Forum

August 17, 2023

2024 Library Publishing Forum Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsors of the Library Publishing Forum demonstrate their commitment to the emerging community of library publishers, including their many affiliates and partners. By becoming a sponsor, you will reach a highly influential, international audience of potential new partners and clients. Sponsorship dollars fund the costs associated with hosting this conference.

Sponsors of the Library Publishing Forum demonstrate their commitment to the community of library publishers, including their many affiliates and partners. By becoming a sponsor, you will reach a highly influential, international audience of potential new partners and clients. 

The 2024 Library Publishing Forum will be an in-person event held May 15–16 at the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. This year we are also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Library Publishing Coalition!

Sponsorship dollars help to fund the costs associated with hosting the conference. We are pleased to offer several sponsorship levels; see below for the full descriptions. 

Email contact@librarypublishing.org to get started or with any questions.

Forum Supporter

Amount: $500 and above
Benefits:

  • A logo/link on the Forum website and acknowledgement as a Forum Supporter
  • A logo/link on the Forum’s Sched.com site and acknowledgement as a Forum Supporter
  • Slide featuring logo and short blurb (see example) to be included in a slideshow that will rotate on presentation screen in main room before the keynotes and presentations
  • Option to submit a 1-page PDF for inclusion in online program PDF (send to contact@librarypublishing.org by Friday, April 12, 2024.)

Forum Sponsor

Amount: $1,000 and above
Benefits:

  • All $500 benefits
  • Opportunity to contribute a posting to the LPC blog (questions will be provided; dates to be determined)
  • Exhibit space (a limited number of tables will be available, allocated in order of requests)
  • One complimentary Forum registration

Coffee Break Sponsor

Amount: $2,500 and above
Limit: 4
Benefits:

  • All $1,000 benefits
  • One additional complimentary registration to Forum 
  • Acknowledgment as the sponsor of one of the four coffee breaks during the in-person Forum, including signage

10th Anniversary Reception Sponsor

Amount: $5,000
Limit: 1
Benefits:

  • All $1,000 benefits
  • One additional complimentary registration to Forum 
  • Acknowledgment as the sponsor of the in-person Forum reception, including, signage

About the Forum

The Library Publishing Forum is an annual conference bringing together representatives from libraries engaged in (or considering) publishing initiatives to define and address major questions and challenges; to identify and document collaborative opportunities; and to strengthen and promote this community of practice. The Forum includes representatives from a broad, international spectrum of academic library backgrounds, as well as groups that collaborate with libraries to publish scholarly works, including publishing vendors, university presses, and scholars. The Forum is sponsored by the Library Publishing Coalition, but you do not need to be a member of the LPC to attend.

Code of Conduct

All participation in the Virtual Library Publishing Forum is subject to the Library Publishing Coalition’s Code of Conduct.

 

 

 


August 17, 2023

Program and Call for Proposals

The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) is now accepting proposals for the 2024 Library Publishing Forum to be held at the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN on May 15 and 16, 2024! 

Proposal submissions for the Forum are welcome from LPC members and nonmembers, including library employees, university press employees, scholars, students, and other scholarly communication and publishing professionals. We welcome proposals from first-time presenters, representatives of small and emerging publishing programs, and employees of non-member institutions.

The Library Publishing Coalition is pleased to announce that we will once again be offering scholarships to offset travel costs for first-time Forum attendees from the United States and Canada, with a focus on individuals who will bring new and diverse perspectives to the community. There will be two scholarships available, each of which will cover up to $2,000 in travel-related expenses and a Forum registration waiver. More information, including award details, application instructions, and application deadlines will be shared the week of Oct. 30, 2023 via the LPC Scholarship Website.

We are committed to expanding the diversity of perspectives we hear from at the Library Publishing Forum. Working towards some of the “Continuing Initiatives” from the LPC Roadmap for Anti-Racist Practice, we ask all proposals to explicitly address how they are inclusive of multiple perspectives, address DEI, or incorporate anti-racist and anti-oppressive approaches. Presentations about specific communities should include members of that community in their speaker list, and for sessions with multiple speakers, we seek to avoid all-white and all-male panels.

