Thursday, May 9, 1:15-2:15pm
Room: Joseph & Rosalie Segal Centre (1400-1430)
Marcel LaFlamme, University of Washington; Lauren Collister, University of Pittsburgh; Eileen Joy, punctum books/University of California, Santa Barbara; Jessica Kirschner, Virginia Commonwealth University
Description: All library publishers have a commitment to supporting publication projects based at their institutions. But increasingly, library publishers are also looking outward to external partners as part of a broader shift in academic librarianship from acquiring content for local stakeholders to supporting the production of open scholarship across the globe. Participants in this session playfully use the trope of courtship to explore how library publishers and extrainstitutional scholar-led projects can identify one another, assess their compatibility, and form a union. Inspired by queer theory’s rejection of normative pathways to a proper relationship, though, we emphasize an open-ended process of mutual discovery as librarians and scholars decide together on the institutional arrangements that can best support their shared vision. Questions that we will consider include: What should library publishers look for in an extrainstitutional scholar-led project, and vice versa? What are the material technologies and social contexts by which potential partners can be identified, and how do we ensure that these are maximally accessible? How do library publishers make the case for extrainstitutional partnerships within their institutions, and what are some of the concerns around sustaining such partnerships for the long haul? Finally, how can library publishers work together to manage the issue of scope, avoiding the need for each library to be an expert at all types of publishing?