This workshop will provide insights into the ongoing activities to adopt open workflows within library publishing. Via the example of Iowa State University Digital Press, we will explore how libraries can collaborate with open infrastructures such as Thoth Open Metadata, Janeway, and Pressbooks to implement open practices utilising open data and open protocols to improve findability of their valuable outputs. ISU Digital Press is considering the adoption of an open ecosystem of interoperable, community-led infrastructures, covering aspects of editorial (Janeway & Pressbooks) and metadata management (Thoth Open Metadata), hosting and distribution (Thoth Open Metadata & OAPEN), discoverability (Directory of Open Access Books, multiple aggregators via Thoth), archiving (Thoth Open Archiving Network), and usage monitoring (OPERAS/Thoth) of open access books. By collaborating to ensure interoperability and accessible, seamless workflows across vital infrastructures that meet individual publisher needs, we showcase how a more robust, sustainable, and equitable ecosystem for open access books is being embedded by library publishers. We will also seek to shed light on questions and issues that have emerged during the adoption of those open workflows, such as that of mapping different forms of long-form publishing outputs (e.g. textbooks, OER in a broader sense) onto metadata management, dissemination, and archiving processes to ensure long-term availability of those open resources, Following a round of brief introductory presentations from Iowa State University Digital Press, and the infrastructures involved, we invite participants to engage in an open discussion of the topics raised, to learn more about attendants’ backgrounds, needs, and recommendations – with an aim to scope applicability of the proposed workflows to different national and regional contexts and corresponding specificities that exist in library publishing across the globe.
Working with authors can be a rewarding, complex, and sometimes frustrating process. Expectations can vary, emotions can run high, and communication can be misinterpreted. How can publishing professionals more effectively provide and receive constructive feedback to facilitate meaningful conversations? In 2024, Angela Watters and Corinne Guimont were assigned as peer mentors through the LPC Peer Mentor program and through our conversations we shared our experiences working with complex projects and authors and the strategies we took to navigate these situations. In this workshop, we plan to share some of our strategies within the framework from the books Crucial Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback. We will examine the three types of feedback (appreciation, coaching, and evaluation) and how to both give and receive feedback especially when the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions are strong (as is often the case when working with an author who is sharing work they have been committed to for several years). We will share the general frameworks and ideas presented by the two books and then provide publishing specific scenarios for attendees to discuss in small groups and then share back to the larger group. We will also provide time for attendees to share their own experiences and strategies for navigating complex, yet constructive, conversations with authors.
This session is part of the Gates Foundation funded project, Mapping Diamond Open Access Journals: A Nationwide Study of the U.S. Scholarly Publishing Landscape, conducted by Lyrasis, the Big Ten Academic Alliance Center for Library Programs, and the California Digital Library, with assessment support from Goff Group LLC. The project seeks to generate a comprehensive understanding of the U.S. Diamond Open Access (OA) publishing ecosystem to strengthen non-commercial scholarly communication and mobilize stakeholders for investment, infrastructure, and policy guidance. A central component of the project is a national survey of Diamond OA publishers, complemented by interviews and focus groups, to better understand who is publishing Diamond OA journals, how this work is organized and resourced, and where key challenges and opportunities lie. In this interactive session, we will share a preview of preliminary survey results, inviting library publishers, the core constituency for this project, to engage in the early stages of meaning making of the data. Participants will be asked to reflect on whether the findings align with lived experience, what feels missing or mischaracterized, and what additional questions or areas of focus should shape the next phase of the project. Feedback from the library publishing community is essential for validating findings, identifying gaps, and ensuring the project reflects community priorities. Facilitated discussion will allow attendees to share needs, highlight challenges and successes, and explore what forms of support would most meaningfully strengthen Diamond OA journal publishing. Participants will engage directly with project team members, contributing insights that surveys alone cannot capture and helping guide subsequent analysis and project directions.
Library publishers have developed robust workflows for digital journals and open educational resources (OER). Yet, the vast majority of our physical collections remain static, “finished” products of a traditional, often exclusionary canon. While critical pedagogy encourages students to “remix” and “intervene” in these texts, libraries lack the publishing infrastructure to legitimize and preserve these physical interventions. This workshop proposes a new model: “Guerilla Publishing.” In this model, libraries do not just host finished books; they act as platforms for student-authored “tipped-in” pages, marginalia, and physical inserts that critique or expand the existing collection, utilizing weeded, discarded, or non-library books. Since this model challenges standard library operations, this session functions as a design charrette. Participants will work collaboratively to blueprint the infrastructure required to turn “student projects” into a “published record.” We will allow attendees to self select into one of two core operational hurdles to engage with: 1. The Policy Layer: How do we distinguish between “defacement” and “enrichment”? We will draft a “Statement of Participatory Stewardship.” 2. The Metadata Layer: How can cataloging workflows be adapted (e.g., local notes, 590 fields, linked digital surrogates) to make ephemeral student contributions discoverable? Participants will leave with a collaborative “Guerilla Publishing Toolkit”—a draft framework for managing student-authored physical interventions in their own libraries. This session bridges the gap between critical library instruction and the operational realities of library publishing.
