Library publishing, also known as campus-based publishing, is the practice of an academic library providing
publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
services.
Concept
A library publishing service usually publishes
academic journals
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...
and often provides a broader range of publishing services as well. This can include publishing other formats such as scholarly
monographs
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograp ...
and
conference proceedings
In academia and librarianship, conference proceedings is a collection of academic papers published in the context of an academic conference or workshop. Conference proceedings typically contain the contributions made by researchers at the confer ...
. It generally has a preference for
open access
Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...
publishing.
Library publishing often focuses on electronic publishing rather than print, thus complementing the role of traditional academic presses. Sometimes a library and a
university press
A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by schola ...
based at the same institution will form a partnership, with each focusing on their own area of expertise.
For example, the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
library publishing service publishes peer-reviewed journals and also collaborates with the university press to publish
open access monographs.
Software is available to manage the journal publication process. The open source
Open Journal Systems by the
Public Knowledge Project
The Public Knowledge Project (PKP) is a non-profit research initiative that is focused on the importance of making the results of publicly funded research freely available through open access policies, and on developing strategies for making th ...
, and
Digital Commons'
bepress
Bepress is a commercial, academic software firm owned by RELX Group. It began in 1999 as the Berkeley Electronic Press, co-founded by academics Robert Cooter and Aaron Edlin. It makes products and services to support scholarly communication, ...
, are both widely used by library publishing services. Some libraries use Open Journal Systems to create
overlay journal
An overlay journal or overlay ejournal is a type of open access academic journal, almost always an online electronic journal (ejournal), that does not produce its own content, but selects from texts that are already freely available online. While ...
s which present scholarly content that is held in an
institutional repository
An institutional repository is an archive for collecting, preserving, and disseminating digital copies of the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution. Academics also utilize their IRs for archiving published work ...
.
History
Library publishing has a long history and has been around since before the Internet.
In 1990, academic libraries published two of the first scholarly electronic journals on the Internet. The University of Houston Libraries began publishing ''The Public-Access Computer Systems Review'' and the Virginia Tech University Libraries began publishing the ''Journal of the International Academy of Hospitality Research.''
The Synergies project (2007-2011) was a collaboration between different Canadian universities to create infrastructure to support institutional publishing activities. A survey conducted by Hahn in 2008 found that at that time 65% of research libraries in North America either had a library publishing service or were considering creating one.
In 2011 in the UK,
Jisc
Jisc is a United Kingdom not-for-profit company that provides network and IT services and digital resources in support of further and higher education institutions and research as well as not-for-profits and the public sector.
History
T ...
funded three library publishing projects: Huddersfield Open Access Publishing (HOAP) at the
University of Huddersfield
, mottoeng = Thus not for you alone
, established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £2.47 million (2015)
, chancellor = George W. Buckley
, vice_chancell ...
, SAS Open Journals at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...
, and EPICURE at
UCL.
The Library Publishing Coalition was launched in 2013 to provide a hub for library publishing activities.
In October 2013, during
Open Access Week
Open Access Week is an annual scholarly communication event focusing on open access and related topics. It takes place globally during the last full week of October in a multitude of locations both on- and offline. Typical activities include t ...
, they launched a Library Publishing Directory which contains information about library publishing activities at 115 academic and research libraries.
See also
*
:Academic journals published by university libraries
*
:Library publishing
*
Scholarly commons
*
University press
A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by schola ...
References
Further reading
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External links
Library Publishing CoalitionCampus-based Publishing Resource Center
{{Authority control
Academic publishing
Open access (publishing)
Electronic publishing