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Publishing: A Tale of Library Skills
by Abigail GobenWhile still in library school, I found myself drawn to the idea of going into publishing. The idea of selecting and developing resources that my fellow librarians would put to use was appealing. While selector librarians are often purchasers of materials, I saw publishing as an earlier step in the selection process, choosing what materials would eventually be available for purchase. Following graduation, I obtained a publishing job at a site owned by WebMD Health. In this online publishing environment, library skills have enabled me - a fledging associate editor - to thrive.
In a certain sense, publishing in and of itself is based on the same design as librarianship. This will become more apparent in the future, with online publishing increasing in addition to (or in lieu of) the printed page. However, where a library may be focused primarily on user education and reference services, the publishing world focuses on collection development. Publishing, and developing a publication, concentrates on the identification, development, and production of manuscripts to meet the educational or entertainment needs of an identified population of users.
Using Library Skills
Population identification is a primary step in the publishing process. Just as librarians don't haphazardly buy books without some idea of their end user, a publisher doesn't solicit and gather manuscripts without some idea of their audience. This may be a broad category, such as young women aged 17-25, or it may be a more focused audience, such as that of my particular web site - healthcare professionals.
Having identified the audience, a publisher must be aware of the needs of that user base in order to remain successful and solvent. These can be identified in the same manner a library learns about its community: forums, surveys, market research, and government information.
Once identified, the publisher encounters two types of manuscripts that may meet these needs: solicited and unsolicited. In my job, I see both types in the acquisition stage. Solicited manuscripts, where the publisher invites the author to write, are in some sense like selecting materials from a catalog. These can also develop into a standing order, where publishers invite an author to create a series of pieces. Unsolicited manuscripts are similar to the review books sent out by a publisher and the drafts that are presented to conference attendees. Both methods are necessary to building a well- rounded collection; an unsolicited manuscript may often fill an audience need unforeseen by a publisher.
An extended "cataloging process" comes into play after the receipt of the manuscript. After editing and preparing a manuscript for online publication (and chasing after permission requests for a month - our version of ILL), we identify and create the metadata applicable to the piece in question. This usually involves final title identification, attribution to an area of medicine (LCSH), and keywords. Metadata is important in a variety of ways. It allows our staff to identify where on the site a piece should live. We can attribute a manuscript to more than one area of medicine; a piece on heart problems in children might be listed for both cardiology and pediatrics, for example. Our titles and keywords become identifiers for web search engines.
My site, like those of many other publishers, maintains an internal search engine that allows for more advanced search options. Metadata is essential, for while we try to structure the site in the most logical manner, we don't have an official reference department. Reference assistance for our users comes in one of three ways: a user e-mails a specific editor identified with a document or specialty area; a user e-mails the customer service manager (who has the patience of Job); or a user e-mails a general editorial inbox - which I manage.
This inbox was my first opportunity as a librarian to do online reference. I have categories of "ready reference" questions I see weekly, such as how to submit a manuscript, requests for permission to reuse an article or figure, requests for a topic to be covered, and notifications of an error in a story. Because we are a publishing house, and this inbox is only one of my many responsibilities, I generally am unable to respond to requests from users wanting me to do their research for them. However, since I know the tags we use, I will sometimes do a search using an appropriate keyword and return it to a user to point them in the right direction.
There are other library skills that I have translated to publishing. I do a lot of database research and reference seeking, similar to what a special librarian might do, in support of my supervising editors. Most recently, a semester course on relational databases has "promoted" me into the very challenging role of an in-house database designer. And, my company seems to embrace new librarians; another of our newest production team members will finish his MLS in December.
The Future of Publishing
Beyond the match for library skills in the publishing world in general, we will only see the demand for library skills growing with the growth of online publishing. As our academic public grows web- focused, the demand for online academic publishing increases. The majority of print journals already have an online component, and the future seems ripe for online-only peer-reviewed journals. I work with one of them, MedGenMed.
Scott Jaschik recently pointed out that Rice University Press - an academic press - has began publishing only online, with free reading access for their materials and a charge for printouts. This model, and the ever-growing example of open access projects which promote themselves as online libraries, have the potential to lead publishing in a new and exciting direction.
I believe that, just as the Yahoo! Directory was originally built with the help of librarians, online publishers will need librarians to help identify and structure metadata and user needs. Publishing can be a new option for librarians, where skills can easily translate. Librarians are uniquely suited to move into this field, and I would encourage them to pursue these opportunities.
Reference:
Jaschik, Scott. "New Model for Scholarly Publishing." 14 July, 2006.
Inside Higher Ed. 20 July 2006.
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/14/rice
Abigail Goben, MLS, is an Associate Editor for Medscape from WebMD Health who finds herself doing freelance database design. You can contact her at abigailgoben@gmail.com.