15 November 2024
Rebecca Wojturska, Comms Officer, Open Institutional Publishing Association
The Open Institutional Publishing Association (OIPA) was founded to connect and encourage a diverse range of university presses and university-affiliated publishing operations striving for open access. After receiving a UKSG Innovation Award (thank you, UKSG!), the group organised a one-day symposium on 10th June 2024 at the University of York. The symposium presented a fantastic opportunity for OIPA members to meet in person for the first time, connecting publishers, librarians, and other important stakeholders, including Copim and Open Book Futures.
Keynotes
The day started strong with an introduction by OIPA Chair, Kate Petherbridge (also Press Manager for White Rose University Press and White Rose Libraries Executive Manager), who reminded attendees of the strength that results from collaboration and of the importance of diversity within open institutional publishing. Kate then introduced three exceptional keynote speakers: Jane Buggle (Institute Librarian, Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Convenor of the IFLA Library Publishing Special Interest Group and a founder and Co-Manager of the IOAP (Irish Open Access Publishers) Community of Practice), Sarah Thompson (Head of Content and Open Access, University of York), and Andrew Barker (Director of Library Services and Learning Development, Lancaster University).
Jane Buggle spoke of publishing being at a crossroads and the importance of recognising your community and engaging champions of Open Access. She told a rapt audience about the Irish Open Access Publishers (IOAP) group, and how they plan to raise awareness of and advance their vision, mission and values.
Next up, Sarah Thompson spoke of the importance of university values in open research leadership and related policies, as well as of the challenges of doing this across an institution. She gave attendees practical advice on ways to increase engagement with staff, including training, skills development and raising awareness of Open Educational Resource (OER) services.
Finally, Andrew Barker spoke of now being an exciting time for librarians and institutional publishers, as we see an evolution of the library’s role from service to partner due to Open Access. He shared exciting news of Lancaster University’s Trailblazers scheme for ECRs, which aims to increase engagement, and spoke of how it’s only by trying things that we will get to where we want to be.
A huge thank you to our keynotes for providing such inspiring and helpful talks, with plenty of information to take away. As one attendee commented, the keynotes provided a “really great overview showing some of the practical ways institutions are reacting to the changing OA environment.”
Workshops
The afternoon was largely used to facilitate two workshops: Advocating for Institutional Open Access Publishing (led by Rebecca Wojturska, Edinburgh Diamond, the University of Edinburgh, and Philippa Grand, LSE Press) and Skills and Challenges (led by Dr Emma Gallon, University of London Press, and Dominique Walker, Scottish Universities Press). The aim of the workshops was to get members mingling and talking, with the set up allowing attendees to address topics collectively.
Workshop: Advocating for Institutional Open Access Publishing
The first workshop focused on discussion around the challenges of promoting a press/publishing service, promoting content and publications, attracting authors and content, engaging with librarians, and how OIPA can help members achieve the above and more. A summary of recurring topics is listed below.
Challenges of OA publishing
● The need for closer relationships between librarians, academics, senior management, and publishers
● Clarity around messaging
● Transparency around publishing processes generally as well as of different models
● Raising awareness of the benefits and costs of Open Access publishing
● Conference and promotional activity costs
● Lack of capacity and relevant skillsets
● Sustainability
● Reputation
Ways OIPA can help
● Production of toolkits
● Demystify the publishing process and about OA
● Website as a hub of resources and contacts
● Promotion of successful case studies
● Group discounts for promotional activities
● Collective bargaining
● Mentoring, tutorials and workshops tailored to different audiences
● Development of OA advocates
● Advisory board development with various stakeholders represented
● Partnerships with similar organisations
● Social media presence
This workshop proved very fruitful and certainly gave the OIPA committee a lot to work with and take forward.
Workshop: Skills and Challenges
Next up, attendees turned their thoughts to skills development, reviewing gaps and challenges. A summary of recurring topics is listed below.
Areas of Concern, Pain Points and Challenges
• Clarity around policy and mandates
• AI
• Metadata consistency and quality
• Loss of skills through outsourcing
• Various models and their funding and visibility
• Metrics and reporting
• Uncertainly of resources
• Upskilling/training opportunities
• Permissions
• Politics & prestige
• Being taken seriously at industry forums
• Platform choice
The second workshop helped us understand more ways in which OIPA can help members, including identifying skill gaps and formulating helpful solutions.
Overall, the workshops were a hit! Attendees noted that there was a “strong sense of our community working towards common goals” and that “drawing out practical areas for collaboration was really interesting and useful.” Finally, a huge thank you too all who attended and got so involved in the workshops!
Lightning Talks
Last on the day’s agenda was a series of lightning talks, given by a variety of OIPA members. We heard from:
• Philippa Grand (LSE Press) who spoke about Open Access funding schemes
• Rebecca Wojturska (Edinburgh Diamond, the University of Edinburgh) who spoke about Diamond Open Access publishing support in the library
• Pat Gordon-Smith (UCL Press) who spoke about providing support for student-led publishing
• Leah Maughan who spoke about student publishing as a learning tool
• Emma Gallon (University of London Press) who spoke about using the Manifold platform to publish Open Access books
• Anna Grigson (University of Sheffield) who spoke of creating and sharing OERs and open textbooks within the institution and beyond.
The lightning talks were a fantastic way for attendees to gain an understanding of the rich variety of models that other members employ, identifying those working on similar projects. One attendee noted in the feedback form: “the lightning talks gave me more actions to follow up,” showing the importance of hearing directly from OIPA members.
Conclusion & Next Steps
After a lively day of keynotes, workshops and lightning talks, attendees said goodbye with hopes to meet again soon. The delicious catering provided by the University of York was soon scooped up to be taken home by various members, and some even ventured to the pub for a well-earned drink and a debrief.
Post-event, the OIPA committee sent out a feedback form and received plenty of constructive and positive remarks. Attendees noted that the event demonstrated “a great sense of purpose” as well as “the importance of community, a shared vision, and standards.” Someone remarked “it was a quality event from start to finish,” while another stated the symposium was “really well run and thoughtfully organised.” Finally, someone said “I hope there are more in future.”
One of the wonderful benefits of meeting in person is the ability to work together fluidly on common goals. As a result of the symposium, the OIPA committee will certainly be kept busy with some practical short- and long-term goals. Already the team has been hard at work on these, including preparing for an upcoming UKSG 2025 panel, compiling an advisory board to help steer the association, defining our goals and timeframes, and thinking about future symposiums and events.
Some of the goals identified as a result of the symposium so far are:
● Develop an online hub of resources on the OIPA website. This will include information on:
o publishing processes and workflows
o sustainability and finance models
o benefits and costs of Open Access publishing
o case studies
o links to already established resources and guidance
● Increased conference presence including stands and presentations to promote OIPA, our members and OA more generally
● Grow social media presence
● Look into developing a programme of workshops/tutorials
Overall, the OIPA symposium was a huge success, and it is clear there is plenty of appetite for more events like it. The OIPA committee looks forward to many more fruitful conversations to come!
One attendee noted “”It feels like OIPA is just getting started,” and they couldn’t be more right. Watch this space!