LPC News

November 17, 2020

Apply for the LPC Publishing Practice Awards

The Library Publishing Coalition is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the first annual Publishing Practice Awards. These awards are designed to recognize and raise awareness of effective and sustainable library publishing practices.

The Publishing Practice Awards will highlight library publishing programs that exemplify concepts advanced in the LPC’s An Ethical Framework for Library Publishing and/or in the LPC’s Values statement. While a representative publication must be submitted, the focus of these awards is not on publication content but on the process of publishing the piece. The inaugural award categories are: Accessibility and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. 

Publishing programs do not need to be affiliated with an LPC member institution to be eligible. The deadline for applying is January 25, 2021.

Call for Applications

October 6, 2020

Announcing C4DISC: Ways to Participate and Support

Please join me in celebrating the creation of an important new organization, the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC). The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) is a founding member and C4DISC both closely aligns with the LPC’s values and multiplies the impact of our strategic plan! Formally launched September 15, 2020, C4DISC was created to accelerate the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work the scholarly publishing/communications ecosystem sorely needs. C4DISC began in 2017 as an idea among a group of scholarly publishing trade and professional associations, including the LPC, who all saw a critical lack of diverse voices in their professional arenas and decided to take collective action. The founding members worked hard to make their vision a reality and last year, with the generous support of Educopia (LPC’s parent organization), tackled the complex challenge of developing governance for a new organization (in many ways echoing LPC’s creation way back in 2014!) 

To have the broadest possible impact it was decided C4DISC would target membership organizations such as the LPC as well as consortia, rather than individual universities or libraries. Two founding members, the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) and the Association of University Presses (AUP), generously agreed to serve as joint hosts. After governance was settled, the founding members established a joint statement of principles and mission, vision, and values statements.  As a founding member, the LPC has a seat on the C4DISC steering committee (rotating LPC Board members will represent the LPC). Like the LPC, C4DISC is committed to valuing differences, welcoming diverse perspectives, learning from different communities, making space for marginalized voices, eliminating barriers, and serving as allies to our colleagues who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color. 

Now that C4DISC is firmly established, next steps include creating several working groups to begin turning the shared vision into action. One group will continue work started by Niccole Leilanionapae‘aina Coggins, University of Virginia Press; Gisela Fosado, Duke University Press; Jocelyn Dawson, Duke University Press; and Melanie Dolechek, Society for Scholarly Publishing, who created the “Toolkits for Equity: Transforming Scholarly Publishing Communities” initiative at the 2019 Triangle Scholarly Communications Institute. Their first toolkit, Antiracism Toolkit for Allies, is openly licensed and on the C4DISC website. C4DISC is seeking volunteers to help develop the next two toolkits: the Antiracism Toolkit for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and the Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations. Another working group will focus on communications and outreach. Members of the LPC community would make fantastic additions so if you are interested in leading or participating in any working groups please complete the Working Group Application Form.

Another thing LPC members can do is advocate for their home libraries/organizations to sign on as C4DISC supporters. Organizations who wish to support C4DISC may join as partners. Examples include publishers, libraries, industry suppliers, etc. Three partnership levels exist: Bronze ($1000), Silver (up to $2500), and Gold (up to $5000) and funds raised will support activities focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in scholarly communications. C4DISC also plans to hire a part-time program assistant to provide administrative support for C4DISC’s work and activities, thus furthering its capacity. C4DISC also gladly and gratefully accepts donations from individuals, no matter how small. 

Finally, if participating formally as a C4DISC partner is not possible for your home institution, LPC members can still support C4DISC by urging their organization to join the more than 60 organizations that have so far adopted C4DISC’s Joint Statement of Principles. Simply complete this form. 

To learn more, please visit c4disc.org or write to c4disc@gmail.com.   

September 21, 2020

Nominations open for the third annual Award for Exemplary Service

As participation in library publishing grows, community involvement and leadership has become increasingly important for the profession. To encourage and recognize such service, the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) gives out an annual Exemplary Service Award. The award recognizes substantial contributions by an LPC community member to advancing the mission, vision, or values of the Library Publishing Coalition.

Nominations, including self-nominations, may be submitted to the LPC Board by any member of the LPC community. Anyone who is at an LPC member institution can nominate someone. Deadline for nominations is October 9^th, 2020.

Please use the nomination form and include the nominee’s name, affiliation, and email address, as well as a brief statement on why the nominee deserves the award. The winner will be announced in December.

NOMINATIONS FOR THE AWARD FOR EXEMPLARY SERVICE ARE NOW CLOSED.

Criteria for the award

Awardees must:

• Have contributed substantially to advancing the mission, vision, or values of the Library Publishing Coalition through service.
• Have served on an LPC committee or task force within the last three years.
• Be currently employed by an LPC member institution.
• Not be currently serving on the LPC Board.

Substantial contributions may include:

• Effective leadership of or exemplary contributions to a committee or task force.
• Advocacy on behalf of the LPC or the creation or strengthening of LPC relationships with other groups.
• Significant contributions to the creation of a new program within the LPC or to the expansion, or adoption, of programs and services for members.

Submit a Nomination

August 3, 2020

Call for 2021 Entries: Library Publishing Directory and IFLA Library Publishing SIG Database

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 its 8th annual Library Publishing Directory. IFLA’s LibPub SIG will create 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. 