If you have questions or concerns about the accessibility of the space, please do not hesitate to reach out to the committee at contact@librarypublishing.org

About the Forum

The Library Publishing Forum is an annual conference bringing together representatives from libraries engaged in or considering publishing initiatives to define and address major questions and challenges; to identify and document collaborative opportunities; and to strengthen and promote this community of practice. The Forum includes representatives from a broad, international spectrum of academic library backgrounds, as well as groups that collaborate with libraries to publish scholarly works, including publishing vendors, university presses, and scholars. The Forum is sponsored by the Library Publishing Coalition, but you do not need to be a member of the LPC to attend.

We welcome proposals on topics including, but not limited to: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), decolonial approaches to library publishing, intersections of library publishing with broader social issues, university presses, society and association partnerships, funding models, copyright, open access publishing, and Open Educational Resources (OER).

Please review the event and session format descriptions carefully to determine which best fits your proposal.

Session Types 

Full Sessions 

These sessions are 60 minutes long, including time for Q&A.

Full sessions must involve presenters from more than one institution. This could mean a panel discussion, or separate speaker presentations on a unifying theme. The abstract should include the topic and a clear description of the session format (i.e. speaker presentations or roundtable discussion).  If more than one proposal comes in for similar topics, the committee may put you in touch with the other session presenters and encourage you to collaborate on a single session. If you have a product or platform you would like to share, please consider an Exhibition Session instead.

Hands-On Sessions

Hands-On sessions are 60 minutes long. 

Hands-On sessions should use interactive formats. Some examples include workshops, hackathons, deep dives, un-conference sessions, etc. In your proposal, please describe what resources you will need to conduct your session and whether there is a limit on the ideal number of session attendees.

If you have any questions about Hands-On sessions, please contact the Program Committee at contact@librarypublishing.org

Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions

Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are 60 minutes long.

Birds-of-a-feather sessions allow for informal conversations around a certain topic. This is an ideal opportunity to lead a discussion to help individuals work through issues at their particular institutions or to help formulate collective action plans. In your proposal please describe your general topic, what you hope session participants and/or the wider community will gain from the discussion, and what structures you will suggest to help participants turn conversation into action. While discussion leaders are not expected to be experts in the topic, they should be able to actively guide the session through talking points, discussion prompts, or some other method. 

Individual Presentations 

These sessions are 15 minutes long, with additional time for Q&A. 

Individual presentations are appropriate for one to two presenters on a single topic. These may be project updates, research reports, or new ideas. The committee will combine multiple presentations into thematic 1-hour sessions. To help us match you with related presentations, the proposal abstract should highlight key topics and themes around which a full session could be organized.

Exhibition Session 

This consists of a 60 minute viewing session. 

This session allows participants to informally showcase their projects and is best suited to presenters who want the chance to get individual feedback from attendees. Presenters may include a poster element, a physical demonstration, and/or any other visual element that will support project progress discussion. In your application, please include a short abstract of the project or process you plan to showcase and your physical requirements, i.e. a board for a poster or a table for book samples or your laptop. 

All proposals must include:

  • Presenter name(s), preferred pronoun(s) (if comfortable providing this information), job title(s), and affiliation(s)
  • Session title (and a brief social-media-friendly title)
  • Proposal format (Full Session, Hands-On Session, Birds-of-a-Feather, Individual Session, Exhibition Session)
  • Abstract (300 word max.)
  • Information on any interactive components of the session activities, if applicable
  • Information about any technology requirements
  • Learning objectives
  • 2–3 keywords/tags that represent the theme of your presentation and/or intended audience
  • An explanation of how the proposal is inclusive of multiple perspectives; addresses diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; or incorporates anti-racist or anti-oppressive approaches, topics or presentation techniques. Diversity encompasses many dimensions such as racial identities, ethnic identities, languages, geographic locations, ages, people with disabilities, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and lived experiences. 

