A Library Publishing Manifesto

Authors

Paul Royster, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

Paul Royster

Date of this Version

1-2015

Citation

Against the Grain, December 2014 - January 2015 < http://www.against-the-grain.com > pp. 37-40.

Comments

Copyright (c) 2015 Paul Royster. Re-use permitted.

"Download" button links to an unredacted version. The ATG-published version is attached below as a related file.

Abstract

This is an invited piece (solicited by Bob Nardini) for a special issue of Against the Grain on libraries and university presses. Bob writes:

Wait till you read Paul Royster, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Paul, in “A Library Publishing Manifesto,” explains exactly why he thinks library publishing is needed to atone for the “sins” of commercial publishers and what he counts as the failings of university presses. If readers find his contribution “overly rhetorical” or “hyperbolic,” as he admits they might, they’ll be clear on where Paul stands. They’ll also find as vigorous an argument for the value of library publishing as they’re likely to encounter anywhere, as well as some practical advice for library publishers, all of it based in part upon what Paul has learned directing Zea Books, Nebraska’s own program. Last spring I heard Paul deliver a version of his article at the Library Publishing Forum, a meeting mentioned by several contributors. Library publishers and university press publishers were side-by-side for the first time at a national meeting like this one, and when they met in Kansas City there was an extraordinary level of energy. Sometimes it was energy over what libraries and university presses could do together. Sometimes it was energy over what libraries should do on their own. Sometimes the mood was friendly. Sometimes it was not. If there was a consensus at all, it was that everyone experienced a degree of creative tension that’s rare at any conference.