LPC Blog

The Library Publishing Coalition Blog is used to share news and updates about the LPC and the Library Publishing Forum, to draw attention to items of interest to the community, and to publish informal commentaries by LPC members and friends.

March 6, 2024

Affiliate Spotlight: Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)

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LPC’s Strategic Affiliates Program connects our community with peer membership communities working in libraries, publishing, and scholarly communications. LPC’s leadership has regular touch base calls with each of our affiliates and occasionally invites their leadership to group discussions on topics of broad interest. This work helps us to support the ‘community of communities,’ to align our work and to avoid duplication of effort. However, it is largely invisible to LPC’s membership. To recognize our affiliates’ contributions to our community, and to connect our members to resources and opportunities in peer communities, we are publishing a series of Affiliate Spotlights on the blog in 2024.

About

Name: Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
Website: https://www.cni.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cni.org/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/coalition-for-networked-information/
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@cni
X (Twitter): @cni_org
Strategic affiliate since: 2017

The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) is a joint program of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and EDUCAUSE that promotes the use of information technology to advance scholarship and education. Over 200 organizations representing higher education, publishing, information technology, scholarly and professional organizations, foundations, and libraries and library organizations, make up CNI’s members. Learn more at cni.org.

Resources

We asked our affiliates to identify some of their resources that may be of interest to the LPC community.

Collaborations

Our two communities haven’t undertaken any formal projects together, but we regularly share information and cross-promote items of interest. CNI staff have also contributed enormously to an ongoing series of discussions about event planning (hosted by LPC staff and attended by strategic affiliate representatives and other community managers), which have helped us to shape the Library Publishing Forum program going forward.


March 4, 2024

2024 Library Publishing Directory: Call for Entries

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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) are partnering to survey the landscape of scholarly publishing in libraries across the globe. LPC is seeking submissions for the 2024 Library Publishing Directory. IFLA’s Library Publishing Map of the World is a first-of-its-kind online database of global library publishing initiatives. Together, we invite you to share information about your library’s scholarly publishing activities.

PLEASE NOTE THIS SIGNIFICANT CHANGE: Beginning this year, we are moving from an annual publication schedule to collecting data and publishing the Directory every other year. That means that if you miss the 2024 Directory survey, you won’t have another chance to be included until 2026. This change in schedule will allow us to undertake more focused topical surveys in the off years, and will allow for more time in the publication schedule for data analysis and writing.

Libraries who fill out only the brief profile will be included only in the IFLA map. Libraries that wish to be included in the print, PDF, and EPUB Library Publishing Directory can go on to fill out the full questionnaire (20-30 minutes to complete). Get started at https://librarypublishing.org/lpdq-2024/. You will be able to save your in-progress submission and return to it, but you may also want to preview the questions. (If your library has had an entry in a previous edition of the Directory, you should have received an email with instructions on how to access information from your previous submission. Email contact@librarypublishing.org with questions.)

Responses in English are strongly preferred; we may not be able to include responses in other languages.

The call for entries will close on March 31, 2024.

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

The Library Publishing Coalition Directory Committee

Allison Brown, SUNY Geneseo, Co-chair
Briana Knox, University of North Texas, Co-chair
Jody Bailey, Emory University
Emily Carlisle-Johnston, Western University
Ryan Otto, Kansas State University
Ted Polley, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Angel Peterson, Penn State, Board liaison

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 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, and as an online database. 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 2024 edition will be published in late 2024.

About the IFLA Library Publishing SIG Library Publishing Map of the World

The goal of the LibPub SIG 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. While in its first year the focus was on scholarly/academic library publishers, now the SIG is opening submissions to all types of library publishers: academic, public, and others.

Submissions will appear in the IFLA Library Publishing Map of the World, easily accessible by IFLA members and friends, including LPC members.

Submit an entry to the 2024 Directoy


February 21, 2024

Affiliate Spotlight: Open Education Network (OEN)

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LPC’s Strategic Affiliates Program connects our community with peer membership communities working in libraries, publishing, and scholarly communications. LPC’s leadership has regular touch base calls with each of our affiliates and occasionally invites their leadership to group discussions on topics of broad interest. This work helps us to support the ‘community of communities,’ to align our work and to avoid duplication of effort. However, it is largely invisible to LPC’s membership. To recognize our affiliates’ contributions to our community, and to connect our members to resources and opportunities in peer communities, we are publishing a series of Affiliate Spotlights on the blog in 2024. 