Feedback from previous years indicates that sessions incorporating the following are particularly well received:

  • Case studies with timelines, costs and metrics for success;
  • New initiatives, partnerships, or research;
  • Sharing of best practices or lessons learned; 
  • Examples of library publishers working together to tackle challenges at scale;
  • Exploring the role of library publishing in the bigger context of scholarly communication;
  • Collaborations with on-campus, local, and international partners

How to Submit

Submit proposals using the submission form.

Submission deadline has been extended to December 15, 2023

Acceptance Notification: January 2024

Criteria for Selection

The LPC Program Committee will review and accept proposals based on:

  • relevance to the audience
  • originality of the topic
  • clarity of description
  • potential for inspiring discussion, collaboration, and innovation
  • consideration of how the proposed session contributes to a diverse and inclusive Forum
  • ensuring we provide opportunities on the program for as many voices as possible

Questions?

Email us at contact@librarypublishing.org.

On behalf of the Library Publishing Coalition Program Committee:

Elizabeth Bedford, University of Washington (2023–2024 co-chair)
Jennifer Coronado, Butler University (PALNI) (2023–2024 co-chair)
Jason Boczar, University of South Florida
Corinne Guimont, Virginia Tech
Loftan Hooker, Virginia Commonwealth University
Alexandra Marcaccio, University of Guelph
Emma Molls, University of Minnesota (host liaison)
Melanie Schlosser, Library Publishing Coalition


August 17, 2023

Registration & Travel Information

Registration

Registration rates for the 2024 Library Publishing Forum:

  • General Admission: 300 USD
  • Student Admission: 50 USD
  • Low- and Middle Income Countries: 50 USD

LPC members are eligible for a $100 discount on two general admission tickets. Contact your voting representative for the code to use when registering.

Registration includes breakfast, lunch, and morning and afternoon snacks/breaks on both days of the Forum as well as an evening reception with hors d’oeuvres.

Cancellations & Refunds

  • Cancellations more than 60 days before the event will be refunded 80% of the registration fees.
  • Cancellations less than 60 but more than 30 days before the event will be refunded 50% of the registration fees.
  • Cancellations less than 30 days before the event will not be eligible for a refund.
  • No-shows will not be refunded conference fees.

All participation in the Library Publishing Forum is subject to the Library Publishing Coalition’s Code of Conduct, which includes a policy for event-specific health guidelines. Read this year’s COVID policy.

Register for the 2024 Library Publishing Forum

Hotel

The Graduate Hotel is offering a group rate for the 2024 Library Publishing Forum. The hotel is conveniently located across the street (or through the tunnel to) McNamara Alumni Center. The room rate is $199/night (not including taxes, fees, and any additional charges) and applies from May 14 through May 16. We expect the block to fill up very early, so please book your room as soon as possible.

Booking Information

  • To reserve your room online use this link: Library Publishing Forum
  • You can also call the hotel at (612) 379-8888, ask for reservations, and request the Library Publishing Forum block
  • The deadline to reserve your hotel room at the discounted rate is Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Other nearby options include:

Transportation

Metro Transit

Metro Transit is the transportation resource for the Twin Cities, offering an integrated network of buses, light rail, and commuter trains. Rush hour fares are $2.50, normal fares are $2.00, but All-Day or 24-hour Passes may be a better deal. Metro Transit recommends the 7-Day To pass for anyone who would like unlimited rides on the Light Rail or City Buses for a longer period of time. You can order a Go-To pass online and have it mailed to you before you depart. (You can buy single fare, all-day, or 24-hr passes at rail stations; see the Go-To Card Store for all purchase options.)

The Blue Line light rail stops at both terminals of the airport. To reach the University of Minnesota campus and the conference venue, you will need to transfer to the Green Line, which runs between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. The Green Line East Bank stop is in front of the Graduate Hotel and close to the McNamara Alumni Center.

Green Line stops are located close to the Twin Cities’ regional bus depots and Amtrak station.

