University of North Texas

UNT Libraries, in collaboration with more than 50 other academic libraries and the Educopia Institute, has joined a two-year (2013-2014) project to create the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC).

The project emerged from conversations between Purdue University, the University of North Texas and Virginia Tech regarding the need for a community dedicated to advancing the field of library publishing.

UNT Libraries, as a founding institution, will play an integral role in the design and implementation of the coalition.

• Learn more: Spencer Keralis, right, UNT Digital Scholarship Co-Operative, 940-369-6884.

Academic libraries and the researchers and organizations they support are facing a new paradigm in scholarly publishing.

The web, information and social media technologies, and the Open Source and Open Access movements are changing the framework in which scholarship is created, collected, organized and disseminated. Yet, as shown by the highly regarded,Strategies for Success project, library-based publishing groups lack a central space where they can meet, work together, share information and confront common issues.

Through support from Educopia and participating institutions, the LPC project will encourage the design of a collaborative network that addresses an evolving, distributed and diverse range of library production and publishing practices.

During the first stage of the project, the LPC’s project team will document and evaluate how best to structure this initiative to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing. The project team will produce several concrete deliverables, including:

• Targeted research that will focus on costs, staffing and how libraries are financing these ventures.
• Compilation of a directory of existing library publishing services, including staff contacts, types of products produced and software platforms utilized.
• A forum for networking and sharing communications about library publishing services, including an annual event and ongoing virtual training and community-building activities.
• The design and implementation of the Library Publishing Coalition as an ongoing, institutionally owned organization that serves the needs of this community.

- Caroline Booth, director of marketing and communications, UNT Libraries