Forum

April 3, 2024

FULL SESSION: Strengthening Canadian Library Publishing Community Connections

Day/Time: May 16, 2024, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Title: Strengthening Canadian Library Publishing Community Connections

Presenters:

• Sonya Betz (she/her), Head, Open Publishing and Digitization Services, University of Alberta Library
• Emily Carlisle-Johnston, Research and Scholarly Communication Librarian, Western Libraries
• Jeanette Hatherill, Principal Coordinator, Coalition Publica

Description: Library publishers play a vital role in the Canadian scholarly publishing landscape; more than 40 Canadian post-secondary institutions provide publishing or hosting services to over 800 scholarly and student publications that make up their communities. This publishing landscape is deeply non-commercial, multilingual and contributes to a vibrant, bibliodiverse national scholarly literature. While journal hosting and publishing are frequent topics in local, regional, and national conversations around scholarly communications, until recently, Canada’s library publishing practitioners have had no formal community organization to engage with issues that are uniquely relevant to them, and that represents them effectively to the national scholarly communications community.

However, change is afoot! Building on the recommendations of the Library Publishing Coalition’s Canadian Community Development Working Group (CCDWG), a number of exciting new developments are underway to establish the foundations of a strong and united library publishing community in Canada.

While journal hosting and publishing are frequent topics in local, regional, and national conversations around scholarly communications, until recently, Canada’s library publishing practitioners have had no formal community organization to engage with issues that are uniquely relevant to them, and that represents them effectively to the national scholarly communications community. Multiple important national stakeholders are involved in this work, including Coalition Publica and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL).

This presentation will describe the progress we’ve made, and what we hope to achieve, including establishing a library publishing Community Engagement Team in partnership with CARL, developing a bilingual documentation hub with Coalition Publica, and negotiating for better Canadian representation in the LPC. As global efforts to foster Diamond Open Access publishing models gain traction, via projects like Coalition Publica, library publishers occupy a critical position in supporting non-commercial, scholar-led journals. We hope attendees will leave this presentation with a better understanding of how a national community might be structured and supported, and what progress can be made towards truly equitable publishing models when communities come together to work on common goals.

April 3, 2024

HANDS-ON SESSION: Alan Smithee in the Libraries (Publishing): Attribution, DISattribution, and Other Complexities of Credit and Citation

Day/Time: May 16, 2024, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Title: Alan Smithee in the Libraries (Publishing): Attribution, DISattribution, and Other Complexities of Credit and Citation

Presenter: Nancy Sims; any pronouns; Director, Copyright & Scholarly Communications, University of Minnesota Libraries

Description: Certain older versions of Creative Commons licenses allow copyright owners to require disattribution when reusing the work. This is rarely invoked, but it parallels existing patterns with other kinds of content. For example, “Alan Smithee” is a name used in the movie industry when directors wish to remove their own credits from a film. European “moral rights” copyright laws require attribution and, in some cases, disattribution. And in the US, a very narrow copyright provision called VARA creates complexities around attribution & alterations to certain types of visual artworks. This session will explore some of these legal complexities around attribution & reuse in-depth. Then we will collaboratively explore some real and hypothetical use cases that might arise in Libraries Publishing! Bring your own CC license or other attribution wrinkles to share and discuss.

April 3, 2024

FULL SESSION: ‘Equitable Access:’ An Existential Threat to OER Publishing and Adoption?

Day/Time: May 16, 2024, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Title: ‘Equitable Access:’ An Existential Threat to OER Publishing and Adoption?

Presenters:

• Kelly Smith (she/her), Director of Collections & Discovery, Eastern Kentucky University Libraries
• Edna Fugate (she/her), Director of Library Services, University of Pikeville

Description: In response to the rising costs of textbooks and the need for equitable access to education materials, universities are increasingly adopting ‘Equitable Access’ textbook programs. Universities are increasingly adopting ‘Equitable Access’ textbook programs in which students pay the same predetermined fee based on credit hour load, regardless of what texts are assigned in their classes. Typical fees, negotiated by the universities, are around $25 per credit hour, meaning that a student taking a 15 credit load would see a semester fee of $375. For students in STEM or other fields who frequently pay over $600 per semester for texts, this is an obvious savings. For fine art majors, this fee is an unexpected expense.

