Updates on Accessibility and Sustainability at University Press Redux 2020: Steps in the Right Direction

Nisha Doshi
Senior Digital Development Publisher
Cambridge University Press

Last summer we floated the idea of a parent-baby room to allow new parents to attend this year’s University Press Redux Conference. We received lots of positive feedback about this suggestion, but it wasn’t clear that anyone would specifically wish to make use of a parent-baby facility at this particular event. We’ve therefore decided to broaden our plans to cater for the needs of attendees at this conference and we wanted to share with you the plans we’ve put in place:

• Building from the idea of the parent and baby room, we’ve designated a room at Churchill College as a Quiet Space, which can be used by anyone wishing to take time out from the busy conference day. 
• In partnership with the Disability and Neurodiversity Staff Network at Cambridge University Press, we have developed best practice guidelines for speakers to ensure that presentations are accessible. If you are chairing or speaking at this year’s Redux event, please do look out for these guidelines from ALPSP. 
• We have also arranged large signage to help delegates navigate around the conference venue, and we implore attendees to use a microphone when asking questions in conference sessions. We’ll provide roving mics to help with this. 
• Lastly, we’ll be offering delegates pronoun badges at the registration desk and we encourage everyone to make use of these, even if you have not used one before.

For those who can’t attend the event in person, several of us will be live tweeting the conference sessions (#Redux2020). If you’re following along on Twitter and want to ask a question of one of the speakers, just let us know on the Twitter feed and we’ll do our best to ask your question and tweet the answer. We’ll also be making the slides and audio recordings of sessions available on the conference website after the event.

As part of Cambridge University Press and ALPSP’s commitment to sustainability, we’ve been careful to strike a balance between providing printed materials and minimising environmental impact. So, we will be providing signage and pocket conference planners but we won’t be providing every delegate with a full printed programme, notepaper or pens. A conference app will be available and we encourage you to use this to plan your attendance at breakout sessions. It will also be possible to use the app to plan lift sharing to minimise your carbon footprint for this conference. Churchill College will provide mugs for coffee and tea, but please do bring along your own reusable bottles for water – we want to completely avoid the use of single-use cups. 


If you’ll be attending the University Press Redux Conference this year and have specific requirements or suggestions, please do let us know when you make your booking, or as soon as you can by emailing ALPSP on info@alpsp.org. While we have a limited budget, it’s extremely important to us that this event is accessible to and inclusive of everyone.

To register for the Conference, go to the event website or email ALPSP for details.

Highlights from the 2018 University Press Redux Conference: A Sponsor's Perspective

Virtusales was delighted to sponsor the 2018 University Press Redux Conference, which was held at The British Library and completely sold out with an atmosphere that reflected it. Filled with lively discussions on policy, open access, disruptive innovation and the opportunities it presents, the importance of publishers providing genuine added value, and even Brexit and Trump.

In the opening keynote, Timothy Wright, CEO at Edinburgh University Press, presented the challenges for 2018 as: monographs, new models in print and distribution, ebooks, content, the skills gaps, open access, institutional support and the financial challenges facing the industry.

Richard Fisher from Yale University Press said that discoverability remains the number one challenge for most university presses and explained how marketing for individual titles has diminished but is still vital. Michael Jubb of Jubb Consulting reiterated this, stating that 50% of university press sales are sold through global retail channels such as Amazon, making it essential for content to be easily discoverable amidst the proliferation in formats, business models and retailers.

As a software supplier operating globally, we were particularly interested in the parallel session on Global, which looked at university presses outside of Europe, UK and USA. Another compelling topic was Digital, which was covered in the plenary session with Allison Belan from Duke University Press and Charles Watkinson from University of Michigan Press, chaired by Nicole Mitchell from University of Washington Press. The session included stimulating debate on the pros and cons of buying vs building systems and platforms. Allison explained that it is of utmost importance for university presses to understand and own their own content, data and business rules, and Duke’s decision to buy in technology expertise and systems allows the press to focus on what they are good at - creating content.

Author engagement and support was another recurring theme throughout the conference with an emphasis put on the need for publishers to add genuine value throughout the supply chain and for authors, contributors and stakeholders to recognise the value added. This was at the heart of Tuesday’s parallel session on Production where delegates heard from Andy Redman from Oxford University Press, Neil Clarke from CPI UK, Bret Freeman from LifeVroom, and Wednesday’s session on Commissioning with Simon Bell from Emerald Group Publishing, Brian Halley from University of Massachusetts Press and Katherine Reeve from Bath Spa University.

On the policy front, the requirement for all long form works to be available as open access in order to be eligible for the 2027 REF was by far the most impacting point mentioned, with Steven Hill from HEFCE suggesting how it could be achieved using different models such as Freemium, author pays, and mission orientated new university presses.

Closing Keynote: Richard Charkin

Finally, Richard Charkin from Bloomsbury Publishing gave an engaging closing keynote on academic publishing. Technology was mentioned in virtually all presentations, in one form or another, and it seems clear that publishers need its support now more than ever. It is essential for platforms and systems to be flexible enough to manage metadata at content, article and chapter level, bring efficiencies to the production process and supply chain, and liberate publishers so that they can focus on creating, curating and enriching content to engage with their consumers.

At Virtusales we are committed to streamlining publishers’ workflows and bring efficiencies to their business processes with innovative software, exceptional service and a collaborative approach. Our recent white paper looks at the current landscape of academic and educational publishing, some of the disruptions that publishers are facing in today’s arena and ways in which they can capitalise on the changing environment.

Virtusales Publishing Solutions is the creator of the Biblio suite of publishing software and works closely with some of the world's leading academic, scholarly, professional and trade publishers including Harvard University Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, Manchester University Press, Pearson Education, Penguin Random House, Hachette and Macmillan Publishers.

Find out more about Virtusales and the Biblio suite or request our white paper, please visit our website: www.virtusales.com
Follow us on Twitter: @virtusales 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtusales-publishing-solutions/

For further information on the University Press Redux conference and to access slides and audio from the event please visit: https://www.alpsp.org/UPRedux