2026 Library Publishing Forum

Forum News

Keynote Speakers

Wednesday, June 17

Heather Joseph
Executive Director, SPARC

Title: Open Knowledge Sharing in a Chaotic Time

About the Speaker

As SPARC’s Executive Director since 2005, Heather has focused the organization’s efforts on sharing knowledge. Under her stewardship, SPARC has become the leading advocacy organization promoting innovative open and equitable global systems of research and education. She leads SPARC’s strategic work, which has resulted in a fundamental shift in public policy towards open knowledge sharing, including the establishment of the landmark White House Memorandum requiring open access to all U.S. federally funded research outputs in 2023. 

She has provided guidance and advice to both public and private funders through her service on national boards and committees ranging from the U.S. Department of Commerce Data Advisory Council to the National Institute of Standards Research Data Framework Committee and has worked to incentivize knowledge sharing by spearheading the establishment of the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Roundtable on Aligning Incentives to Support Open Science. 

She is a widely respected expert on national and international open research policies, practices, and implementation strategies; Heather has worked on initiatives and consultations promoting the open sharing of research outputs from the United Nations to the World Bank. Through SPARC’s global network of affiliates in Europe, Asia and Africa, she is an active collaborator on projects that support community-developed and controlled solutions for knowledge sharing. 

Prior to joining SPARC, Heather spent 15 years as a publisher in both commercial and not-for-profit journal publishing organizations. She is deeply engaged in the global knowledge-sharing community and serves on the Board of Directors of organizations ranging from the Public Resource to OurResearch. She is a frequent speaker and writer on scholarly communications and higher education issues and open access to research in particular.

Thursday, June 18, Plenary Panel: Connecting Faculty Research in DEIA and Digital Publishing

Melanie Walsh
University of Washington

Title: How Data Shapes—and Reveals—Who and What Gets Published

Abstract: This talk will draw on Walsh’s work at the intersection of data, publishing, and library collections. In recent years, researchers have used data to quantify major racial biases in the mainstream publishing industry, showing that U.S. publishing has been historically dominated by white authors. In a similar vein, libraries have begun to adopt data-driven audits to evaluate the diversity of their collections. While these audits can be broadly valuable, they often carry implicit assumptions and sometimes contribute to reductive understandings of diversity. They also raise questions about how diverse library collections can be without interventions in publishing. Drawing on her research into book sales data, Walsh will reflect on how data itself shapes and incentivizes who and what gets published, including not only in mainstream trade publishing but also in academic publishing, pointing to potential areas where library publishing groups might focus advocacy and attention.

About the Speaker

Melanie Walsh is an Assistant Professor in the Information School and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Washington. She is an Executive Council member for the new Center for Advances in Libraries, Archives, and Museums (CALMA). She is a former Postdoctoral Associate in Information Science at Cornell University and received her PhD in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis.

Her research interests include data science, digital humanities, literature, libraries, and social media. She investigates how data and computational methods shape contemporary culture, and how they can be used to understand culture in turn.

She is co-editor of the Post45 Data Collective, a peer-reviewed venue for literary and cultural data from 1945 to the present. With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, she has developed open-source tools for working with bibliographic data, such as BookReconciler, a tool for book data reconciliation and enrichment. She also leads the What’s Seattle Reading? project, which explores contemporary reading trends with unique open data provided by the Seattle Public Library.

Additionally, she is working on a book, When Postwar American Fiction Went Viral: Protest, Profit, and Popular Readers in the 21st Century, which argues that social media is reshaping the past and future of American literature. Lastly, she authored a free, open-source textbook, Introduction to Cultural Analytics & Python, which introduces the programming language Python to people interested in the humanities and social sciences.

Her work has been funded by the Mozilla Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Schmidt Sciences.

Sandy Littletree and Carole Palmer
University of Washington

Title: Rethinking Data Stewardship through Indigenous Priorities

Abstract: As open data and open science shape how research is shared and valued, we need intensive attention to the consequences of our professional data stewardship practices.  For Indigenous communities, data access and control are inextricably tied to histories of extraction, omission, and harm that are at risk of being perpetuated into the future. By centering Indigenous priorities—both those of Indigenous scholars and communities—in libraries and repositories, we can build, and, when necessary, rebuild, more ethical data systems for the long term. Grounding all data stewardship in respect, reciprocity, and relational accountability will produce a more trustworthy data ecosystem that can serve generations to come. This talk explores the challenges and possibilities for meaningful change toward upholding Indigenous priorities as the default in research data stewardship.

About the Speakers

Sandy Littletree

Carole Palmer

Carole Palmer is a Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington. She works in the areas of data curation and digital research collections, with a focus on supporting interdisciplinary inquiry and principled stewardship of research data in libraries and repositories. Her research has been funded by NSF, IMLS, the Mellon Foundation and other sponsors for work that span the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, with projects ranging from discovery potentials in neuroscience, site-based data curation in geobiology, and boundary work in the humanities, to large-scale federation of digital cultural heritage collections. She is currently PI on Data Services for Indigenous Scholarship & Sovereignty and a leader of the LIS Forward initiative. As an educator, Palmer was a pioneer in data curation curriculum and professional workforce development. She served as Director of the Center for Informatics Research in Science & Scholarship at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois from 2007-2014 and as Associate Dean for Research at the Information School at the University of Washington from 2015-2024.

