Creating a Canadian Library Publishing Community to Support Scholar-led Publishing

Canada has a strong tradition of scholar-led publishing, with the majority of Canadian scholarly journals publishing independently of commercial publishers. This is made possible via a varied support network such as Canadian library publishers and Coalition Publica (as national, open infrastructure for digital scholarly publishing). Library publishers from over 40 academic libraries provide publishing or hosting services to more than 800 scholar- and student-led publications. However, until recently, practitioners in this space have had no formal organization to engage with their issues or to represent them to the wider Canadian scholarly communications community. This poster will outline the development of a Community Engagement Team to support Canadian library publishing. In the fall of 2023, a working group initiated by Canadian members of the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) recommended a multifaceted approach to supporting the Canadian library publishing community after consultation with scholarly communications stakeholders. Initiatives recommended by the working group included striking a formal partnership between LPC and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network and the establishment of a library publishing Community Engagement Team in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Research Libraries. Coalition Publica, through its main partners Érudit and the Public Knowledge Project, is supporting the Canadian scholar-led journal community by developing and coordinating an open and sustainable national infrastructure for digital scholarly publishing. Library publishers are an important part of this national infrastructure, and Coalition Publica is an active participant in the new Community Engagement Team. This poster will illustrate how Coalition Publica and the Canadian Community Engagement Team collaborate in organizing a national network of library publishers and accelerate community-driven publishing in a national, bilingual context.