Friday, May 10, 2:30-3:30pm
Room: Barrick Gold Lecture Room (1520)
Supporting Journals to Assess and Improve Their Practices When Using a Library Hosted Editorial Initiative 
Pierre Lasou, Université Laval
Description: Université Laval has more that 30 peer review scientific journals on campus. In 2017, a survey confirm that most journals on campus shared the same practices, workflows and challenges regarding peer review management. If all are published online, few works with an automated workflow management system. Most Journals are manage with part time resources at the scientific, strategic and operational levels. With scarce human resources, they must also face increasing requirements with regard to Copyright, dissemination, ethics, conflict of interest, and innovations. In order to support these journals, Université Laval library has launched a hosted editorial initiative in 2018 to manage peer review and production workflows and streamline processes. A longstanding journal, Laval théologique et philosophique, was integrated as a pilot. The pilot project reveals a major challenge: by itself, the technology will not change the way journal staff manage their workflows. It appears that for a journal participating in a hosted editorial initiative the benefits lie as much in providing an opportunity to assess, revise and perhaps improve its practices as in using the automated journal management system itself. For library staff, offering basic training sessions on the platform itself is not enough. Journals need strong commitment on coaching on processes (how to interact through the system with reviewers and authors? How to redistribute task and roles?). All those aspects require skills from library staff that are far from traditional core competencies of librarians. This presentation will outline the measures Université Laval Library implemented to assist journals in redesigning their practices when participating to a hosted editorial initiative.
Bridging the Gaps: Finding Creative Solutions to Unmet Needs in a Growing Library Publishing Program
Julia Lovett, Associate Professor, Digital Initiatives Librarian, University of Rhode Island; Andrée Rathemacher, Professor, Head of Acquisitions, University of Rhode Island
Description: With six peer-reviewed open access journals under our belt, our library publishing program at the University of Rhode Island is modest but growing. As the library has expanded and streamlined library publishing services in the past few years, we have conducted a series of interviews with editors to identify successes, challenges, and unmet needs that editors have encountered in the publishing process. The program relies on a combination of in-house and outsourced library services (including our Bepress platform), editorial board contributions, and occasionally additional funding by the University. URI journal editors have found creative solutions to unmet needs, such as hiring student workers, obtaining small internal grants, and hiring freelance designers online. Our findings will be of interest especially to libraries with nascent publishing programs and limited resources to devote to publishing activities.
Supporting Monograph Creation: Creative and Scholarly Publishing at the University of Victoria Libraries
Inba Kehoe, Copyright Officer, Scholarly Communication & Research Repository Librarian, University of Victoria Libraries; Christine Walde, Grants & Awards Librarian, University of Victoria Libraries
Description: The University of Victoria Libraries offers 2 publishing streams—one devoted to producing limited editions of monographs showcasing the Libraries Archives and Special Collections and the other has a dedicated mandate towards publishing open access scholarly monographs and textbooks funded through research grants. Both streams have developed strategic partnerships with campus stakeholders and disseminate free PDF, EPUB, and print-on-demand versions. In tandem with these services the Libraries launched its Grants Menu in 2017 itemizing in-kind library services and contributions to assist researchers with grant applications—thereby, directly positioning the library within the research life cycle and enabling open access initiatives.
Participants will learn about the practical considerations for supporting and sustaining a digital monograph publishing service.