Empowering Knowledge: Sustaining a Library Publishing Program at a Consortial HBCU, 2025
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Evers, Vanesa
Wiseman, Christine
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Abstract
Library publishing programs play a major role in contributing to scholarly communication and to promoting digital and open access publishing for academic institutions. This chapter examines unique challenges, strategies, and lessons learned in building and sustaining a library publishing program within a consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) intended to support the expansion of perspectives and voices in born digital scholarly publishing. As the world’s largest consortium of HBCUs, the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Woodruff Library supports the teaching, learning and research missions of four institutions of higher education: Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College, and Spelman College. Consequently, the library hosts and supports digital scholarly publishing for all four member institutions, each with diverse and unique needs. A library publishing program situated in a consortial setting serving four independent HBCUs faces unique challenges and opportunities. There are few models or precedents to follow because the AUC Woodruff Library is truly unique. As an independent, non-profit, academic library which partners with member academic institutions of the Atlanta University Center—Clark Atlanta University, Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College and Spelman College—the AUC Woodruff Library is the intellectual and information hub of the largest consortium of HBCUs. The library’s mission is to provide information management, instruction and access to a variety of global information resources acquired and organized in support of teaching and learning, scholarship and cultural preservation of the AUC. The AUC Woodruff Library has significant collections of rare and unique archival collections in a variety of formats documenting African American and Diasporic experiences, many of which have been digitized for access. To complement the historical collections, the AUC Woodruff Library has a robust program supporting current AUC faculty and student open access digital scholarship and research through its library publishing program.
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2025-10
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)