About

Name: Open Education Network (OEN)
Website: https://open.umn.edu/oen/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@openeducationnetwork251
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/open-education-network/
Strategic affiliate since: 2018

The Open Education Network (OEN) is a vibrant, supportive community working to advance open educational practices. Our membership represents higher education institutions, consortia, and regional systems across the U.S., as well as international growth that’s broadening and enriching our understanding of open education from a global standpoint.

We achieve our goals locally and collectively by empowering faculty, removing educational barriers, and enhancing student success. Our decisions and efforts are consistently informed by our guiding principles which center on the common good, equity, inclusivity, action, humanity, integrity, and shared abundance.

Resources

We asked our affiliates to identify some of their resources that may be of interest to the LPC community.

The Open Education Network community offers a variety of adaptable resources to both members and non-members. Our recently updated website features curricula, guides, slides and webinars on OER adoption, open pedagogy and open textbook publishing. These include the OER Publishing Toolkit, a collection of adaptable templates and resources organized chronologically by publishing phase; the Pub101 Curriculum, for people who support faculty authors; and the Adaptable OER Publishing Agreement, a starting point for higher education institutions that want to contract with their faculty to create OER.

The OEN Blog showcases our community’s open education initiatives and achievements, sharing helpful insights for readers considering open resources or interested in open practices. Monthly posts also feature OEN programming, leadership and learning opportunities, community member profiles, and collaborative projects. Our YouTube channel provides easy access to a multitude of OEN publishing case studies, webinars, information sessions, tool demonstrations, workshops, and discussions.

We also offer a range of leadership and collaboration opportunities, including the Colleague Connector Program, Pub101 Committee and Publishing Advisory Group. On a monthly basis, members of the Publishing Advisory Group host Tea Time, an informal OEN community conversation with time for “Tea and Sympathy”, when people can ask questions and get feedback from the group about any publishing topic.

Collaborations

The Open Education Network hosted two workshops about creating anti-racist publishing practices and programs in 2021 and 2022, which were co-sponsored by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals and the Library Publishing Coalition.

In 2019, OEN and LPC co-hosted a pre-conference to the Library Publishing Forum that focused on publishing open educational resources. This collaboration has evolved into the popular Pub101 series, offered annually to the OEN community. Pub101 is currently being adapted by the Pub101 Committee for a faculty author audience.


February 13, 2024

LPC 10th Anniversary Membership Special

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As part of our 10th Anniversary Celebration, the Library Publishing Coalition is excited to offer a membership special for the upcoming program year. New members who join the Coalition in time for the July 2024-June 2025 membership year can do so at the original 2014 membership rate: just $2,000 for the year!

Details

  • Criteria: As with all LPC memberships, this opportunity is open to academic and research libraries and library consortia who are engaged in or planning scholarly publishing activities. 
  • Duration: July 2024 through June 2025
  • Cost: $2,000
  • Benefits: New members will receive all standard membership benefits.
  • Renewal: As with all LPC memberships, new memberships started as part of this special will be automatically renewed, and full membership dues will apply for the 2025-26 membership year. (For our regular membership dues schedule, see the membership page on our website.) 
  • Fill out the application form (.docx).

Learn more about LPC membership.


February 7, 2024

Affiliate Spotlight: Library Association of Ireland – Library Publishing Group (LAI)

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LPC’s Strategic Affiliates Program connects our community with peer membership communities working in libraries, publishing, and scholarly communications. LPC’s leadership has regular touch base calls with each of our affiliates and occasionally invites their leadership to group discussions on topics of broad interest. This work helps us to support the ‘community of communities,’ to align our work and to avoid duplication of effort. However, it is largely invisible to LPC’s membership. To recognize our affiliates’ contributions to our community, and to connect our members to resources and opportunities in peer communities, we are publishing a series of Affiliate Spotlights on the blog in 2024. 

About

Name: The Library Association of Ireland (LAI)
Website: https://www.libraryassociation.ie/
X (Twitter): @LAI_LPG
Strategic affiliate since: 2021

The Library Publishing Group (LPG) of the Library Association of Ireland (LAI) supports all types of library publishing initiatives across the sector.