All participating libraries will create a brief profile that will appear in both organizations’ online databases. Libraries that wish to be included in the print, PDF, and EPUB Library Publishing Directory can go on to fill out the full questionnaire (30-45 minutes to complete). Get started at  https://librarypublishing.org/lpdq-2021. (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 update it. Email contact@librarypublishing.org with questions.) 

While this year the questions are in English, in 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 14, 2020.

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

The Library Publishing Coalition Directory Committee
Janet Swatscheno, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chair
Perry Collins, University of Florida
Ellen Dubinsky, University of Arizona
Ian Harmon, West Virginia University
Laura Miller, Florida State University

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 2021 edition will be published in early 2021.

About the IFLA Library Publishing SIG database

The goal of the LibPub SIG database 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 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.

Submissions will appear in an IFLA-related searchable database, easily accessible by IFLA members and friends, including LPC members.

July 13, 2020

Our Commitment to Anti-racism, Diversity, Equity, Opportunity, and Inclusion

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Tony McDade, and countless others have laid bare the aggression, discrimination, and violence that Black, Indigenous, and communities of color face in the United States and around the world. Black lives matter. The Library Publishing Coalition joins with those protesting the racism and oppression ingrained and institutionalized in our societies and seeking to make meaningful change. Dismantling systems of oppression will require hard, uncomfortable, and uncompromising work in every aspect of society.  

The Library Publishing Coalition is no exception. Although we represent a robust and growing network of libraries, persons of color are significantly underrepresented in library publishing. Gatekeeping practices in scholarly communication and publishing marginalize and silence the identities, voices, and experiences of authors and communities of color. We are committed to combating racism and inequity in library publishing.

LPC plans to begin with these steps:

• Establishing a standing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
• Instituting a liaison system where each LPC committee will appoint a liaison to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to ensure that all planned programs and initiatives are reviewed with a critical anti-oppressive lens.
• Conducting a periodic equity assessment of the library publishing community, possibly in collaboration with another LPC committee.
• Providing resources for members to help create opportunities for underrepresented groups generally and persons of color specifically in their library publishing programs.
• Promoting the adoption of anti-racist and anti-oppressive policies and practices in member publishing programs.

These are our ideas, but we want to hear yours. Please email us at contact@librarypublishing.org with comments, suggestions, or questions.

Library Publishing Coalition Diversity and Inclusion Task Force

Library Publishing Coalition Board of Directors

June 29, 2020

LPC welcomes a new member: San Francisco State University

Please join us in welcoming a new member to the Library Publishing Coalition: San Francisco State University! The voting rep for SFSU is Melissa Seelye, mseelye@sfsu.edu.

A statement from San Francisco State University:

The J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University empowers its University constituency with lifelong learning skills to identify, find, evaluate, use, and communicate information in promotion of excellence in scholarship, knowledge, and understanding. In recognition of our institution’s commitment to social justice, the Library is working to expand campus awareness of and participation in open access publishing. To that end and as part of the 23-campus California State University system, the Library supports a systemwide institutional repository, open access journal hosting, and affordable instructional material initiatives.

June 24, 2020

LPC welcomes a new member: Middle Tennessee State University

The Library Publishing Coalition is delighted to welcome Middle Tennessee State University as a new member!

A statement from Middle Tennessee State University:

The James E. Walker Library was built in 1999 and named after the 8th president of Middle Tennessee State University, Dr. James E. Walker. The library has almost a million volumes on its shelves, more than 11,00 print journals, access to over 900,000 e-books and more than 100,000 e-journals. The Library has a growing digital scholarship collection, institutional repository, and open access journal hosting. We are currently leading efforts on the campus for wide scale adoption of OER. As the intellectual center of the university, the Walker Library is dedicated to being a campus leader in innovative research, teaching, and learning, to providing a positive user experience for the MTSU Community, and to fostering an academic community.

June 17, 2020

Building a Library Publishing Research Community

At this year’s Library Publishing Forum, members of the LPC Research Committee presented a session on “Cultivating Community with the Library Publishing Research Agenda.” The research agenda, released in April, offers an overview of six topics of importance to library publishers: Assessment, Labor, Accessibility, Non-traditional Research Outputs, Peer Review, and Partnerships. The document is intended to serve as a starting point for individuals interested in learning about and conducting research on library publishing, and aligns with the Research Committee’s mission to promote research within the field.

During our session at the forum, we aimed to build on the release of the agenda by giving members of the LPC community the opportunity to create connections with one another and discuss different ways in which the agenda could be used as both an educational resource and a potential catalyst for original research projects. Using breakout rooms, session attendees divided into groups centered around the topics covered in the research agenda, giving them an opportunity to connect with individuals with similar interests. The members of the Research Committee participated in these group discussions as well, and we enjoyed the opportunity to engage in illuminating conversations and learn about ways in which the committee can continue to support research in library publishing.

As a next step in fostering community in this area, the Research Committee is pleased to announce the launch of the LPC Research Interests Match Program. This resource is available to individuals interested in finding collaborators for research projects, conference proposals, and other scholarly endeavors. Participation is open to all, including individuals at non-LPC member institutions. To identify yourself as a potential collaborator, fill out the Research Interests Match form. You can also look for potential collaborators on the response sheet.

In the coming year, the Research Committee will continue to explore ways to foster engagement with the research agenda and develop a strong community of practice around research in library publishing.

LPC Research Committee
Ian Harmon, Chair
Talea Anderson
Jason Boczar
Elizabeth Bedford
Corinne Guimont
Matthew Hunter
Sarah Wipperman