The implications for students, faculty, and advocates of OER adoption and publication on campuses using ‘Equitable Access’ are numerous. The presenters, two librarians from Eastern Kentucky whose institutions both serve a high number of first generation and Pell-eligible students, will discuss these implications and offer insightful case studies from their respective institutions. In one, a small private college, the administration prioritized OER as a response to the move to online learning during Covid, and the emphasis on OER adoption has remained a policy. The other institution, a regional comprehensive university, has fully committed to an ‘Equitable Access’ approach, using institutional funds to cover book fees instead of billing students.

Finally, the presenters will engage the audience in a critical discussion of the ‘Equitable Access’ landscape. Does its marketing as ‘equitable’ conceal its underlying aim to guarantee vendor profits? What is its true impact on affordability and accessibility in higher education in comparison to OER approaches? Should the cost factor alone dictate our decisions, or should we also consider aspects such as quality, pedagogical potential, and other relevant factors?

April 3, 2024

HANDS-ON SESSION: Library Publishing Coach-A-Thon!

Day/Time: May 16, 2024, 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.

Title: Library Publishing Coach-A-Thon!

Presenters:

• Melanie Schlosser (she/her), LPC Community Facilitator
• Co-facilitator TBD

Description: Practice peer coaching skills while workshopping challenges with colleagues! Attendees will learn how to use two “liberating structures” (https://www.liberatingstructures.com/) that support peer coaching, and have a chance to practice them in small groups. The session will include an introduction to the two structures (Troika Consulting and 15% Solutions) and guidance on how and when to use them at work. Attendees will then break into groups of three and spend the rest of the session in structured peer coaching. Each attendee will have a chance to share a problem or challenge, as well as to coach others. No experience with peer coaching is required, and challenges shared can be big or small.

April 3, 2024

HANDS-ON SESSION: Dive into Open Infrastructure with IOI’s New Discovery Tool

Day/Time: May 16, 2024, 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.

Title: Dive into Open Infrastructure with IOI’s New Discovery Tool

Presenters:

• Lauren Collister (she/they), Engagement Coordinator, Infrastructure, Invest in Open Infrastructure
• Katherine Skinner, Research Lead, Invest in Open Infrastructure

Description: Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI) has launched a new tool to facilitate discovery, adoption, and investment in open infrastructure. Debuting with 50 infrastructure services in January 2024, IOI’s new tool allows users to search, filter, and compare services that complement their service offerings. In this session, we will describe the creation of this tool and the research behind it, then demonstrate the new tool. A key component of this session will be feedback from participants, centering around the following questions:

• What use cases can you envision for this tool in your contexts?
• What information in these entries do you find most helpful, and why?
• Is there any information that you would like to see but cannot find?
• What tools or services in the open infrastructure landscape would you suggest for inclusion in this tool?

An optional exercise will be available for participants to explore, putting themselves in the shoes of a librarian who is searching for an open infrastructure tool to support a new multimedia student journal. Using a format inspired by ethnographic research, participants will document their search strategies for navigating the tool and their reactions to its options and interface. Participants’ feedback in the questions/discussion as well as the exercise will be used to evaluate the user experience of the tool and investigate next steps in expanding its inclusion.

Participants should bring their devices (laptops or tablets ideally).

April 3, 2024

FULL SESSION: Growing OER Publishing Programs: Watershed Decisions that Drive Impact

Day/Time: May 16, 2024, 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 a.m.

Title: Growing OER Publishing Programs: Watershed Decisions that Drive Impact

Presenters:

• Shane Nackerud (he/him), Director, Affordable Learning and Open Education (ALOE), University of Minnesota Libraries
• Kathy Essmiller (she/hers), Coordinator, OpenOKState | OER Librarian, Oklahoma State University Libraries
• Ryan Otto (he/him), Scholarly Communication and Digital Scholarship Librarian, Kansas State University Libraries
• Julie Curtis (she/her), VP Growth & Strategy, Pressbooks

Description: When institutions embark on OER publishing programs, they navigate challenges and leverage opportunities that drive towards their desired impact. They encounter inflection points for overcoming obstacles and building momentum. This session invites attendees to join in conversation with OER publishing practitioners about key, “watershed” decisions that have shaped the course of their work implementing OER publishing programs as they seek impact, scale, and sustainability.

