April 14, 2025

Announcing the winners of the 2025 Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Library Publishing

The expansion of the library publishing community over the past decade has increased the need for research and scholarship to inform best practices and demonstrate impact. Every two years, the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) gives an annual Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Library Publishing to acknowledge impactful contributions to this growing body of work and to encourage its development.

As the LPC’s Research Committee, we are delighted to announce that this year’s award recipients are Jessica Kirschner, Hillary Miller, Preeti Kamat, Jose Alcaine, Sergio Chaparro, and Nina Exner for their article, “To Open or Not to Open: An Exploration of Faculty Decisions to Publish Open-Access Articles” (Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication). The article explores the factors influencing faculty decisions to publish in closed- or open-access formats, ultimately demonstrating the significance of the tenure and promotion process in their decision-making. Their survey data provides compelling evidence that library publishers throughout the community can use in advocating for policy changes to promote open access at their institutions. The authors will receive a cash award of $500 and complimentary registration to the 2025 and 2026 Library Publishing Forums.

The Research Committee would like to acknowledge two additional outstanding contributions to scholarship on library publishing with honorable mentions. Emma Molls and Kate McCready’s “The Open Monograph Distribution and Acquisitions Gap: A Look at TOME Titles” (Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication) examines the discoverability of and access to monographs published through the TOME initiative to make informed recommendations to libraries for developing and refining management strategies. Jessica Lange and Sarah Severson’s “Organizational Structures and Relationships in Canadian, Noncommercial Journals: Supporting Scholar-Led Publishing” (College & Research Libraries) draws on the examples of fifteen Canadian non-profit journals to examine how organizational structures and relationships with external partners bear on daily operations and long-term sustainability.

Please join us in congratulating all these authors on their valuable contributions to our field!

LPC Research Committee
Karen Bjork
Matthew Goldberg
Matt Hunter
John Morgenstern
Talia Perry
Mai Yamamoto

April 11, 2025

Reaffirming LPC’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

The increasing attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the United States at the national and state levels has negatively impacted research and scholarly communication and caused harm to many in our community, professionally and personally. The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) reaffirms our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and support of the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC).

LPC’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in library publishing is foundational to our vision of providing a “scholarly publishing landscape that is open, inclusive, and sustainable” through its values of openness and diversity. This vision is aligned with that of Educopia, our fiscal sponsor—“Reduced inequalities, increased access to knowledge.” 

LPC has actively sought to create a safer space for all in our community and to promote work that increases equity in libraries and publishing. Efforts undertaken by LPC to advance DEIA in the coalition and in library publishing include:

• Founding membership in C4DISC in 2018 and adoption of the C4DISC Joint Statement of Principles in 2020
• Creation of a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force in 2019
• Formalization of the task force into the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee in 2019 (updating the name to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in 2024)
• Creation of LPC’s first Roadmap for Anti-Racist Practice in 2021, which continues to be updated and guides the work of LPC’s Board, committees, task forces, and working groups.
• Addition of a DEIA Officer position to the LPC Board in 2024

As a supportive and welcoming community, LPC will continue to uphold our inclusive values by continuing to center diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in our activities and support those in our community who have been impacted by the changing political climate. 

March 7, 2025

Announcing the new LPC Board members for 2025-2028

We are delighted to announce the four new incoming LPC Board members, with terms running from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2028:

• Corinne Guimont, Virginia Tech
• Liz Hamilton, Northwestern University
• Ariana Santiago, University of Houston
• Daniel Tracy, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

They will join returning Board members:

• Harrison Inefuku, President (2023-2026)
• Sonya Betz, (2023-2026)
• Leigh-Ann Butler (2024-2027)
• Erin Jerome (2024-2027)
• Annie Johnson (2024-2027)
• Angel Peterson, (2023-2026)
• Regina Raboin (2024, 2027)
• Janet Swatscheno, 2022-2025 Past President (2025-2026)
• Melanie Schlosser, Educopia Institute, melanie@educopia.org (ex officio, community facilitator)

The Library Publishing Coalition Board oversees the governance, organizational structure, Bylaws, and the review and direction of the membership of the Library Publishing Coalition. As your elected representatives, you are welcome to contact them at any time with questions, comments, or suggestions for LPC.

Many thanks to outgoing Board members Amanda Hurford and Liz Scarpelli!

February 11, 2025

Pathway: Starting a Library Publishing Program

The Library Publishing Curriculum Editorial Board today invites new practitioners tasked with starting a library publishing program to use the newly developed Pathway: Starting a Library Publishing Program.

The full-length 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.

To address this challenge, the 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.

The resulting 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.

February 10, 2025

2025 LPC Board election: Candidate bios and statements

Elections for the Library Publishing Coalition Board open today and will continue through Friday, February 28. Instructions for voting will be sent to each member institution’s voting representative. This year there are four openings for 3-year terms. The candidates are: (more…)

January 31, 2025

LPC is hiring a part-time communications specialist

To support our growing community of members and expanding roster of projects and programs, LPC is hiring a part-time communications specialist.

Part-time LPC Communications Specialist (Contractor)

Reports to: LPC Facilitator and LPC Board

Anticipated contract duration: March 1, 2025 through June 2026, with possibility of extension

Hours: Anticipated average of 10 hours per week for core duties as described below, with possibility of more (up to 20 hours per week) depending on interest and skills for assuming other duties (see Opportunities for Expansion section below). 

Compensation: $40/hour, billed monthly

Preferred start date: Mid-April, 2025

Work Modality: Remote (with the option to attend an in-person conference in 2026)

Overview

The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) is seeking communications support for our dynamic community of libraries engaged in scholarly publishing. Reporting to the LPC Community Facilitator under the direction of the LPC Board, the Communications Specialist will provide dedicated support for communications (both to the public and to the community) and marketing to further continued community growth and maximum impact. This role will join the Community Facilitator and the Program Assistant (both currently half-time positions) as part of the core staff team for LPC. 

As a contract position averaging 10 hours per week, the ideal candidate will have a strong work ethic and be responsive, organized, creative, self-directed, and excited to bring their experience and enthusiasm to supporting and growing the LPC community.  (more…)

January 15, 2025

LPC is now offering a consortial membership option!

As part of our ongoing efforts to make membership as accessible as possible, LPC is excited to offer a consortial membership option starting with the upcoming 2025-26 program year. We have always had consortia as members, but until now there wasn’t a mechanism for them to pass along their membership benefits to their own member institutions. The new consortial membership will streamline billing for groups of libraries who come in under a consortial membership, allowing us to offer tiered membership dues based on institution size (also a first for LPC!). See the membership page for more details and a breakdown of the dues. 

To begin a consortial membership in July of 2025, a consortium would need to apply for membership, return a signed membership agreement, and indicate which of its members are joining as participating institutions for the coming year by March 1, 2025. (Consortial memberships can still be initiated after that date, but may not be fully implemented by the beginning of the program year.) So if you’re interested in a consortial membership, please get the ball rolling as soon as possible! If you’re a consortium that already has a regular LPC membership, you can skip to the third step with the March 1st deadline – just email us to get started. 

Questions? Email contact@librarypublishing.org to get answers or set up a call to discuss. 

We look forward to welcoming our first consortial memberships!