The Library Publishing Curriculum Editorial Board today invites new practitioners tasked with starting a library publishing program to use the newly developed Pathway: Starting a Library Publishing Program.
The full-length Library Publishing Curriculum is a comprehensive document, comprising four modules and an introduction, with multiple units on a variety of topics. Readers new to the curriculum can easily be overwhelmed by the breadth of content, especially when approaching it without any background in library publishing.
To address this challenge, the Editorial Board collectively reviewed each module and unit in a series of working meetings, identifying the most relevant content for a library publishing worker tasked with starting up a library publishing program. We did so with a keen eye for reducing the cognitive load of someone encountering the substantial curriculum without the mediation of in-person facilitated workshops.
The resulting Pathway is a curated guide to the curriculum for a reader who is starting a library publishing program, a suggested entryway to the full curriculum highlighting the topics most essential for the task. Notes in each section of the Pathway direct the reader to particular units and give context about the topics addressed; some sections suggest further reading, acknowledge missing content, or prompt future study. The suggested material is still extensive, and other parts of the curriculum may prove useful later, but the editorial board hopes that this Pathway makes entry into the curriculum more manageable—and the curriculum as a whole less overwhelming—for the new library publisher.