OJC Executive Director Professor Caroline Edwards appeared as part of the opening panel of the second Open Institutional Publishing Association (OIPA) Symposium held at University of Sussex in June. OIPA is a community of practice that supports institutionally-based open access publishers and publishing services. Members of OIPA include several OJC publisher members – Aberdeen University Press, Edinburgh Diamond, Open Library of the Humanities, UCL Press, University of Westminster Press and LSE Press.
The opening panel addressed why open institutional publishing is more important than ever in a time of crisis for higher education. Caroline appeared on a panel with Ross Mounce from Arcadia, Jane Harvell, Director of Library, Culture and Heritage at University of Sussex and Anna-Maria Sichani, Research Associate in Digital Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. The event also heard from OIPA members on topics such as developing an AI policy, open source software, commissioning, and about experiences in the setting up and development of ‘new’ university presses. The event finished with a panel on advocacy for institutionally-based publishing, with Charles Watkinson, University of Michigan Press Director, Allison Levy, Head of Digital Scholarship at Brown University and Nicky Borowiec, a brand strategist and consultant for the publishing industry.
The day provided a real showcase of how open institutional publishing is growing and flourishing as well as demonstrating the value it offers – award winning publishing, global reach, support for local author communities as well as increased opportunities for scholars across the world to publish open access, and in supporting fairer, more diverse and more sustainable publishing models.
Watch the recording at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESOzUh17BWE
With thanks to Philippa Grand, Head of Publishing at LSE Press, for providing the text of this news article.