Posts by Nancy Adams

Water with the word reflections in all caps with a horizontal line above and below
February 16, 2023

Intersections: Incorporating Trans and Gender Diverse Inclusion into Library Publishing

By

Intersections is an occasional series where community members reflect on what they are seeing in other parts of their professional world and what library publishers can learn from it. 

By Stephen Krueger, Scholarly Publishing Librarian, Dartmouth College

When I do workshops on trans and gender diverse inclusion for libraries, I often wrap up with a slide listing every type of library work I can think of. This is to remind people that the issue is part of every single role in the profession, from instruction to cataloging to HR (plus adjacent work like cleaning and security). Library publishing and scholarly communications are no exception. Why would they be? Without active, sweeping change and accountability, we continue the inequities that have been built into this profession (whether or not this was intentional). The specifics simply depend on what those inequities happen to be in our particular area of work. But that change is not impossible; it is only that individuals and organizations must go out of their way to enact it. This takes work—significant amounts of it, committed to in the long-term.

In discussing a topic like this, it can be easy to devolve into positive-sounding buzzwords like diversity, equity, and inclusion (or acronyms that lump all the concepts together), but that evades the scale and impact of the problem. Naming the things that libraries are not implies some sort of neutral in-between space, letting us sit stagnant and complacent in the status quo. But these words have antonyms: Library workers aren’t not diverse; they are homogenous. They are inequitable. We don’t not include; we exclude, passively and actively. Libraries are not for everyone and never have been–because, historically speaking, they weren’t intended to be, and the complete overhaul needed to get rid of the practices developed throughout that history has not happened. That is not to say that we shouldn’t try to develop our libraries so that they do support patrons and workers of all identities, but it is wilfully obtuse to pretend this is the case at present; denying and ignoring the problems perpetuates harm.

(more…)

February 13, 2023

2023 LPC Board election: Candidate bios and statements

By

Elections for the Library Publishing Coalition Board open today and will continue through Friday, March 3. Instructions for voting will be sent to each member institution’s voting representatives. This year there are three opening for 3-year terms. The candidates are:

(more…)

Water with the word reflections in all caps with a horizontal line above and below
February 6, 2023

The Benefits of Strategic Affiliation with the Library Publishing Coalition: Insights from the Library Publishing Group of the Library Association of Ireland

By

A blog post from representatives of LPC Strategic Affiliate the Library Association of Ireland; written by

Jane Buggle
Convenor, Library Publishing Group of the Library Association of Ireland

Marie O’ Neill
Committee Member, Library Publishing Group of the Library Association of Ireland

Library Publishing initiatives are expanding rapidly in Ireland. This expansion is encouraged and supported by a dedicated Library Publishing Group (LPG), established under the auspices of the Library Association of Ireland (LAI) in 2020 with the support of the LAI leadership. The objectives of the LPG1Library Association of Ireland (2022), Library Publishing Group. Available at: https://www.libraryassociation.ie/library-publishing-group/ (Accessed 12th December 2022) include:

  • To raise awareness of the library publishing movement in Ireland
  • To disseminate information on the latest developments within the library publishing sector nationally and internationally
  • To mentor new library publishers and to showcase library publishing initiatives and successes in Ireland
  • To forge links between open access and institutional publishing presses and libraries
  • To liaise with relevant agencies such as the Library Publishing Coalition, the IFLA Library Publishing Special Interest Group (SIG), PKP, and other key organisations
  • To promote and teach the Library Publishing Curriculum to Group members and across the library sector 

In 2021, The LPG became affiliated to the Library Publishing Coalition. This blog post will discuss the benefits of this affiliation for the library publishing movement in Ireland.

(more…)

January 30, 2023

LPC Documentation Month returns this February!

By

Documentation: we all know it’s important. It helps to preserve institutional memory, allows future you to get up to speed, and can be a useful resource to share with colleagues. Yet this important activity is often neglected for a variety of factors. This February the LPC Professional Development Committee is excited to announce the return of Documentation Month to kick-start our community documentation chops. For the third year, Documentation Month will provide resources, community support, and strategies to encourage library publishers to undertake this important work. Follow along in the LPC-l mailing list for event details and login information to our events.

Documentation toolkit

To support the community in creating documentation, members of LPC’s Professional Development Committee have created a Library Publishing Documentation Toolkit. It consists of four sections: Getting started with documentation, Planning a documentation day, Suggested documentation projects to tackle, and Sharing documentation beyond your institution. The toolkit is available in PDF and as a Google Doc.   

Ways to participate in Documentation Month

How can you participate in Documentation Month?

For everyone: 

  • Organize a local documentation day (see the toolkit for instructions). Share a photo or agenda from your event on Twitter with the #LPCDocMonth hashtag & join in on the fun. 
  • Create some documentation! The purpose of this event is to support LPC members in creating documentation about your publishing program, so if it inspires you to create even one piece of documentation, you’re participating!

For LPC members: 

  • Attend this month’s upcoming community calls and workshops
    • Friday, February 3rd ; 3-4pm – Documentation Study Hall #1 w/ Corinne Guimont and Cheryl Ball.
    • February 10th, 1-2pm Eastern, Documentation Month kick-off community call
    • Friday, February 10th; 3-4pm – Documentation Study Hall #2 w/ Corinne Guimont and Cheryl Ball.
    • Friday, February 17th; 3-4pm – Documentation Study Hall #3 w/ Corinne Guimont and Cheryl Ball.
    • Friday, February 24th; 3-4pm – Documentation Study Hall #4 w/ Corinne Guimont and Cheryl Ball.
    • February 27th, 1pm-4pm Eastern, Zoom drop-in Documentation Day sprint

Scheduling information and call-in details for these events will be sent out each week to the listserv. Please feel free to share widely within your institution, but these calls are open to LPC member libraries only, so please do not share outside the community. 

Happy documenting! 

From the Documentation Month planning group on behalf of the LPC Professional Development Committee