Posts by Nancy Adams

Water with the word reflections in all caps with a horizontal line above and below
August 17, 2021

Intersections: Collections, Scholarly Communication, and the “Transformation” of Open Access

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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 Shawn Martin, Head of Scholarly Communication, Copyright, and Publishing, Dartmouth Library

What are transformative agreements changing exactly? Are they promoting open access? Are they shifting the way libraries access and pay for collections? Are they good for small private institutions as well as large public systems? The answers to these questions are incredibly difficult, but as the head of scholarly communication at the Dartmouth Library, they are issues I need to contend with on a regular basis. Fundamentally, I believe that transformative agreements are about the values not only of open access, but also of individual colleges and universities. Values can be implemented in many ways and may vary depending on local conditions. Dartmouth is perhaps not representative of academic libraries broadly speaking. Nonetheless, Dartmouth Library has characteristics of both smaller liberal arts colleges and research universities that, I think, could help a variety of different institutions think about how they work through implementing the values of open access within the economic context of a transformative publishing agreement.

Dartmouth is, comparatively speaking, smaller than its Ivy League peers and is proud of its model for blending the qualities of a research university and a liberal arts college. The scholarly communication program itself is situated within the digital strategies unit, meaning I report to the same Associate Librarian who also oversees the library’s IT infrastructure and digital scholarship initiatives. Because of the library’s small size, however, I have the privilege of working with our collections team and being part of the collection steering committee, which determines how our collection budget is spent. I also meet regularly with the Associate Librarian of the unit overseeing collection strategies. Additionally, I have sat on committees at the Dartmouth Library that evaluated the functionality of databases used for scholarly metrics such as SCOPUS (Elsevier) and Web of Science (Clarivate). I have led discussions within the collection steering committee about the analytics that Unsub provides and how it might need to be supplemented in order to make data-driven decisions managing new budget. In other words, discussion of open access and scholarly communication at Dartmouth has been a hybrid of both a collections and an IT conversation (among others). (more…)

Water with the word reflections in all caps with a horizontal line above and below
August 10, 2021

Transitions: From Sanskrit to Schol Comm

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Transitions is an occasional series where community members reflect on the things they have learned while moving from one institution to another or one role to another. 

By Karen Stoll Farrell, Head, Scholarly Communication Department, Librarian for South and Southeast Asian Studies, Indiana University – Bloomington

In May 2020, as the pandemic was steamrolling forward, I was asked to step in as interim head of the Scholarly Communication Department at Indiana University-Bloomington. I have been at IU since 2014; hired on by virtue of my background and training in things like Sanskrit to be the Librarian for South and Southeast Asian Studies. Later, I added Head of Area Studies Department to my title. While Scholarly Communication is far outside my area of expertise, this wasn’t my first time pinch hitting at IU; I had previously served as interim Head of Scholars’ Commons (think reference, workshops, programming), and I knew I enjoyed the opportunity to learn new things about our organization and about librarianship in general.

In all honesty, I had no idea what I was stepping into. I was completely lost for many months after joining the Scholarly Communication folks. I could blame it on the pandemic, or the new virtual work environment, or perhaps my own abilities, but I suspect much of this readership will know that I could just as easily blame it on the unwieldy boundlessness that is scholarly communication work, as well as the depth of technical expertise needed to fully understand any single piece of that work.

Over the course of that long pandemic year, I dove into as much as I could. Colleagues sent me links to core readings and to more organizations than I thought possible for one sub-field of librarianship, and walked me through many, many issues that I had only the most vague conception of. Eventually, I got a bit better; I know that because my colleagues, whose expertise I relied on so heavily, started to say things like, ‘that’s a really good question,’ or ‘that’s something I also think about.’ I wasn’t caught up, but I was at least gaining a grasp of the true problems and issues of scholarly communication work. (more…)

August 5, 2021

LPC welcomes a new strategic affiliate: Jisc

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The Library Publishing Coalition is delighted to welcome Jisc as a new strategic affiliate!

