Birkbeck partners with Next Generation Library Publishing (NGLP) project
An initial pilot phase will launch next Spring and will create opportunities for the integration and advancement of international library publishing.
An exciting new collaboration has been announced today with Janeway, the free, open-source publishing platform developed by the Centre for Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck, joining the California Digital Library and Longleaf to pilot three different service models for the software components developed through the Next Generation Library Publishing (NGLP) project.
Janeway was launched in 2017 and provides a workflow for the submission, processing and presentation of scholarly materials. It was developed by Professor Martin Paul Eve, Mauro Sanchez and Andy Byers at the Centre for Technology and Publishing, Birkbeck and the Open Library of Humanities.
Today’s announcement incorporates the award of a $100k grant to Birkbeck from the Next Generation Library Publishing project, which seeks to improve publishing pathways and services for authors, editors and readers, for continued work on the Janeway platform. NGLP is led by Educopia Institute, the California Digital Library (CDL) and Strategies for Open Science (Stratos), in close partnership with the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) and Longleaf Services.
Professor Martin Paul Eve said: "It is fantastic to be able to expand our interoperability with other publishing systems. Janeway is already being adopted as the platform of choice among many in the library publishing world. Our mission, with this grant, is to ensure the greatest flexibility for our clients in this space. We want 'open' to mean the freedom for people to use the systems that work for them and not to be trapped by their platform choices. So, whether that means moving onto Janeway or moving away from it, we want the data portability to work for our users. The work we will conduct with Educopia on this project will ensure that fairness for all.
“It's clear that the international library publishing community needs a set of modern tools that are up to the task of the contemporary environment and that meet the highest standards of interoperability. By working with NGLP we hope to embed community interoperability needs into our openly developed and community-centered platform."
The Next Generation Library Publishing project takes a holistic approach to re-envisioning publishing, simultaneously architecting new software tailored to the unique needs of library publishers and designing the business models, values-based assessment frameworks, and pilot implementations.
The goals of Janeway’s pilot project are to:
- Evaluate the role that the Janeway publishing platform can play in developing standards and solutions that allow better integration of campus systems and workflows across the lifecycle of research.
- Assess and refine a potential service model that combines journals and institutional repository materials through a single display layer, supplemented by powerful reporting tools.
- Collaborate with project partners to develop sustainable, community-governed, open solutions that rival current best-of-breed commercial tools that will propel scholarly communication forward.
Janeway’s emphasis on community resonates directly with the ambitions of the NGLP project. As Katherine Skinner, Executive Director of the Educopia Institute and one of the project principals shared: “We are so excited to offer this NGLP pilot to library publishers in partnership with a terrific scholar-led, open-source platform and hosted services provider. Janeway brings to the NGLP project the requisite blend of a strong technical approach and a values-aligned business model that library publishers most want in their journal publishing and repository management service providers.”
Additional project pilots will be announced in the coming months.
Further Information
Read more about the Next Generation Library Publishing (NGLP) project.