Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success

In 2007, 65% of ARL members were reported to be either offering or developing publishing services (Hahn, 2008). A new survey, conducted by Purdue University, Georgia Tech, and University of Utah Libraries as part of an IMLSfunded research project, suggests that almost 80% of ARL members are now offering publishing services and that this is also an active area of interest in Oberlin Group (liberal arts college) and medium-sized institutions. It also provides a richer picture of an increasingly mature area of academic library service provision, well aligned with issues of emerging roles and new models of scholarly communication. This session reports on this important yearlong research project surveying the state of "library publishing services" in 2011 and examines the challenges and opportunities library publishers face in the areas of technological infrastructure, skills and processes, and organization and sustainability. Attendees can expect to: learn about the opportunities of becoming involved in providing publishing services from within the library; get practical tips on growing existing programs from librarians active in this space; and receive some honest assessments of the challenges institutions involved in this area of new entrepreneurship have faced and how they have overcome them. Through research conducted between October 2010 and end of September 2011, the “Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success” project aimed to advance the professionalism of library-based publishing by identifying successful library publishing strategies and services, highlighting best practices, and recommending priorities for building capacity. Supported by a Collaborative Planning Grant from IMLS, with additional support from Berkeley Electronic Press, Microsoft Research, and SPARC, the project involved researchers from Purdue University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah, as well as consultants October Ivins and Raym Crow. To accomplish the project goals, the researchers employed four strategies: A survey of 223 library deans and directors (from the Association of Research Libraries [ARL], the Oberlin Group, and University Libraries Group [ULG]); three sustainability case studies of publishing programs at Purdue (ejournals), Georgia Tech (conference proceedings), Utah (monographs); three consultative/communitybuilding workshops at Georgia Tech (May 4-6), Utah (May 11-13) and Purdue (May 18-20, 2011); and a review of existing literature. From the survey, a broad picture of the state of library publishing services in North America in late 2010, the date of the survey, emerged. Approximately half (55%) of all respondents to the survey indicated having or developing library publishing services. Interest in such services varied by institution size, with over three-quarters of ARLs being interested, compared to 30% of Oberlin Group institutions. Most libraries with existing programs anticipated increasing the program’s scale or scope in the next year. About three-quarters of the programs published between one and six journals, the majority of which were only distributed electronically and were less than three years old. About half of the programs published conference proceedings, technical reports, or monographs; most were published electronically, but with some print-on-demand distribution. As well as providing an interesting snapshot of current practice, the survey provided some longitudinal information since many of the questions followed those in Karla Hahn’s earlier study of research library publishing services. With a broadly comparable response rate from ARL institutions in her 2007 survey, Hahn found that 65% had either implemented or planned to implement library publishing services, compared to almost 80% in late 2010.