About Jisc:

Jisc’s vision is for the UK to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. At its heart is the super-fast national research and education network, Janet, with built-in cyber security protection.  Jisc also provides technology solutions for its members (colleges, universities and research centres) and customers (public sector bodies), helps members save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals and provides advice and practical assistance on digital technology. Jisc is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.

Strategic affiliates are peer membership associations who have a focal area in scholarly communications and substantial engagement with libraries, publishers, or both. See our list of strategic affiliates or learn more about the program.

LPC Strategic Affiliates icon

August 3, 2021

Kudos!

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The Kudos program recognizes impactful work done by community members on behalf of the Library Publishing Coalition community.

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This month we have two Kudos to celebrate!

For their work on awarding the FIRST Publishing Practice Awards: Laureen Boutang (University of Minnesota), Clayton Hayes (Wayne State University), Suzanne Stapleton (University of Florida), Michelle Brailey (University of Alberta), Sam Byrd (Virginia Commonwealth University), Race MoChridhe (Atla)

A big thank you to the work of last year’s Publishing Practice Award Committee for awarding LPC’s first ever publishing practice awards! The idea for this award started years ago, became a task force, and was made possible by Laureen Boutang, Sam Byrd, Clayton Hayes, Suzanne Stapleton, Michelle Brailey, and Race MoChridhe. This committee recruited two fantastic guest judges and selected the inaugural winners, creating a strong foundation for what will become an annual tradition in the Library Publishing Coalition community. Kudos! Thank you!

This kudos was submitted by Emma Molls.

For their work on compiling the new Library Publishing Directory research data set: Janet Swatscheno (University of Illinois at Chicago), Perry Collins (University of Florida), Ellen Dubinsky (University of Arizona), Ian Harmon (West Virginia University), Laura Miller (Florida State University), Liz Bedford (University of Washington), Talea Anderson (Washington State University), Jennifer Beamer (The Claremont Colleges), Jonathan Grunert (SUNY Geneseo), Corinne Guimont (Virginia Tech), Matt Hunter (Florida State University), Liz Scarpelli (University of Cincinnati), Dan Tracy (University of Illinois), Sarah Wipperman (Villanova University)

The Directory Committee and the Research Committee worked together to prepare and release a research data set version of the Library Publishing Directory that includes data from all published Directories and contextual information to support their use in research. The Directory committee pulled together the data set by standardizing data across years, providing a data dictionary, and providing access to the data collection instruments for each Directory. The Research Committee created a readme file for the data set with information about rights, data collection methods, and other contextual information; and created a crosswalk to help researchers track related data points across years. Both groups coordinated on the announcement and promotion of the new resource. This was a large undertaking on top of both committees’ regular work, and involved researching and developing a type of resource that LPC hasn’t worked with before. Kudus to both groups!

This kudos was submitted by Melanie Schlosser.

 

Congratulations to all and our thanks for all your work!

July 21, 2021

Finding Connectedness, Inspiration, and Comfort at the 2021 Library Publishing Forum

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Last year’s Program Committee was tasked with planning the first born-virtual Library Publishing Forum. Recognizing that a week-long online event would just add to a year’s worth of Zoom fatigue and isolation, they made a concerted effort to add as much compassion and humanity to the experience as they possibly could. (And they managed to put together an outstanding program of presenters as well!)

The Committee and Educopia staff worked closely on the logistics to put together a thought-provoking and humane Forum experience on a limited budget; we think we were successful!  So we decided to pull back the curtain on how it was run to support other organizations that are interested in hosting their own online events on a shoestring. Because we had a lot to say, we published a series of daily posts, each with a different theme.

Happy reading!

More Than a Feeling: Using Design to Create a Shared Experience by Hannah Ballard

Blending the Synchronous with the Asynchronous: Strategies for Planning a Successful Conference Program by Justin Gonder

Stick-With-What-You-Have and Add Slowly: Configuring Technology for a Virtual Conference by Nancy Adams

You Always Need More People Than You Think: Staffing a Virtual Conference by Sonya Betz

Pets, Plants and New Partnerships: Creating Space for Social Activities at LPForum21 by Lauren Collister

Sponsorship, Streamlined: How We Shifted In-Person Benefits to a Virtual Space by Caitlin Perry

Virtual Conferencing on a Shoestring: Thoughts on the Budget by Melanie Schlosser

 

If you have any questions, you can email us at contact@librarypublishing.org and we’ll try to answer them.

