Publishing in the University Context

The Power to Publish: How Academic Librarians Support and Promote Scholarly Publishing Jennifer Townes, Atlanta University CenterEmy Decker, Atlanta University Center The academic library has a responsibility, as well as an opportunity, to promote scholarly publishing. Every year, the academic librarians at the Atlanta University Center, Robert W. Woodruff Library host a one-week-long celebration to enhance awareness of faculty and librarian publications, resources to support publications, and technologies available to bolster dissemination of publications. This “Celebration of Faculty Achievements” week is a significant activity within the Atlanta University Center (which is comprised of four historically black colleges and universities), as it both celebrates the publishing successes of its diverse faculty and librarians as well as heightens awareness of the rich resources available for scholarly publishing within the library. The event includes a display of recently published faculty and librarian works, such as books, chapters, articles, and pieces published through both traditional and open-source publishing venues. Librarians also invite faculty members to give brief presentations about their current projects each day during the week. On the final day of the event, the academic librarians host a Lunch n’ Learn which serves as a forum for them to share their own publishing experiences with their colleagues. This lightning talk will highlight specific areas of this interesting case study in order to provide attendees with a successful model for raising awareness about library publishing and providing opportunities to celebrate the achievements of colleagues. Changing Structures, Changing Cultures: The Role of the University in Scholarly Communication Liz Glass, Brown University In 2015, Brown University received funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a new digital publishing initiative at the University. Anchored in the University Library, Brown’s digital publishing initiative builds on a long history of digital scholarship at Brown. Through providing editorial, technical, and design expertise to Brown faculty members interested in digital publishing, this initiative seeks to further the mission of the University while also playing a role in shaping the future of digital scholarship in the humanities. The initiative also aims to examine the challenges that scholars and universities face in the emerging age of digital publishing—i.e. how is this scholarship evaluated? How do our standards and criteria need to adapt to these shifts in the dissemination of scholarly content? In this lightning talk, Brown’s Digital Scholarship Editor, Liz Glass, will present Brown’s vision for its digital publishing initiative, outline the goals of the project, and describe the processes at play. Looking briefly at the two pilot projects chosen for the initiative, Glass will trace the evolution of these kinds of digital projects from the initial proposal stage through to approval by a consortium of faculty members, production, and eventual publication with a university press. Launching UNC Press\u27s Office of Scholarly Publishing Services John McLeod, University of North Carolina Press In August 2015, UNC Press launched the Office of Scholarly Publishing Services (OSPS) to engage with the seventeen schools in the UNC System, and to provide access to a range of sustainable, mission-driven publishing models and solutions. From the earliest planning stages, John Sherer, Director of UNC Press, and former UNC System President Tom Ross, envisioned that the system libraries would serve as a central access point through which the OSPS could connect with each campus. This presentation will explore how the OSPS was conceived and ultimately approved by UNC’s University Library Advisory Council. Specific projects will be discussed that are underway with numerous libraries, including UNC Chapel Hill, Appalachian State University, North Carolina State University, and UNC Asheville. Initial campus visits will have been completed with most of the schools by the time of the LPC meeting and results of those visits will be discussed. Although the OSPS is similar to initiatives at the University of Michigan Press and other university presses and libraries, the OSPS is unique in its engagement with libraries throughout a university system. The presentation will explore how the OSPS has created flexible business and financial models that are in line with a variety of library goals, missions, and budgets