MetroTransit’s Trip Planner tool allows you to enter your departure, destination, and time of day, and returns results showing how to use transit to get there.

Bike Share

  • Bicycle share website
  • The Graduate Hotel also offers bike rentals. Bikes are available for two-hour rides, seasonally from April through November. Set up a rental at the front desk.

Relaxation & Sightseeing

Further  travel information will be posted when available.


August 17, 2023

Forum Scholarships

The Library Publishing Coalition is offering scholarships to offset travel costs for first-time Forum attendees from the United States and Canada, with a focus on individuals who will bring new and diverse perspectives to the community. There are two scholarships available, each of which will cover up to $2,000 USD in travel-related expenses, including airfare, hotel, and meals. Scholarship awardees will have Forum registration fees waived and will be paired with a community mentor to help introduce them to the conference and the community. For awardees from non-member institutions, the award includes guest access to the LPC community for the year following the in-person Forum. This would include access to the listserv and service opportunities, and the opportunity to participate in the peer mentorship program. All recipients will also receive a waived registration to the virtual Forum planned for May 2025. 

Eligibility

This round of the scholarship program will only be open to applicants from the United States and Canada. Applications will be accepted from individuals at both Library Publishing Coalition member and non-member institutions. Anyone who has not attended a previous in-person Library Publishing Forum is eligible to apply. (Anyone who has -only- attended the Library Publishing Forum virtually is encouraged to apply for this scholarship for travel funding to the 2024 in-person Forum.)

Ideal applicants will be new to their librarianship career (first 3–5 years), or new to the field of library publishing. Applicants who identify as members of a group (or groups) underrepresented among library and publishing practitioners will be given preference. These groups include – but are not limited to – members of a racial/ethnic minority, first-generation college graduates, immigrants and refugees, persons with a disability, and LGBTQIA+ individuals. Applications from people who could contribute to the diversity of perspectives at the Forum in other ways are also warmly welcomed.

How to apply for a scholarship

To apply for a scholarship, please fill out the application form. Applications are due by Jan. 12, 2024.

The Library Publishing Coalition’s Forum Scholarship Committee will review applications and notify applicants by Mar. 15, 2024.

Questions?

Email contact@librarypublishing.org


June 8, 2023

Videos from the 2023 Library Publishing Forum are now available

We are happy to announce that we’ve completed uploading videos from the 2023 Library Publishing Forum to a playlist on LPC’s YouTube channel. You can also access them, along with additional resources, through the links on the program page on the website.

With the addition of this year’s sessions, we now have 150 videos from the last four Library Publishing Forums freely available for viewing, including keynotes, plenary sessions, 15-minute presentations, 60-minute panels, posters/lightning talks, and active/workshop sessions. We are thrilled to be able to provide this wide range of content to the library publishing community and extend our gratitude to all the presenters who have made it possible.

Next year is LPC’s and the Library Publishing Forum’s 10th anniversary; we hope you’ll be able to join us in person in Minneapolis, MN on May 15–16, 2024. We’ll be posting more information about next year’s Forum on the website in the coming months.


March 21, 2023

Panel: May 11 2:45

Day/time: May 11, 2023, 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. ETD


Title: Metadata for Everyone: Identifying Metadata Quality Issues across Cultures

Presenter: Julie Shi, Digital Preservation Librarian, Scholars Portal

Description: Metadata is crucial to the dissemination and communication of research. Well-formed metadata facilitates discovery and access and provides contextual, technical, and administrative information in a standard form. Yet metadata are also sites of tension between sociocultural representations, resource constraints, and standardized systems. Formal and informal interventions in metadata spaces may be interpreted as metadata quality issues, political acts to assert identity, or strategic curatorial choices to maximize discoverability and visibility. In this context, we engaged with Crossref on the Metadata for Everyone project to understand how metadata quality, consistency, and completeness impact individuals and communities.