The LPG prioritises the following aims:

  • 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, PKP and other key organisations.
  • To promote and teach the Library Publishing Curriculum to Group members and across the library sector

Collaborations

LAI and LPC have focused our work together on connecting Irish library publishers with LPC resources, including providing speakers for LAI webinars. LAI members also consulted with LPC during our most recent revision of the Library Publishing Directory, to ensure that the Directory survey is accessible and relevant to Irish library publishing programs.  


February 1, 2024

2024 Library Publishing Forum registration and updates

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Registration for the 2024 Library Publishing Forum is now open! This year’s Forum will be held on May 15-16 at McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. More information about registration, including rates and refund policies, can be found on the Registration & Travel Information page.

We have also begun adding travel information, including information about hotels and transportation options in Minneapolis.

And we are very excited to announce a Forum affiliated event: PKP will be hosting a Sprint and Pre-Conference Event on Monday, May 13 and Tuesday, May 14, to be held at the University of Minnesota Libraries, Wilson Library. PKP Sprints are interactive events where our community works together to improve our open-source software. This is the first PKP Sprint in North America since 2019 and not to be missed!

A full-day sprint is planned for Monday, followed by a half-day pre-conference on Tuesday.

To learn more about the PKP Sprint and Pre-Conference Event, please see the Save the Date announcement.

 


January 31, 2024

Full COVID Policy for the 2024 Library Publishing Forum

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Goal

LPC’s goal for the 2024 Library Publishing Forum is to encourage the safest possible in-person conference environment through careful planning and mutual care. 

Although public concern has waned, COVID-19 is still a serious health risk. Even otherwise healthy individuals are at risk for complications and for long COVID, and those risks increase with repeated infections. For individuals with weakened immune systems or other vulnerabilities, the risks are heightened significantly.

We acknowledge that an in-person event will inevitably carry a higher level of risk than a virtual one, and that even the most careful precautions may not reduce the risk enough for some community members to attend safely. For that and other reasons, we will continue to alternate in-person events with fully virtual ones.  

Planning

Our planning team is working to create the safest possible conference environment through attention to the following areas: 

Ventilation and air filtration

McNamara Alumni Center was built to meet the codes that prevailed at that time. The original design of the system dictates maximum MERV capabilities, which currently is use of a MERV 13 air filter. Air changes depend on the number of people and the pressure in the building. Spring and fall typically have the highest percentage of outside air in comparison to the coldest or hottest days of the year that the minimum air requirements were designed for.

Spaces within the venue

Because we are planning for a lower number of attendees than the space typically accommodates, we can have fewer tables and ask to have them spread out. Boxed lunches will be provided on both days, so attendees can choose to take their lunch elsewhere. There are about 12-15 small tables located outside the Alumni Center on a first-come first-served basis. Because meals will take place in the same location as the main conference session, risk of transmission will be heightened at sessions immediately following meal and snack times 

Provision of masks and tests

We will provide masks and rapid COVID self-tests for all attendees.

Reliable information and clear communication

We encourage attendees and potential attendees to reach out to us with questions and concerns by emailing contact@librarypublishing.org

Mutual care

Mutual care will help provide a safer conference environment. Below, we have laid out a number of strategies for mutual care and we encourage attendees to utilize as many of them as possible. We aren’t mandating particular strategies across the board, because there will be community members for whom any particular intervention isn’t possible (e.g., individuals who cannot be vaccinated or who cannot wear a mask for an extended period of time). However, attendees are encouraged to do as many of these things as they are able and to do their best to care for their fellow conference-goers.  Individuals are expected to isolate from other attendees if they are sick.

Vaccination

We will strongly encourage all attendees to receive up-to-date vaccines against COVID at least two weeks prior to the event. According to the CDC (at the time this policy was written), you’re up to date on your COVID vaccine if you received an updated vaccine after September 12, 2023. 

Masking

We strongly encourage attendees to wear masks whenever possible. We will make medical-grade masks (KN95 or similar) available throughout the event, and we encourage all attendees who are able to wear them whenever they aren’t eating, drinking, or presenting. 

The venue is part of the UMN campus, and it will include staff, attendees of other events, and potentially members of the public who may or may not be masked.

