Skills & Training for Library Publishing

library publishing services
skills, characteristics, & culture

Shana Kimball
Head, Publishing Services, Outreach, & Strategic Development
kimballs@umich.edu | @shanakimball

May 5, 2011
Library Publishing Services: Strategies for Success IMLS Workshop
Atlanta, GA

Thursday, May 5, 2011

1. library publishing services @ michigan

2. my professional dev in library publishing

3. my librarian colleagues on skills & training

4. characteristics & culture in library publishing


a suite of imprints and services dedicated to
publishing and preserving the scholarly record


A brief history of publishing at the University of Michigan
from the beginning of time to the present:

1858: UM publishes first book with university imprint (on asteroids)
1930: University of Michigan Press
1993: Mosaic Web Browser
1993-present: All hell breaks loose
2000: Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library
2004: Deep Blue (IR)
2009: Copyright Office
March 2009: UM Press reports within Library
late 2009: MPublishing; AUL for Publishing hired


the piece
I’ll talk
about
today

[2000-2010]


library publishing services @ michigan

journal publishing
digital scholarly projects
for-fee hosting services
reprint program & POD
support for new model publishing


my professional development in library publishing


#alt-ac


my librarian colleagues (and me) on skills & training

anecdata


If you attended library school, how did it help
prepare you to work in library publishing?

“Many of the areas I explored in library school
have application in publishing, notably user “It gave me context for the crisis in scholarly
interface design and assessment, project communication, for understanding that
management, metadata standards and their certain information services don't work in a
application, and mark-up languages and their market, for understanding the ontology of
application. In addition, it's been helpful to documents and text, for an understanding of
understand how libraries think about managing cataloging, and for some technology skills.”
their acquisitions and their purchasing workflows.”

“It shaped the way I thought about information, period. Accessibility, preservation,
copyright, representing it, managing large amounts of it, all of that. I just had not thought
about these things before. ... Library school DID NOT expose me to anything specific about
the publishing industry, or how publishing is done, nor did it really train me in the specific
standards and tools that are relevant (like ePub).”


Besides formal education, what professional development
experiences helped train you for your work as a library
publishing professional?

Conference & professional meeting attendance
Involvement in professional service (TEI Consortium,
journal service, conference committees)
Participating in panels, giving talks, writing articles
Monitoring professional discussions online (blogs,
list-servs, Twitter)
Ongoing conversations with scholars, other
publishing professionals, librarians


In your view, would it be possible to retrain existing staﬀ, or is
hiring new talent the only way to create a publishing program?

retraining is totally possible

(given real support to do so)


What might be the core elements in a syllabus
on library-based publishing?

scholarly publishing 101 -- the publishing business models & and
ecosystem, its history and current funding options
dynamics
publishing in/and the library -- how
rights & permission in the digital age does our work relate to that of the rest
of the library?
creating & preserving digital content
standards-based web design & dev
practicum in working with scholars
across the disciplines usability & information architecture

digital publishing concepts and tools social media & online communities in
higher ed
content discovery and attention
aggregation new product & service design

project management graphic design for print publishing


How would you characterize the needed skill
sets for library publishing professionals?

interest in information access, preservation, copyright

familiarity with metadata standards, text markup, project management,
information design, usability, assessment

ability to work collaboratively across diverse skill sets and backgrounds

comfort with interacting & negotiating with faculty

ﬂexibility & creativity in assembling existing tools and skills

high degree of attention to emerging publishing opportunities & ability to locate those
in an academic context

awareness of traditional publishing values and processes


characteristics & culture in library publishing


Learn by doing


Take on new projects that will stretch
your existing skill sets



(without too much growing pain)



(without too much growing pain)

(with partners who are willing to learn with you)


Take small risks that make sense


Develop partnerships that capitalize on
complementary skill sets


How can we use what we're doing here over there?


Learn from the community


Share the Results


publishing.umich.edu


#pubcamp?


u !
yo
nk
tha

kimballs@umich.edu
@shanakimball


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