Library Publishing Forum 2017
Evolution, intersection, and exploration in library publishing 

The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) is accepting proposals for the 2017 Library Publishing Forum, to be held March 20 - 22, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. An international, community-led organization with over 60 member libraries, the LPC promotes the development of innovative, sustainable publishing services in academic and research libraries to support content creators as they generate, advance, and disseminate knowledge.

Library publishing programs often venture into new territory: experimenting with integrating digital media into scholarly works, reaching out to new partners and audiences, turning pilot projects into fully-operational initiatives, encountering unforeseen challenges, and boldly going where few libraries have gone before.  At the 2017 Library Publishing Forum, we invite library publishers and partners to share their experiences and ideas, identify opportunities for collaboration, strengthen a community of practice, and explore strategies for navigating this expanding and evolving subfield of academic publishing.

We welcome proposals from Library Publishing Coalition members and nonmembers, including librarians, university press staff, publishing service providers (vendors), scholars, students, and other scholarly communications and publishing professionals. We especially encourage first-time presenters and representatives of small and emerging publishing programs to submit proposals.
We invite proposals for long form (40-60 minutes) and short form (10-15 minutes) sessions, in the following formats. Proposals for long form sessions must involve multiple speakers or actively engage participants in discussion or other activities. 

• Speakers: individual or panel presentations, debates, panel discussions, lightning talks, case studies, manifestos, critiques. 
• Collaborative Conversations:  birds-of-a-feather, roundtables, unconference-style sessions, sharing ideas and approaches, collaborative problem-solving.
• Applied Practice:  workshops, hackathons, remixing, doing, creating, hands-on activities.

Other formats and approaches are very welcome, especially sessions that incorporate interactivity and audience participation.

We invite presentations that address any library publishing topic. Topics that we find interesting and timely include:

• Intersections & Connections - building teams, partnerships, making connections within & beyond institutions
• Merging & “Mainstreaming” - integrating publishing into the core (and expected) services of an academic library, evolving from experimental to established  
• Inclusion & Expansion - advancing a plurality of voices and perspectives by design in library publishing
• Flops & Failures - overcoming challenges, moving on from failures, learning quickly from what hasn’t worked in order to establish what does 
• Teaching & Reaching - how can library publishing enhance learning for students and professionals both in and beyond librarianship? 
• Predicting & Preserving - how are library publishers grappling with usage data/predictive analytics and the preservation of digital scholarship outputs?
• Unconventional & Unexpected - challenging conventional wisdom, exploring off-the-wall approaches, drawing inspiration from unusual sources.  

For any session, please specify short form (10-15 minutes) or long form (45-60 minutes).

Speakers: 
Please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words.

This format is for one or more speakers sharing information and ideas, in a traditional conference presentation format.  Sessions in this format might include lightning talks (submitted individually or as a group), case study or theory presentations, panel discussions, manifestos or critiques, debates, or presentations meant to provoke thought or spark conversation. 

Your abstract should describe the proposed session, identify all presenters in a group session, and explain what attendees will learn, gain, or take away from the session.

Collaborative Conversations
Please provide an abstract of no more than 500 words.

This format is for highly interactive, less formal sessions, where session presenters are more like guides and facilitators, with attendees participating on a more equal and collaborative basis.  Sessions in this format could include birds-of-a-feather talks, roundtable discussions, unconference-style collaboration, World Cafe model conversations, brainstorming, etc.  

Your abstract should describe the proposed session, identify all session leaders, and explain the results or learning objectives you hope to achieve.

Applied Practice
Please provide an abstract of no more than 500 words.

This format is for hands-on, interactive sessions, where participants and facilitators will practice skills, explore tools, or develop resources.  Sessions in this format could include a hackathon, a workshop, collaboratively developing an information resource, a Wikipedia editathon, a refresher or introduction to a publishing tool, and other hands-on activities.

Other formats and approaches are very welcome, especially sessions that incorporate interactivity and audience participation.  

Submissions

Review
The LPC Program Committee will review and accept abstracts based on their relevance to the conference theme and audience, the clarity of description, and their potential for inspiring discussion, collaboration, and innovation. 

Deadlines
Submission Deadline: December 13, 2016
Acceptance Notification: January 5, 2016

How to Submit
Submit proposals here.

Eligibility & Requirements
We welcome proposals from librarians, university press staff, publishing service providers (vendors), scholars, students, and other scholarly communications and publishing professionals, at both LPC member institutions and non-member institutions, large and small.

Presenters must register for and attend the conference. Presenters must also sign and submit a speaker agreement granting permission to the LPC to distribute their slides online with a CC-BY license. Some sessions will be recorded and distributed online, with permission from the presenters. These presenters will also be asked to sign and submit an agreement granting permission to the LPC to record presentations and distribute recordings online with a CC-BY license. Exceptions to the CC-BY license will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

For additional information about the 2017 Library Publishing Forum, please visit the event page on the LPC website: http://librarypublishing.org/events/lpforum17