Challenges and Opportunities in Developing a University Press and Library Publishing Collaboration

Abstract

The past decade has seen an increase both in the number of library publishing programs and in the number of university presses reporting to their institution's library. While closer collaboration between library publishers and university presses at the same institution might seem like a like a natural outgrowth of these trends, differences in culture, financial constraints, and organizational structure can represent significant barriers to successful library-press initiatives. In the spring of 2024, Indiana University, having both a large, internationally recognized press and a well-established library publishing program, sought to explore opportunities for greater collaboration between these two largely separate organizations. This project began with a series of meetings in which IU library and press staff shared insights into their organizational strengths and inventoried potential avenues for collaboration. In this informational session, representatives from the IU Press staff, the IU library publishing program, and the IU libraries administration will offer their perspectives on this collaboration's progress thus far, sharing insights into what works and what does not when libraries and presses seek to join forces. We have found, for instance, that expanding previously established library-press relationships and working together to build shared infrastructure are promising starting points for greater collaboration. This session will explore, in particular, the integration of the IU press and libraries' journal publishing programs. Both programs have many titles operating on the same publishing platform (Open Journal Systems) while also being supported by the same software development team. And as we were already collaborating on promotion and typesetting services on a small scale, we decided to co-develop an Indiana University Publishing website that would centralize our journal programs' marketing, policies, services, and documentation. We plan to complete the new website in the coming year, and as open access publishing has proven to be productive for library-press collaborations in other areas as well, we also hope to eventually integrate our OER and OA books programs into this new joint venture.