A grant from the Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS) will allow four U of I librarians to create an online curriculum focused on policy surrounding library publishing groups. This team consists of Sara Benson, Copyright Librarian and Assistant Professor (project leader); Harriett Green, Interim Head of Scholarly Communications & Publishing and Associate Professor; Merinda Hensley, Digital Scholarship Liaison and Instruction Librarian and Associate Professor; and Janet Swatscheno, Visiting Digital Publishing Specialist.

The team will work from now until December developing and writing the various materials required for their 15 hours of online course content for the Policy module. Team lead Sara Benson explained, “The curriculum will be aimed at librarians and iSchool students, and will assist them with big picture thinking about how to work through issues of workflow, copyright, author’s agreements, and more.”

Associate University Librarian for Research and Professor Beth Namachchivaya welcomed the chance for the Illinois to further its contribution to the field of library publishing: “Libraries in the digital age are increasingly involved with scholars in publishing and providing access to their research output, much earlier in the process than the traditional print-based library. This award opens up a tremendous opportunity for Illinois—the iSchool and the Library– to develop and evaluate a sound pedagogical approach for iSchools and libraries to integrate scholarly digital publishing programs into library progams.”

The project is a joint effort between the Educopia Institute, the Library Publishing Coalition, the Public Knowledge Project, North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG), and BlueSky to BluePrint. These groups are all engaged in a 2-year IMLS research grant to design and implement a competency-based curriculum for library publishing. Their website explains the curriculum will be a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous modules that will be open and free for adaptation, with the idea that it can empower librarians to meet local demand for scholarly publishing activities. The hope is for the project to contribute to a more equitable publishing environment in libraries. In addition to the Policy module, other participating institutions will produce content related to modules on selecting and managing content, measuring impact, and ensuring sustainability.

In April of 2018, the U of I team will participate as panelists at the Library Publishing Forum to discuss the finalized project. The project directors will award the U of I team an honorarium upon the curriculum’s completion.