Libraries and OER publishing programs are frequently at the forefront of promoting open educational resources (OER). Often rooted in common goals for improving textbook affordability, increasing access, supporting equitable student success, and advancing scholarship, strategic “watershed” decisions around OER publishing programs have the power to establish policy and infrastructure, influence practice, and inspire culture change.

This session will facilitate organic dialogue between panelists and audience members using a modified, participatory “fishbowl” format that taps into the rich experience represented in LPF attendees. The session will surface insights about essential decision points and success factors that have been most effective helping OER publishing programs achieve impact. Key themes include:

• What was a “watershed” decision that shifted the trajectory of what you could accomplish (around policy, infrastructure, practice, culture, support, etc.), and why was that moment so impactful?
• What single thing has been most impactful in your program’s success?
• What have you learned about measuring impact and demonstrating the value of your initiative?
• How have diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility figured into goals, key decisions, and/or evolution of your program and the impact you’re trying to make?
• How have you linked your program to broader strategic goals of your institution?
• What do you wish someone had told you when you were starting out in this work?
• What watershed decisions do you see ahead?

April 3, 2024

PANEL: Collaboration

Day/Time: May 15, 2024, 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Title: A Library + University Press Collaboration: Big Ten Open Books

Presenters:

• Jason Colman (he/him), Director of Publishing Services, University of Michigan Library
• Kate McCready (she/her), Librarian and Visiting Program Officer for Academy Owned Scholarly Publishing, University of Minnesota & Big Ten Academic Alliance

Description: A collaboration between the university presses and libraries of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, Big Ten Open Books [http://bigtenopenbooks.org] connects readers everywhere to fully accessible, open access, trusted books from leading university presses. The first collection, 100 books published in August of 2023, on the subject of Gender and Sexuality studies, required bringing together experts from both libraries and presses to create a mutually agreed-to plan of action. In both the processes and necessary expertise, deep collaboration is occurring between presses and libraries in areas such as copyright, discovery, accessibility, metrics, and preservation.

The Big Ten Open Books project is now building on the initial undertaking in scholarly publishing collective action – creating open content, on open infrastructure, using open distribution models – to envision a robust programmatic future for open monograph publishing. At the core of this work is the partnership between libraries and presses to create a sustainable business and service model for open access editions of previously published scholarly monographs. Information shared during the session about this case study will include timelines, costs and metrics for success.

Additionally, the established best practices and lessons learned will also be covered along with the issues that surfaced during the building of the first collection that require further study. Those include identifying a more standardized method of processing copyright permissions, determining methods for ensuring accessibility, discoverability, and preservation of works published through collective action, and establishing a sustainable financial structure that supports the values of both the libraries who contribute financially and the presses and library publishers that are facilitating the work.

Title: The Great Migration: A New Home for the Searchable Ornithological Research Archive

Presenters:

• Jason Boczar (he/him), Digital Scholarship and Publishing Librarian, University of South Florida
• Paul “Alex” Onac, Institutional Repository Manager, University of South Florida

Description: Upon learning from a local partner that the Searchable Ornithological Research Archive (SORA), a collection of open access ornithological publications hosted by the University of New Mexico, hadn’t been uploading new materials for a few years and was thinking about shutting down the project, the University of South Florida (USF) libraries reached out to be the new home of SORA. In addition to its commitment to open access journals, USF is also the home to a robust Florida Environment and Natural History collection with an emphasis on ornithological archives.

