LPForum 2019 Vancouver

Thursday, May 9, 10:00-11:00am
Room: RBC Dominion Securities Executive Meeting Room (2200)

Lessons from Teaching Publishing: The Digital Publishing Workshop @ Columbia University Libraries

Michelle Wilson, Columbia University

Description: Columbia University Libraries publishes twenty two journals managed by undergraduate, graduate, and faculty editorial boards and representing disciplines from law to musicology to medicine. Although many of the journals have been in press for years, the frequent turnover of editorial boards means that there is variation in the quality and timeliness of publications and their adherence to guidance provided by the Libraries. In the hope of introducing and promoting an ethical framework for open access scholarship and providing practical, on the ground skills for students and scholars working as producers of digital publications, a Digital Publishing Workshop was developed. A six week in-person classroom series provided simultaneous instruction in the essentials of scholarly journal publishing for our diverse population of editors.

The workshop series also became an opportunity to learn what kinds of tools and information our editors needed most and to produce these resources and learning opportunities. To meet the needs of such a diverse group, the “Workshop” evolved into a website, a longer, half-day format, wider-reaching educational offerings on a variety of publishing topics for the general university audience, and into proposals for specialized workshops and resources for students in medicine and law. This presentation will provide an overview of the structure and content of the digital publishing workshops and the remote resources created to support this educational model – including video tutorials, templates, and the ‘Editorial Workbook’ – and will suggest how these building blocks can be used in publishing education and tailored to suit the many populations we work with at our university libraries.

Student Journal Publishing 101 Workshop

Jessica Lange, McGill University

Description: Supporting student journals on campus can be challenging. Editorial board turnover occurs frequently and students may be less familiar with the publishing process generally than faculty. Furthermore, transition planning is often weak or non-existent within student journals. Often when the editorial board graduates, their experience and collective knowledge is lost and incoming editors must recreate policies and workflows from scratch.

In order to address these issues and provide greater support to student journals on McGill’s campus, three librarians worked together in coordination with the Arts Undergraduate Student Society to develop a workshop and plan to better aid student journals.

This presentation will cover the content of the workshop Student Journal Publishing 101 as well as the strategies employed to promote the workshop, develop contacts with a student society as well as plans for the future. This presentation will also discuss feedback obtained from the workshop.

Supporting Student Publishing: Sustaining Networks and Responding to Student Feedback

Graeme Slaght, University of Toronto Libraries; Mariya Maistrovskaya, University of Toronto Libraries

Description: Student journal publishing is an active and growing area at the University of Toronto, with over 50 print and electronic journals published by undergraduates and graduates across U of T’s three campuses. Launching, producing, and sustaining a journal provides students with valuable experience with editorial workflows, publishing within their discipline, peer review, copyright, design, and financial planning.

In the absence of a single support point for student publishing activities, a cross-departmental group of librarians came together to help connect students to the research lifecycle, publishing resources, and to each other. In this presentation we will share our strategies, including the hosting of an annual Student Journal Forum, a popular event that will celebrate its 4th iteration in 2019, journal production support on the local instance of Open Journal Systems (OJS) that currently hosts 15 graduate and undergraduate journals, copyright support via Scholarly Communications and Copyright Office, and more. We will plot the evolution of the Journal Forum event, from its inaugural focus on the delivery of faculty and librarian-led lecture-style literacy sessions to students, to its current composition as a student-centered, peer-led and participatory learning session focused on knowledge exchange and community-building.

We will discuss our planning, outreach, and assessment strategies as well as the feedback we have received that has informed this support over time, and will explore potential future directions in which the library could support student journal publishing.