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.

November 29, 2017

LPC becomes a PKP Strategic Partner

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Remember when we rolled out our Strategic Affiliates Program a few weeks ago? One of the fun things about launching that program was talking to our new strategic affiliates about the ways that they work with their own communities, and the opportunities for organizations like ours to get involved. As it turns out, the Public Knowledge Project has a similar program of their own – the PKP Strategic Partners. As of today, we are delighted to announce that LPC is an official PKP strategic partner!  Some dueling quotes from the announcement:

John Willinsky, PKP’s Founder and Director stated: “The Library Publishing Coalition represents the growing number of academic libraries in North America and elsewhere that are providing the publishing services and support needed to expand open access. Libraries and open access publications represent two closely aligned and cooperative communities that PKP seeks to serve, and so it is fitting for us to collaborate with the LPC and their members given our sharing of many common goals.”

And our response:

“The LPC is delighted to join the list of PKP’s Strategic Partners and to formalize the already-strong partnership between our two organizations. PKP’s software has been invaluable to the community of library publishers, and our community continues to benefit from innovations such as PKP’s Private LOCKSS Network. We look forward to continuing to work with PKP on community-focused initiatives, and to future collaborations around education and advocacy.”

Thanks for the invitation, PKP – we’re very happy to join!

November 29, 2017

Nominations open for the Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Library Publishing

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Image of a sparkler in a dark forest, name of the award

Have you read (or written) some good scholarship on library publishing this year? If so, consider nominating it for the 2018 Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Library Publishing! The award is given out by LPC’s Research Committee to recognize an excellent research or theory publication from the previous calendar year. Publications can be nominated by the author or by any staff member from an LPC member institution. (Nominated author(s) do not need to be affiliated with a LPC member institution.) Please read the eligibility criteria, and turn in your nominations by January 16, 2018.

Nominate

November 15, 2017

LPC welcomes a new strategic affiliate: Digital Public Library of America

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Logo for the Digital Public Library of America

The Library Publishing Coalition is delighted to welcome the Digital Public Library of America as a new strategic affiliate! A statement from DPLA:

The Digital Public Library of America is excited to join the members of Library Publishing Coalition in our shared goal of maximizing access to open and trustworthy information. DPLA connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions and we are working to expand the discoverability, accessibility, and availability of ebooks for the general public. DPLA’s vision for improving the ebook ecosystem includes helping libraries serve more open access content, such as Creative Commons-licensed fiction and nonfiction, open textbooks and open educational resources, and public domain classics. As part of this work, DPLA is currently piloting the DPLA Exchange (exchange.dp.la), a marketplace where libraries can purchase popular ebooks and other e-content to serve to their patrons. For more on DPLA’s ebook initiatives, visit our blog.

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

November 14, 2017

Publishing platforms preconference: Call for showcase participants!

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Promotional image for preconference

The Library Publishing Coalition seeks participants for a showcase session at the Library Publishing Forum’s preconference on open source publishing platforms (May 21st, 2018) at  Wilson Library at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The preconference is affiliated with the Library Publishing Forum, which will take place May 22nd and 23rd at the University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center.

The showcase session will allow attendees to learn more about the broader ecosystem of open source publishing software. We especially invite representation from:

  • Open source platforms used to publish content online
  • Open source tools related to any stage of the publishing process
  • Service providers working with open source software
  • Organizations focused on creating or sustaining open source publishing software

For more information on the preconference and the Library Publishing Forum, see our official call for showcase participants. If you have any questions, please reach out to Melanie Schlosser. Registration for the preconference will open in spring 2018.

We hope to see you in Minneapolis in May!

November 14, 2017

Call for proposals: 2018 Library Publishing Forum

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Library Publishing Forum header image

The Library Publishing Coalition Program Committee is delighted to announce that the call for proposals for the 2018 Library Publishing Forum is now open!