July 14, 2021

Call for 2022 Entries: Library Publishing Directory and IFLA Library Publishing SIG Global Library Publishing Map

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Library Publishing Coalition logo

The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) and the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Library Publishing Special Interest Group (LibPub SIG) have partnered to survey the landscape of publishing in libraries across the globe. LPC is seeking submissions for its 9th annual Library Publishing Directory. IFLA’s LibPub SIG has created a first-of-its-kind Map of global library publishing initiatives. Together, we invite you to share information about your library’s publishing activities. 

Libraries that complete the short form survey will appear in the IFLA LibPub Sig’s Global Library Publishing Map.  Libraries that wish to be included in the Library Publishing Directory can go on to fill out the full questionnaire (30-45 minutes to complete). Get started at  https://librarypublishing.org/lpdq-2022. (If your library has had an entry in a previous edition of the Directory, you will receive an email with instructions on how to update it. Email contact@librarypublishing.org with questions.) 

While this year the questions are in English, in the future we hope to be able to translate them into IFLA’s official languages. Responses in English are strongly preferred; we may not be able to include responses in other languages. 

The call for entries will close on Monday, September 13, 2021.
NOTE: The deadline for entries has been extended to Monday, September 20, 2021.

Thank you for joining in this great international collaboration. We look forward to your participation.

The Library Publishing Coalition Directory Committee
Perry Collins, University of Florida, Chair
Ian Harmon, West Virginia University
Karen Stoll Farrell, Indiana University
Nicholas Wojcik, University of Oklahoma

IFLA Special Interest Group on Library Publishing Subcommittee
Grace Liu (Canada)
Ann Okerson (USA)

About the Library Publishing Directory

The Library Publishing Directory is an important tool for libraries wishing to learn about this emerging field, connect with their peers, and align their practices with those of the broader scholarly publishing community. Last year’s edition featured over 150 libraries in almost a dozen nations.

The Directory is published openly on the web in PDF, EPUB, as an online database of current entries, and as a research data set. It includes contact information, descriptions, and other key facts about each library’s publishing services. A print version of the Directory is also produced. The 2022 edition will be published in early 2022. 

About the IFLA Library Publishing SIG Global Library Publishing Map

The goal of the LibPub SIG Global Library Publishing Map is to document more fully the publishing activities to which IFLA’s members contribute, in order to facilitate a global community of interest and support. The IFLA LibPub Sig Global Library Publishing Map accepts submissions from While this first year the focus is on scholarly/academic library publishers, in the future the SIG plans to open submissions to all types of library publishers: academic, public, and others.

Submit an entry

July 14, 2021

New LPC Resource: Library Publishing Directory Research Data Set

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Since 2014, the Library Publishing Directory has served as a yearly snapshot of the publishing endeavors of academic and research libraries.  While the original intent of the project was to raise the profile of library publishing organizations and to underline the value of this work, over the course of time the collected directories have become a unique record of the changing nature of the field, both in the activities pursued and the participants involved. 

The LPC Directory Committee and the LPC Research Committee are therefore pleased to announce the  release of a new resource for researchers interested in the field of library publishing: the Library Publishing Directory research data set. 

This resource is primarily composed of the data that underlie the 2014-2021 Library Publishing Directories, in csv format. Researchers will also find the original survey instrument and data dictionary for each year. For those interested in identifying changes to the survey design, a crosswalk file maps field additions and deletions over time. Finally, a readme file provides descriptive, methodological, and licensing information about the data.

The Library Publishing Coalition plans to update the data set on a yearly basis so that it can continue to be an evolving picture of the field. Our hope is that this new resource will be a generative contribution to the growing evidence base informing best practice and demonstrating the impact of library publishing services. 

Access the data set