This individual session will look at the migration from the USF point of view, including partnering with UNM to contact journal editors, creating new memorandums of understanding for journal editors, getting new journal pages set up with bepress, and the technical aspects of content migration into the USF system. Building upon the already highly renowned SORA collection, USF’s migration seeks to add value into the project by improving accessibility features and ensuring all collections have OCR optimization for keyword searching, the search-engine optimization of bepress’ Digital Commons, and an editorial system for the contributors. Finally, with USF’s interest and capacity to grow the journal archive, the SORA migration will provide a roadmap for universities to collaborate through shifting priorities to ensure digital publishing projects have an extended shelf-life, as well as provide valuable tools for cross-walking systems to complete migrations in timely and efficient ways.

Title: The Power of Partnership: Reflections on Ten Years of Publishing a Novel Interdisciplinary Journal

Presenters:

• Elizabeth Weinfurter, MLIS (she/her), Liaison and Instruction Librarian; Production Editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies; Health Sciences Library, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
• Teddie Potter, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP (she/her), Clinical Professor, Director Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice; Executive Editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies; School of Nursing, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Description: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies (IJPS) is a unique open access journal that blends global academic, community, and artistic voices into a single, collaborative entity that follows the format of a scholarly journal. IJPS was launched in November 2014 as a mechanism to share new knowledge and successful applications of Riane Eisler’s partnership paradigm, and these partnership theories drive the journal at every level. IJPS is published as a shared effort between multiple institutions, and the lessons learned over the ten years of publishing the journal are instructive for others considering similarly collaborative publications. The presentation, given by two of the journal’s founding editors (one a faculty member in the School of Nursing, and one a librarian) will cover the philosophical aspects of publishing an open interdisciplinary journal, as well as practical knowledge relevant to the realm of library publishing.

April 3, 2024

PANEL: Multimedia

Day/Time: May 15, 2024, 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Title: Beyond the Written Word: Fostering Inclusivity and Expression for Veteran Students with JIVE

Presenters:

• Kristin Van Diest (she/her), Digital Publishing Librarian, Texas State University
• Dr. Heriberto Arambula (he/him), Texas State University

Description: In a groundbreaking exploration of academic and digital storytelling, the Journal of Interactive Veteran Experiences (JIVE) unveils a mission that transcends traditional publishing norms.

JIVE, a pioneering space for student veterans at Texas State University, recognizes the power of diverse storytelling modes in fostering healing, understanding, and connection. Our aim is to push the boundaries of scholarly publishing norms by incorporating scholarly writing, creative expression, and digital storytelling with a peer-review structure that meets student veterans where they are. JIVE recognizes the value and intellectual richness of storytelling outside of the traditional journal publishing system and hopes to redefine the landscape of veteran narratives. The interactive media featured in JIVE goes beyond conventional scholarly articles, embracing forms such as artwork, poetry, creative writing, video recording, audio recording, and more.

Through this diverse range of mediums, the journal aims to capture the full spectrum of veteran experiences, providing a platform for expression that aligns with each contributor’s unique preferences and talents. Our commitment to inclusivity strives to bridge the civilian-military gap by presenting narratives in accessible ways for both audiences and creators.

Titled “Beyond the Written Word,” this session aims to showcase the integration of various media formats within the JIVE platform. Attendees will embark on a journey through the process and challenges of creating JIVE: developing theory and policies, garnering campus support, marketing for submissions, supporting students through the submission process, and designing a platform that is large enough to support our vision. Engaging with interactive displays, participants will experience the palpable impact of visual art and the resonance of personal narratives captured in audio and video formats.

Join us in this dynamic session as we push the boundaries of academic storytelling. “Beyond the Written Word” is a testament to the transformative potential of narrative diversity within academia.

Title: What Does It Mean to Publish Digital Scholarship? (And How Do I Do It?): Case Studies in Publishing Services from Columbia Libraries’ Digital Scholarship

Presenter: Michelle Wilson (she/her), Head, Open Scholarship Services, University of Maryland

Description: Sustainability and preservation are (or should be) central to any library publishing program. When we think about preservation from the vantage-point of a Digital Scholarship department, which has traditionally been an incubator of “alternative” scholarly research outputs, we are considering both the research object as a whole (e.g., digital humanities project website), and as its parts (e.g., individual podcast episodes). Any preservation tools and methods we employ must consider both of these project attributes, and different projects require different, tailored solutions. In an established publishing ecosystem built around digital but primarily text-based scholarship such as journals and monographs, it is also necessary to outline a set of standards and practical tactics to provide the a slate of essential publishing services to nontraditional forms of scholarly communication.