Testing

Although rapid COVID self-tests are not currently a reliable indicator of whether someone is infected (because of the prevalence of false negative results), they are a fairly reliable indicator of whether an individual is contagious on the day they take the test.(1) We will make tests available (one per attendee per day of the conference) and encourage all attendees to test each morning before coming to the venue. Further information will be posted and/or sent to attendees when available.

Isolating

Individuals who test positive or who are experiencing any moderate or severe symptoms of COVID are expected to isolate from other attendees. This means not attending conference sessions in person, and not gathering for social events with other attendees during the conference. 

Policy updates

This policy was designed based on conditions during early 2024. We are posting it in advance of the conference so that attendees can make an informed decision about their attendance, and we won’t make changes to it lightly. However, this policy is subject to change based on national trends and/or in accordance with CDC updates to guidelines and regulations. We will notify attendees of any changes as soon as possible. 

Contact

Questions about this policy? Please email contact@librarypublishing.org

 

(1)  Lopera TJ, Alzate-Ángel JC, Díaz FJ, Rugeles MT, Aguilar-Jiménez W. The Usefulness of Antigen Testing in Predicting Contagiousness in COVID-19. Microbiol Spectr. 2022 Apr 27;10(2):e0196221. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01962-21. Epub 2022 Mar 29. PMID: 35348350; PMCID: PMC9045251. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35348350/ 


January 30, 2024

February is the return of Documentation Month!

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What would happen if you won the lottery and could leave your job tomorrow? What information would the next person doing your job need to have? What information would you leave behind to help that person pick up where you leave off?: Documentation!

Documentation is important because 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. Whether you’re not sure where to begin or because we’re all faced with perennial deadlines and constant day-to-day tasks, documentation all too often falls to the bottom of our to-do lists. To give everyone a chance to focus on documentation, the Professional Development Committee is hosting its fourth-annual Documentation Month this February!

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.   

Workshops/Community Calls

We will also be hosting a series of workshops/community calls focused on the theme of documentation and accessibility. We have four calls planned for four Thursdays in February: 

  • PDF Accessibility and Documentation, Thursday, February 1st (2-3 p.m. Eastern) with Angel Peterson

  • Video Content Accessibility and Documentation, Thursday, February 8th (2-3 p.m. Eastern) with Matt Vaughn

  • Google Docs Accessibility Documentation, Thursday, Feb 15th (2-3 p.m. Eastern) with Erin Jerome and Adam Mazel

  • Accessibility and your Campus Institutional Repository: A Conversation, Thursday, Feb 29th (2-3 p.m. Eastern) with Carmen Mitchell and Amy Carpenter 

Scheduling information and call 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 (Erin Jerome, Adam Mazel, and Matt Vaughn) on behalf of the LPC Professional Development Committee.

 


January 24, 2024

Affiliate Spotlight: Association of University Presses (AUPresses)

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LPC’s Strategic Affiliates Program connects our community with peer membership communities working in libraries, publishing, and scholarly communications. LPC’s leadership has regular touch base calls with each of our affiliates and occasionally invites their leadership to group discussions on topics of broad interest. This work helps us to support the ‘community of communities,’ to align our work and to avoid duplication of effort. However, it is largely invisible to LPC’s membership. To recognize our affiliates’ contributions to our community, and to connect our members to resources and opportunities in peer communities, we are publishing a series of Affiliate Spotlights on the blog in 2024. 

 

About

Name: Association of University Presses (AUPresses)
Website: https://aupresses.org/
X (Twitter): @aupresses
Strategic affiliate since: 2017

AUPresses is an organization of 160 international nonprofit scholarly publishers. Since 1937, the Association of University Presses advances the essential role of a global community of publishers whose mission is to ensure academic excellence and cultivate knowledge. The Association holds intellectual freedom, integrity, stewardship, and equity and inclusion as core values. AUPresses members are active across many scholarly disciplines, including the humanities, arts, and sciences, publish significant regional and literary work, and are innovators in the world of digital publishing.

Resources

We asked our affiliates to identify some of their resources that may be of interest to the LPC community.

Collaborations

AUPresses and LPC regularly work together on envisioning the future of university-based publishing. The AUPresses Library Relations Committee frequently proposes Library Publishing Forum panels. We collaborate to support diversity and inclusion initiatives as members of C4DISC.