Working from a sample of records known to have erroneous, incomplete, or otherwise imperfect metadata, this project set out to identify and classify the issues stemming from how metadata and communities press up against each other to intentionally reflect (or not) cultural meanings. Beginning with an overview of the context and our qualitative approach, this presentation will go on to discuss various metadata quality issues that were identified and the typology we developed to better understand them. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings and describing next steps.


Title: Puppies as a Veneer for Cheering Genocide: How Should a Press React When an Accepted Manuscript is Problematic?

Presenters:

  • Abram Shalom Himelstein, Editor-in-Chief, University of New Orleans Press
  • Chelsey Shannon, Editor, University of New Orleans Press

Description: It was good enough to make it into the accepted stack, but a deeper editorial dive found racist language and a pro-colonial genocide epistemological framing in a book about a certain dog breed. This editorial crisis coincided with the national reckoning in the summer following the murder of George Floyd, and the collective conversation about structural racism underpinned our analysis of how we had arrived at this moment: with a racist book, a signed contract, and an author who was ready to dig in his heels.

In working through the manuscript and this blunder, we created a language through which we figured out how to move forward, both with the manuscript and as an office, creating policies and processes to prevent a recurrence of such a problematic manuscript in the accepted stack.

Chelsey Shannon (she/her[s]), editor of the University of New Orleans Press, raised the alarm and began the conversation. Ultimately, Chelsey created a heuristic for (future) manuscript intake and consideration, and editor-in-chief Abram Shalom Himelstein (he/his) took on the role of demanding changes from the author or, in the case of refusal, withdrawing the publication agreement. (Hi… it is us writing about ourselves in the third person.)

This stumbling block ultimately moved the Press toward a systematized way both of evaluating possible acquisitions and of distributing the psychically difficult work of dealing with authors who are unwilling to engage honestly with the racism and other forms of prejudice in their work and make changes.


March 21, 2023

Active Session: Discovering, Using, and Getting Involved with the Library Publishing Curriculum

Day/time: May 11, 2023, 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. ETD

Title: Discovering, Using, and Getting Involved with the Library Publishing Curriculum

Presenters:

  • John W. Warren, Director and Associate Professor, Publishing, MPS in Publishing, George Washington University
  • Johanna Meetz, Publishing & Repository Services Librarian, Assistant Professor, Ohio State University

Description: The Library Publishing Curriculum (https://librarypublishing.org/resources/library-publishing-curriculum/) encompasses a suite of synchronous and asynchronous professional development offerings for librarians, which are open and free to use and adapt under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. This dynamic, extensible curriculum is intended to empower library publishers to meet local demands to launch and/or enhance scholarly publishing activities. The Library Publishing Curriculum Editorial Board has been working to develop a new Introduction Module, to complement the existing Content, Impact, Sustainability, and Policy Modules.

In this interactive session, we will introduce the new Introduction Module, explore its content, and participate in a brief activity from the introduction’s Instructor Manual. We will also discuss how you can use the Curriculum in your outreach efforts at your institution, and how you can get involved in the future development of the Curriculum.


March 21, 2023

Full Session: Making Beautiful Books and Articles: Lowering the Costs of Open Access and OER Publishing via Automated Typesetting

Day/time: May 11, 2023, 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. ETD

Title: Making Beautiful Books and Articles: Lowering the Costs of Open Access and OER Publishing via Automated Typesetting

Presenters:

  • Dione Mentis, Coko Foundation COO
  • Christina Tromp, Ketida Project Manager
  • Julie Blanc, Paged.js Developer
  • Julien Taquet, Paged.js Developer
  • Karen Lauritsen, Open Education Network, Publishing Director

Description: Library publishers are often beholden to contractual typesetting processes which can cost $3 – $5 per page and add weeks onto the production timeline. Pagedjs is an automated typesetting solution that is 100% open source and community driven which can drive down the cost and time to almost zero. The Coko Foundation team and the Open Education Network Publishing Director will present Paged.js and how it is used to produce beautiful books and articles for open access and OER publishing. Learn about the realities of automated typesetting from a team of experts with real word experience.