Nested within the Digital Scholarship unit, Columbia University Libraries’ publishing program provides education, development support, and publishing services for a range of scholarly forms that have included, over the years, podcasts, digital exhibitions and editions, encyclopedic projects, maps, and other dynamic digital humanities projects. Through longstanding stewardship of this digital scholarship program, the Libraries have come to recognize a set of common challenges for novel forms of digital scholarship and the need to envision how these scholarly products will fit into current systems of dissemination, evaluation, and long-term storage. This presentation will outline the menu of services offered to digital scholarship projects by the Columbia Libraries’ digital publishing program between 2018-2022. It will present the policies, standards, and technological solutions we developed to provide those services to a range of partners, balancing the need to support creativity and novelty in digital scholarship with concerns about sustainability and the ability for these projects to interact with existing systems for managing and promoting scholarship.

April 3, 2024

FULL SESSION: Developing an Open Education Resource focused on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice

Day/Time: May 15, 2024, 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Title: Developing an Open Education Resource focused on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice

Presenters:

• Allison Brown (she/her), Digital Publishing Services Manager, SUNY Geneseo
• Cailyn Green Ph.D., CASAC-M (she/her/hers), Assistant Professor of Addiction Studies, Empire State University

Description: This presentation provides insight into the process of developing a social justice-focused open educational resource (OER). Two authors and an editor/publisher share their experiences developing an OER in social justice and diversity as a part of developing a human services course aligned with the new State University of New York (SUNY) general education requirement for diversity. The outline and contents of the OER will be shared with the audience to crowdsource feedback and comments. The presenters will explain the stages of development of the OER, including accessing funding for development and working with students from underrepresented populations to distribute power in the curriculum development process. Challenges and barriers to the process will also be discussed.

April 3, 2024

FULL SESSION: Library Publishing Collective Action at the Big Ten Academic Alliance

Day/Time: May 15, 2024, 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Title: Library Publishing Collective Action at the Big Ten Academic Alliance

Presenters:

• Kate McCready (she/her), Visiting Program Officer for Academy Owned Scholarly Publishing, Big Ten Academic Alliance
• Jason Colman (he/him), Director of Publishing Services, University of Michigan Library
• Catherine Mitchell (she/her), Director of Publishing, Archives, and Digitization, California Digital Library
• Ally Laird (she/her), Open Publishing Program Coordinator, Penn State University Libraries

Description: The Big Ten Academic Alliance is charting a course for collective action for their affiliated University-based publishing programs, focused on community engagement, shared services, and an aggregated BTAA publication collection.

Beginning in June 2022, the BTAA Library Initiatives appointed a visiting program officer to examine the scholarly publishing landscape across the Alliance in order to identify opportunities for both strengthening individual operations and finding common solutions to shared problems. The research conducted on the BTAA library publishing operations included surveys of the publishing community, follow-up interviews with practitioners, and community feedback sessions on the data and proposed recommendations. This information, originally shared in the BTAA’s 2023 Library Publishing Landscape Assessment Report, will be outlined and expanded on during this panel presentation to highlight the most common challenges and the related opportunities for collective action.

Within this context, this panel will provide a case study of how the BTAA is working to create a community of practice to build trust, establish shared values, and set shared priorities for strategic directions. Beyond strengthening awareness among the BTAA’s community of publishers of each others’ services, there are two specific courses of action planned for exploration through pilot projects. The first involves working collectively to extend local capacity by determining how to efficiently outsource work (e.g., typesetting, copyediting, indexing, hosting, etc.) to trusted, vended services. The second envisions creating an aggregated collection of publications and metadata from across the BTAA institutions, enabling better access to, as well as discovery and preservation of, these works.