Establishing a Sustainable Editorial Labor and Staffing Model

Establishing a Sustainable Editorial Labor and Staffing Model for a Library-Based Multimodal Publishing Service Daniel G. Tracy Head, Scholarly Communication and Publishing University of Illinois @dtracy 2

History of Illinois Open Publishing Network (IOPN) • Initiated in 2015 through a Mellon Publishing Without Walls grant, including the University Library, School of Information Sciences, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, and Department of African-American Studies. • Research, Outreach, and Production Agenda • Focus, related to grant, on open access, born digital publications—particularly multimodal publications—and researching needs of humanities scholars for digital publishing. • Prior history of library support for some multimodal platforms in instruction and research, particularly Omeka and Scalar. Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

IOPN Imprints Windsor & Downs Press Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2 Publishing Without Walls IOPN Journals

The Problem • Needs of scholars to be able to publish work not possible in print… • …but with more assurances that working with a press can provide. Scholars see the graveyard of web projects and are concerned about longevity (Fenlon, Senseney, Bonn, and Swatscheno, 2019). • Registration, archiving. For some, vetting/peer review. • …and also with some editorial support for the creation process. • Most of our authors are doing this for the first time. Need coaching on the writing process appropriate to IOPN platforms, even if they have a “vision. ” • At the same time: IOPN staff are limited and need to sleep. Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

Making the Model Work: a Tradeoff • Challenge: resisting the “boutique” while also allowing for new forms of scholarly production that need care at least as much as “scale. ” • Solution: three platforms chosen to support distinct genres. • Pressbooks: most conventional. Long-form linear text with limited multimedia. Monographs, open textbooks. • Omeka S: Curated digital exhibits. Companion sites for traditional publications. • Scalar: Media-heavy, possibly nonlinear, scholarly arguments. Possibility for companion sites for traditional publications. • The point is not to serve every need but support three common needs that go beyond options at traditional publication venues. Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

Vinopal & Mc. Cormick (2013) Tiered Model IOPN: A Modified Tier 3 • Selective; • Longer-term involvement; • Minor styling customization assistance; • Platform customizations in cases where it serves long-term publishing needs and we can feed back to open source base code. • But also: minimum standards, best practices, policies, quality control. • One difference from this model: working with external authors. Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

IOPN Long-Form Pubs Workflow • Recruitment and Consultation • Exploratory Development • Experiment with sandbox installations of software. Ends with formal proposal and publication agreement. • Content Building and Initial Review • Building publication in production platform. • Ends with peer review (when appropriate) and final decision to publish. • Draft version of site may be live for solicitation of feedback. • Production • Copyediting, Tech and Accessibility Check, Identifiers and Catalog Records • Launch and Marketing Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

IOPN Staffing (Core) • Unit Head for Scholarly Communication and Publishing • Overall policy and management; recruitment and initial consultation. • Digital Publishing Specialist (Hiring now! Ask me during a break!) • Primary responsibility for production workflows and related editorial consults. Collaborate on policy development. Recruitment. • Research Programmer (dotted reporting line from IT) • Infrastructure. Occasional involvement in technical consults which may lead to feature development. Collaborate on policy and preservation workflows. • Graduate Assistant • Production and marketing support. • [Temporary PWW Support] Outreach Coordinators/Series Editors • Recruiting and peer review management for period of grant. Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

IOPN Staffing (Other Library Staff) • Copyright Librarian (in unit) • Initial publishing agreement development. Consults as necessary on copyright issues related to publications. • Repository Services Librarian (in unit) • Collaboration on digital preservation workflows. • Digital Humanities Librarian (in unit) and Digital Scholarship Functional Specialists (GIS, Visualization, Media Creation etc. ) • Additional consultation support as needed. • E-resources Cataloger • Library catalog record, push to World. Cat. • Possibilities for subject specialists for content recruitment. Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

Where do we sink our time/costs vs Traditional UP Workflows (Maron et al. )? • Like University Presses, the biggest issue is staff time, particularly around acquisitions and editing processes. • Recruiting content. • Developmental editing and coaching on writing process. Easiness is subjective—what is easy for one user may not be for another. It is important to understand that easiness is subjective because it is situated and dependent upon other factors. These factors include the particular nature of the material being worked with (i. e. , whether the material is text or image-based), and its condition (i. e. , whether a dataset has been examined and normalized), as well as the availability (or lack) of training or experience that provides a user with relevant contextual knowledge. – Paige Morgan (2018) Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

Where do we save on time and costs vs. Traditional UP Workflows (Maron et al. ) • Almost no per-project design costs because that is built into platforms and accompanying themes. Occasional consults on custom CSS. • Production costs related to file management/preservation also minimal, although not eliminated. • Exception: Addition of “tech check” around same time as copyediting stage. • Marketing has been next to none beyond email list announcements and creation of catalog records. This will change, but not a lot. Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

Sustainable—At What Scale? • 2017: 1 st long-form publication • 2018: 2 nd long-form publication • 2019: 5 long-form publications (so far) • Future: …maximum scale? Look to small independent presses. The difference between scalable and nonscalable designs cannot be placed a priori on a normative scale. – Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (2012) Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

Thank you! IOPN Team (iopn. library. Illinois. edu) • Alex Dryden, Kaylen Dwyer PWW Team • marilyn thomas-houston, Maria Bonn • PIs: John Wilkin, Antoinette Burton, Ron Bailey, Allen Renear PWW Emeritus • Megan Senseney, Chris Maden, Joshua Lynch, Janet Swatscheno, La. Tesha Velez, Katrina Fenlon, Aaron Mc. Collough, Harriett Green Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2

Works Cited • Fenlon, Katrina, Megan Senseney, Maria Bonn, and Janet Swatscheno. “Humanities Scholars and Library-Based Digital Publishing: New Forms of Publication, New Audiences, New Publishing Roles. ” Journal of Scholarly Publishing 50. 3 (2019): 159 -82. • Maron, Nancy, et al. “The Costs of Publishing Monographs: Toward a Transparent Methodology. ” The Journal of Electronic Publishing 19. 1 (2016). • Morgan, Paige. “The Consequences of Framing Digital Humanities Tools as Easy to Use. ” College & Undergraduate Libraries 25. 3 (2018): 211 -31. • Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. “On Nonscalability: The Living World Is Not Amenable to Precision-Nested Scales. ” Common Knowledge 18. 3 (2012): 505 -24. • Vinopal, Jennifer, and Monica Mc. Cormick. “Supporting Digital Scholarship in Research Libraries: Scalability and Sustainability. ” Journal of Library Administration 53. 1 (2013): 27 -42. Daniel G. Tracy / @dtracy 2