 1)

  • We recommend reading the Narrative for an overview of the importance of impact in library publishing.

Strategic Planning (Unit 2)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Introduction: Strategic Planning and Goal-Setting

Assessment Measures and Strategies (Unit 3)

Outreach, Engagement, and Collaboration (Unit 5)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and/or the Narrative:

  • Activity: Conducting a Stakeholder Analysis
  • Activity: Conducting a Campus Publishing Inventory

Marketing, Promotion, Publicity (Unit 6)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Introduction: Brand Strategy
  • Audience Targeting, Publicity, and Promotion
  • Creating a Marketing Plan

Sustainability Module

Business Basics (Unit 1)

This unit is fundamental to starting a library publishing program. Missing from the curriculum because it wasn’t published until 2018,

McCready & Molls. (2018). Developing a Business Plan for a Library Publishing Program. Publications 6(4), 42 (https://doi.org/10.3390/publications6040042) 

is widely used and a good alternative read for this unit. For a more comprehensive introduction:

  • Read the Narrative
  • Complete the first four items in this Unit:
    • Introduction: Project and Program
    • Defining Costs
    • Defining Funding and Revenue
    • Defining Assets and Liabilities

Financial Basics (Unit 2)

  • While most of this unit is too advanced for this pathway, the introductory paragraph in the Narrative, “Budgets and planning,” gives a brief overview that could be useful to new programs.

Staffing and Governance (Unit 3)

Using the Instructor’s Guide and the Narrative together:

  • Key Roles and Positions
  • Staffing Models, Outsourcing, and Contract Workers
  • Convening and Working with Advisory and Editorial Boards

Preservation (Unit 4)

This unit is both advanced for this pathway and essential to consider at the start of a program. We recommend reading the Narrative to understand the essentials.