Day/Time/Room
June 18, 2026 | 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. | HUB 214
Title: Testing Community-Owned Infrastructure: Lessons from the Open Education Network’s Ketty Pilot
Presenters:
- Karen Lauritsen, Senior Director, Publishing, Open Education Network, Open Education Network, University of Minnesota
- Bailey Lake, she/her, Open Strategies Librarian, Eastern Kentucky University Libraries
Description: In 2023 the Open Education Network launched a two-year pilot program with Ketty, a web-based book production platform and open source project built by the Coko Foundation. (Ketty was first known as Editoria and also Ketida.) The OEN invited a self-selected group of community members to experiment with Ketty and the Open Textbook Planner, an embedded tool, to write and publish open textbooks. Our goals were to test the tools, gather feedback, inform future development, and consider if Ketty could become the foundation of community-owned infrastructure. We also wanted to strengthen and diversify our OER publishing community and publish new open textbooks. Well, it’s two years later and we’ve learned (and published!) some things. We’ll discuss Accessible Appalachia, published by Eastern Kentucky University, and highlight the behind-the-scenes process that brought that project to life. Join this session to learn more about the pilot’s structure, members, feedback, accomplishments, and challenges. We’ll talk about both internal and external influences on the pilot’s progress, how the tool continues to change, and how we’re working to move forward in an uncertain environment.
Title: Staffing Survey Task Force Results & Report
Presenters:
- Miranda Phair, Publishing & Open Scholarship Librarian, Towson University
- Melissa Chim, Excelsior University
- Michelle Brailey, University of Alberta
- Lauren Collister, Invest in Open Infrastructure
- Heather Hankins, Kennesaw State University
- Alyssa Huffman, Wayne State University
- Bailey Lake, Eastern Kentucky University
- Barbara Loomis, Cleveland State University
- Donna O’Malley, University of Vermont
- Anita Walz, Virginia Tech
Description: The most recent LPC Directory received responses from 179 publishers across 18 countries, which has increased from 116 library publishers when the Directory was first launched. Each publishing program is unique in its operation with different staffing models, size, level of output, and publication goals. This suggests that library based publishing is growing as a field and warrants further investigation into its labor practices. In an effort to gain a deeper understanding of how library publishing work operates, the LPC established the Staffing Survey Task Force in 2024. The goal of this initiative is to identify effective practices, common challenges, and opportunities for improvement within our community of library publishers. The survey we created was open from June-July 2025 and explores how library publishers quantify their staffing, utilize volunteer labor, compensate publishing work, and incorporate publishing tasks with other job responsibilities. The survey was distributed to LPC members and in other relevant library publishing spaces. After the completion of the survey and analysis of results, we present our report to the LPC community.
Title: OPEN FL Publishing Program: An OER Win
Presenters:
- Rebel Cummings-Sauls, Director, Digital Services + OER, Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC)
- Elisabeth Ball, Program Manager, Digital Services + OER, FLVC
Description: In 2024, Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) launched the OPEN FL Publishing Program for its 40 member institutions with the primary purpose of facilitating OER adoption, adaption, and authoring in Florida public higher education. As a state-funded consortium, FLVC’s OER publishing initiative offers a unique perspective on navigating the legislative landscape, launching a program without grant funding, and acting/reacting promptly, per government requirements and member needs. Importantly, FLVC’s OPEN FL Publishing request needed to be carefully crafted through multiple steps for approval by LBR (legislative budget request) which is not guaranteed. Then, once the request was approved, the consortium had to move quickly with next steps: arranging contracts with vendors, training staff, and advertising to members with no grant funding to support textbook development. After the fast and furious creation of the program, member participation had grown slowly, but steadily. This slow growth in community uptake has proven to be a boon for team and member learning and organic spread of the program’s worth among institutions.
The process of creation and launch of an OER publishing program is best understood in terms of a series of challenges and wins. The speakers will engage in a lively exchange, presenting obstacles encountered in the launch phase of the project, followed by solutions which represent a win for OER publishing and, ultimately, students. The dramatization of decision points in this session will entertain, inform, and inspire attendees.