Director of Scholarly Communication & Open Publishing, Indiana University Libraries
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, and what did you study? Where are you currently based?
I’m originally from Detroit, Michigan. I attended Kalamazoo College for my undergraduate degree, majoring in Anthropology and Women’s Studies. I also attended University of Pennsylvania for South Asian Studies, where I’m either ABD (a not at all official designation) or have an MA, depending on who’s asking. I have my MLIS from Wayne State University in Detroit. I’ve been located in Bloomington, Indiana since 2014 when I moved here for my first librarian position as the Librarian for South and Southeast Asian Studies.
Describe your current role and organization. What are your main responsibilities? What type of organization do you work for?
I am currently the Director for Scholarly Communication and Open Publishing at Indiana University Libraries. I’ve been in this role for five years after taking it over on an interim basis early in the pandemic. Our department covers a wide gamut of work: we run the IU institutional repository and data repository, support an open access journals program with over 50 journals, have a nascent OA monograph publishing service that has published two books so far, run two Open Educational Resources programs, advise on collections decisions in the libraries, conduct the work to enable the IU Bloomington Open Access Policy, advise and support publisher discount programs and host an APC fund for faculty, and generally support services for research data and research data management, research impact, author rights and copyright. It’s a wide-ranging array of services for a department of eight people, but I work with amazing colleagues and we manage to keep it all moving forward.
Walk us through a typical day in your role. What challenges do you face? What opportunities do you encounter?
As middle management, my days tend to be full of meetings. I meet regularly with those in my department and try to help troubleshoot issues that arise. I also meet with the Libraries’ administration and others at IU, serving as a conduit to our unit’s work and as the primary advocatefor our needs. One noticeable difference compared to my work in South Asian Studies is that there is always more work to be done to help our university community understand our work and its importance. Scholarly communication issues are often highlighted and of interest to the wider IU community because of their broad impact, but generally require more explanation and more updates as the field shifts. On the flip side, we are able to save our students and faculty money on a large scale through some of our programs and having that sort of impact always feels good.
Share your journey in scholarly publishing. What was your first role in this field, and how did you land it? What path led you to your current position? What unexpected challenges have you faced?
This is my first role in scholarly publishing, which is perhaps an unusual way to have entered. I had been working with the South Asia Open Archives and really come to see the value of open. I also appreciated the potential to impact so many more students and faculty, and to be part of the broader communication of knowledge. It helps that I also enjoy learning new things – this wasn’t the first time that I had stepped in on an interim basis to fill a gap, and I always felt I came away with a deeper understanding of libraries in general. Admittedly, when I stepped into this role, I don’t think I fully understood just how much there would be to learn. Scholarly Communication is so full of different organizations and software platforms and just a variety of work that I definitely had periods early on where I felt completely overwhelmed. That’s gotten significantly better, and it helps to realize that no one person can know everything about each component of the field. I know enough about research data to support my data specialist librarians and stay abreast of federal guidelines, for example, but could never actually do their jobs.
What tools, websites, and organizations are essential for your career growth? How do you stay updated with industry trends and developments?
On the scholarly communication side of things, I try to keep up with The Scholarly Kitchen and SPARC. On the management side of things, I generally go to DeEtta Jones and Ask a Manager. While not specific to management or schol comm, I’m also an avid follower of emergent strategy and am always interested in finding new ways to integrate it into my work.
In your experience, what skills or qualities are essential for success in scholarly communications?
I think in general it helps to be curious and to be ok with lots of grey area and lack of clarity. Scholarly Communications is fast-moving and covers so many different specializations. In management, I find that flexibility is highly valuable for success.
What do you wish you knew more about in your field?
I am a constant learner, so rather than wishing, I try to make the time to learn something new every year. This year it’s copyright – I’m currently taking a class called CopyrightX, which has been incredibly valuable. As our department moves into deeper collaborations with Indiana University Press, I’m also trying to learn more about the inner workings of university presses.
What future trends do you foresee in the field of scholarly publishing?
I think the major ones are the ones that we’re likely all aware of – the potential impacts of AI and a need to focus our energy on building community trust. On the libraries side of things, there’s been growth in interest in Open Access and I hope to see that build even further. With the new federal ADA requirements coming and the European Accessibility Act, I’m also hopeful that our workflows will be further impacted to accommodate accessibility in our publications right from the start.
What motivates you in your work? What keeps you passionate about your role in scholarly publishing?
At a time when so many things are uncertain, what I love most about scholarly publishing is its potential impact on everyone. I am always drawn to ways to make knowledge more open and equitable. Being just one small cog in that wheel of scholarly communication always feels like important and valuable work to me.
How do you balance your professional and personal life? Any fun facts or hobbies outside of scholarly communications?
I don’t know about balance, but having kids generally prevents me from working too much as there simply isn’t enough time. I somehow slid into a lot of stereotypical librarian hobbies – I’m both a knitter and a reader. I’m always ready with a book recommendation for anyone interested in speculative fiction and will have my first couple of book reviews published soon.
What advice would you give to aspiring professionals in scholarly communications?
For the librarians, I’d say to start following professional organizations like ACRL and SSP sooner rather than later. Many library schools don’t have course work specific to this field, so you’ll need to do your learning elsewhere. Look for student work with scholarly communication departments. There is so much to learn in the field that it’s valuable to get started as early as possible.