March 21, 2023

Panel: May 11 1:15

Day/time: May 11, 2023, 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. ETD


Title: When Does Your OER Program Become a Library Publishing Program?

Presenters:

  • Stephanie Western, OER Program Manager, Utah State University Libraries
  • Becky Thoms, Head of Digital Initiatives, Utah State University Libraries
  • Erica Finch, Scholarly Communications Librarian, Utah State University Libraries

Description: The OER program at this large, public institution began as a grassroots effort between the library and two faculty members in 2013. Today it is an established program that has awarded more than $60,000 in grants and facilitated student saving exceeding $3.7 million. And, as our program enters its tenth year, it is at a crossroads. We will discuss our OER Team’s journey into OER publishing. What kind of support we’ve offered, what platforms our authors are using, what we have learned and improved. Major questions at the forefront as we assess our future:

  • Should the library take on the role of publisher?
  • How much oversight should the library have over quality control, diversity and equity, and ensuring accessibility through the creation of alternate formats?
  • Are OER considered author publications in the same way that commercially-published textbooks are?
  • How is this reflected in the library catalog and stacks, and how is it represented in the tenure process?

We will conclude with a discussion of the potential risks and rewards of scaling up the OER Program to fully embrace the role of library publisher and suggestions for how to assess your own program and facilitate these discussions at your institution.


Title: Indexing of Student Journals: Barriers and Opportunities for Discoverability

Presenter: Mariya Maistrovskaya, Digital Publishing Librarian, University of Toronto Libraries

Description: Despite the growing number of student-run academic journals and the predominant electronic and open access nature of their publication, their content is not easily discoverable online. Traditionally, academic journals seek to expose their content via commercial or non-commercial indexes, aggregators, and databases, many of which have specific (often very strict) inclusion criteria. Do any of those criteria present barriers to the inclusion of student journals? How well (or poorly) are student journals represented in the major indexes and databases? And finally, what does discoverability mean to student journals, and do they actually aim to be included in academic indexes or do they pursue other content promotion opportunities?

This presentation reports on the results of an original study of Canadian student journals that looks at the above questions from two perspectives: that of indexes and their requirements, and that of student journal editors and their views on discoverability. It features student journal specific indexing tips, discoverability do’s and don’t’s, and insights from interviews with index representatives and student journal editors.


Title: Going Wayback: Digitally Preserving a Defunct Student Journal

Presenters: 

  • Noah Churchill-Baird, MLIS Student, Western University
  • Kristin Hoffmann, Research and Scholarly Communication Librarian, Western University
  • Emily Carlisle-Johnston, Research and Scholarly Communication Librarian, Western University

Description: Regular turnover in student journal editorial teams is a challenge to maintaining consistent publication and succession planning for student journals. This precariousness can contribute to a greater frequency of student journals that come and go over time. Library publishers need to work towards robust preservation programs that can address the need to preserve journal content when journals cease or become inactive, as discussed by the LPC’s Preservation Task Force during the October 2022 Community Call.

There are also specific challenges with preserving content from student journals that began and ceased before a library publisher was even aware of their existence. What strategies can we use to preserve content we were not involved in publishing in the first place?

To explore this question, we will draw on our experiences of migrating a defunct student journal — the NeoAmericanist—to Open Journal Systems (OJS) in fall 2022. We will share our observations about the project’s implication for the work of supporting student journals as a library publisher. We will discuss what we have learned from this process and some of the key decisions we had to make without knowledge or insight into how decisions were made in the first place.

Previous LPF sessions have discussed reasons why student journals have ceased and methods for supporting the preservation of publications from student journals. While our presentation will briefly touch on these elements, we will explore the NeoAmericanist migration to OJS as a case study in managing journal preservation projects. We’ll discuss using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to access missing content from lost webpages, and how this exercise in journal preservation has informed how we engage with student editors of active journals to support their publications.


March 21, 2023

Keynote: Deborah Poff

Day/time: May 11, 2023, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. ETD

Title: to come

Description: to come