Transforming the Publishing Academy: How Moving Online and Focusing on Diversity and Inclusion Made Scholarly Publishing Support More Accessible to Graduate Students

Academic libraries frequently offer general research support services such as literature searching and citation management workshops for graduate students, however specific scholarly communications topics such as writing for an academic publication are less frequently addressed (Gannon-Leary & Bent, 2010; Perini & Calcagno, 2013). Support for scholarly publishing, data management and other scholarly communication topics are increasingly needed, and are the type of challenges with which librarians can assist. The University of Louisville Libraries in collaboration with the Graduate School offer a biennial, interdisciplinary, five-week publishing academy for graduate students. The Publishing Academy is designed to introduce students to the scholarly publishing landscape and offer practical tips for writing and publishing in peer-reviewed journals. The first week of the academy is an introduction to the academy with the librarians leading the effort along with a tenured faculty panel discussion about academic publishing; the second week is focused on selecting a journal for one’s publication and covers topics such as copyright and open access as well as journal metrics; the third week covers writing for a publication; the fourth week is an early career (pre-tenure) and non-tenure track faculty panel discussion, and the last week is a wrap-up and a discussion about current issues in scholarly publishing. In Spring 2021, the Publishing Academy moved to an online format due to COVID, and was enhanced with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) content. In addition to the general overview of the publishing academy and the content and format of each session, the presenters will discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with moving an in-person program to a fully virtual format, and purposefully integrating DEI into the academy. We will share student feedback, lessons learned from the experiences, and changes we will make to the future academies. By the end of the presentation, the attendees will be able to list potential topics to cover, identify campus partnerships, reflect on how to integrate DEI into programming, and outline the potential steps for the development or enhancement of a similar program on their campus. Gannon-Leary, P., & Bent, M. (2010). Writing for publication and the role of the library: “Do have a cow, man!” (“Don\u27t have a cow, man”-Bart Simpson). New Review of Academic Librarianship, 16(1), 26-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614530903478870 Perini, M., & Calcagno, T. (2013, July). Research and Preparation for Academic Professionalism: The Role of the Academic Librarian. The Journal of the World Universities Forum, 6 (2), 13-25. https://doi.org/10.18848/1835-2030/CGP/v06i02/5682