The Program Committee welcomes proposals on any library publishing topic. We particularly invite those that address the following themes:

  • New directions: Share your new initiatives, partnerships, or research, or tackle new challenges in library publishing.
  • Accessibility: Share how your program is working to achieve the broadest possible access to scholarship or explore opportunities for increasing the accessibility of digital publications.
  • Discovery: Share how you are increasing the reach and impact of your publications or propose collaborative solutions to discovery challenges.  

We are accepting proposals for both full sessions (60 minutes, including Q&A) and individual panel slots (~15 minutes).

The deadline for submission is January 19, 2018, and applicants will be notified of their acceptance no later than February 28, 2018.

See the official call for proposals for more information on the Forum, plus instructions on how to submit.

We hope to see you in Minneapolis in May!

November 8, 2017

Announcing the 2018 Library Publishing Forum keynote speaker: Catherine Kudlick

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Catherine Kudlick photographThe Library Publishing Coalition Program Committee is excited to announce that the keynote address at the 2018 Library Publishing Forum will be given by Catherine Kudlick, Professor of History and Director of the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University.

Dr. Kudlick has published a number of books and articles in disability history, including Reflections: the Life and Writings of a Young Blind Woman in Postrevolutionary France and “Disability History: Why We Need Another Other” in the American Historical Review. She oversaw completion of Paul Longmore’s posthumously published book, Telethons: Spectacle, Disability, and the Business of Charity. She is co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Disability History with Michael Rembis and Kim Nielsen. As director of the Longmore Institute, she directed the public history exhibit “Patient No More: People with Disabilities Securing Civil Rights” and co-hosts Superfest International Disability Film Festival. She has been active in electronic accessibility initiatives, first at UC Davis and more recently in public advocacy.

We are looking forward to learning more about Dr. Kuclick’s work on accessible book publishing, and to exploring how library publishing can help make scholarship accessible to all!

 

November 6, 2017

LPC welcomes a new member: University of Cincinnati

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The Library Publishing Coalition is delighted to welcome University of Cincinnati as a member! About their program:

The University of Cincinnati Library Publishing Services (CLiPS) an imprint of the University of Cincinnati Press, provides professional publishing services to faculty, staff, departments, and centers associated with the university. CLiPS assists authors and editors in publishing output in print, digital and open access incorporating new technologies to provide our community with a full range of services promoting academic scholarship. We support faculty-authored publications sponsored by UC academic departments, publications edited by UC organizations, affordable textbooks, open educational resources, and student run publications. We encourage the exploration of new types of publications in print or electronic forms working with materials beyond traditional written papers and monographs.

Logo of the University of Cincinnati Press

 

November 2, 2017

Upcoming Event: Roundtable Discussion on Elsevier’s Acquisition of bepress

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Want to talk about Elsevier’s recent acquisition of bepress and what it means for library publishers? (You know you do!) Join us on Friday, November 17 at 2pm EST for a roundtable discussion hosted by LPC’s Board and facilitated by Joshua Neds-Fox (Wayne State University). See the event post for more details.

About LPC Roundtables: These member-only discussions take place approximately every other month, and each one has a specified topic and an LPC member facilitator, and they often include at least one guest participant. They are informal (no presentations, no recordings), and are designed to give the LPC community an opportunity to discuss a topic of interest, as well as to identify opportunities for collaboration and areas that need further investigation or programming. Roundtable discussions are open to all staff at member institutions.

November 2, 2017

Members section of LPC website is here!

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We hope you’ve been enjoying the public-facing areas of our redesigned website! We’ve been putting the finishing touches on the members section, and are ready to share it with the community. Any staff member at an LPC member institution can request a website login which you can use to:

  • Access the Shared Documentation
  • Upload your program’s documentation to share with the community
  • View other member-only content, such as Board meeting minutes

To request an account, email contact@librarypublishing.org, cc’ing your LPC voting representative.  Please note that LPC website accounts will be linked to the users’ institutional email address, so if you contact us from a third-party email service (e.g. Gmail), make sure to include your institutional email in the message. To share documents via the website, follow the instructions in the policies & procedures document.