Library Publishing Coalition honors VCU’s Kirschner
Open Educational Resources Librarian Jessica Kirschner 
has received the 2019 Library Publishing Coalition Award for Exemplary Service.
The award recognizes substantial contributions by an LPC community member to advancing the mission vision, and values of the coalition. Kirschner chaired the Directory Task Force during the 2018-19 program year, and is now chair of the Directory Committee. She was nominated for the award because of her dedication and effective leadership in steering the publication of the 2020 directory and in revising the directory’s data model for the future. This award recognizes her contributions to the community.
The Library Publishing Coalition (or LPC) is a member organization of academic and research libraries–primarily from in the US and Canada–that participate in library publishing. VCU is a member. It not only creates a community for those participating in this emerging/evolving field, but also provides invaluable resources, such as the Library Publishing Curriculum, webinars, and the Library Publishing Directory.
The Library Publishing Directory provides a detailed overview of the publishing efforts of academic and research libraries, including types and numbers of publications, services provided, technologies used, staffing and more. It not only provides a reference for any wishing to review other library publishing programs or benchmark their own efforts, but can serve as an introduction to the field. In addition to individual entries, the directory includes an introduction that highlights trends from the current year’s entries. The 2020 Directory (the 7th) will be published in mid-January 2020. All libraries engaging in publishing are welcome to submit entries, and while entries are primarily focused in the United States and Canada, it contains some international entries. The 2020 Directory will have over 150 entries.
The LPC’s Directory Committee oversees the data collection and publication of the Directory, including sending out the survey, copyediting entries, data analysis, and authoring the introduction. This past year, an offshoot Directory Task Force undertook a review of the data model–which had not been updated since the initial release–reflected the changing field and met the aims of the directory as currently outlined.
Categories Awards and Honors, Librarians at Work