Tracie Hall
HBCU Library Alliance

Title: ‘Saviors’ and Silences: The Potentialities of Library Publishing in Resisting Racialized Censorship

Abstract: Tracie D. Hall’s presentation interrogates how contemporary censorship movements—often framed by groups positioning themselves as protectors of children, patriotism, or “traditional values”—have produced new silences within academia by targeting scholarship on race, gender, history, and identity. The presentation also offers ideas on how academic libraries can resist these efforts not only through defense of challenged materials, but through proactive teaching and learning programming for faculty and library publishing initiatives that cultivate and disseminate original scholarship reflective of their faculty, students, and communities. Emphasizing open access, community authorship, and the foundational mission of higher learning, Hall looks at how library publishing can expand the scholarly canon, preserve marginalized knowledge systems, and strengthen intellectual freedom in an increasingly restrictive political climate.

About the Speaker

Tracie D. Hall was named Executive Director of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Library Alliance in January 2026. Prior to assuming this role, she was appointed Distinguished Practitioner in Residence and Professor of Practice at the University of Washington Information School in Seattle, where she continues to teach. Hall’s career reflects distinguished leadership across libraries, arts administration, and cultural policy. Her previous roles include Executive Director of the American Library Association; Deputy Commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; Director of the Joyce Foundation’s Culture Program; and Assistant Dean of Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Her contributions to libraries, the arts, and social advocacy have earned national and international recognition. In 2022, Hall received the National Book Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her enduring influence and excellence in the literary field. In 2023, TIME Magazine named her to the TIME100 list of the world’s most influential people. That same year, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Institute honored her with its Medal for Freedom of Speech and Free Expression, and the Metropolitan Chicago YWCA awarded her the Sojourner Truth Leadership Award. Illinois Humanities also recognized her with the Beacon Award for her contributions to arts and letters. In 2025, Hall received an Emmy Award nomination as co-producer of the documentary The Audit: Black Women in Leadership Post-George Floyd. That year, she was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of London, Royal Holloway College, in recognition of her lifelong advocacy for information access and the freedom to read. Hall currently serves on the boards of regional and national organizations dedicated to expanding access to the arts and education.

Please check back later for further information about keynotes.

Code of Conduct & COVID Policy

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.

COVID Policy Short Version

LPC’s goal for the 2026 Library Publishing Forum is to encourage the safest possible in-person conference environment through careful planning and mutual care.

COVID remains a serious health risk, especially for those with weakened immune systems or other vulnerabilities. Because of these risks, we feel that precautions for in-person gatherings are warranted.

Some of the precautions LPC is taking include:

• Providing masks
• Providing rapid COVID tests
• Encouraging community members to have up-to-date vaccinations, to test each morning before entering the venue, and to mask when possible

Please see the full COVID Policy for more details on the venue, scheduling, ventilation, and other COVID-related guidance.

An in-person event will inevitably carry a higher level of risk than a virtual one. For that and other reasons, we will continue to alternate in-person events with fully virtual ones.

Sponsor Information

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 (venue, catering, reception).

More information about sponsorship opportunities is available on the Sponsorships page.

Sponsors

Reception Sponsor

• Bridwell Library and Press

Forum Sustainers

• Iowa State University Digital Press
• 
  Quire

Forum Sponsors

• Pressbooks
• 
  Public Knowledge Project (PKP)

Forum Supporters

• AUPresses
• 
  Coalition Publica
• 
  Érudit
• 
  Scholastica

Committees

Program Committee

• Ryan Otto, Kansas State University (co-chair)
• Jessica Thorlakson, University of Alberta (co-chair)
• Elizabeth Bedford, University of Washington (host liaison)
• Ginelle Baskin, Middle Tennessee State University
• Stefanie Buck, Oregon State University
• Christine Cata, University of Miami
• Jennifer Coronado, Butler University (PALNI)
• Brandon Locke, CALMA, University of Washington (host liaison)

Library Publishing Forum Scholarships Committee

• Jason Boczar, University of South Florida (chair)
• Laureen Boutang, University of Minnesota
• Becky Diamond, Rutgers University
• Matt Fredericks, Wayne State University
• Jonah McAllister-Erickson, West Virginia University

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee

• Josephine Chaet, University of Delaware
• Iliana Cosme-Brooks, Virginia Tech
• Amanda Karby, California Digital Library
• Shannon Kipphut-Smith, Rice University
• Jules Luck, Penn State University
• Rhonda Marker, Rutgers University
• Joshua Neds-Fox, Wayne State University
• Kate Sheridan University of Minnesota

2026 Library Publishing Forum Remote Engagement Task Force

• Perry Collins, University of Florida (chair)
• Ashley Cate, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Jill Ciracella, CUNY
• Jessica Kirschner, VIVA
• Jordan Pedersen, University of Guelph

Past Forums

• Library Publishing Forum
  2025
• Library Publishing Forum
  2024
• Library Publishing Forum
  2023
• Library Publishing Forum
  2022
• Library Publishing Forum
  2021
• Library Publishing Forum
  2020
• Library Publishing Forum
  2019
• Library Publishing Forum
  2018
• Library Publishing Forum
  2017
• Library Publishing Forum
  2016
• Library Publishing Forum
  2015
• Library Publishing Forum
  2014