Quick Summary
The Minnesota Library Publishing Project (MLPP) is a pilot project that provides online publishing tools and training information to support independent authors and small publishers across the state.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Minnesota Library Publishing Project (MLPP) is a pilot project that provides online publishing tools and training information to support independent authors and small publishers across the state. We believe that libraries have a role to play in helping local communities come together to create and share books. MLPP is coordinated by Minitex with support from Minnesota’s academic and public libraries.
MLPP’s book-design tool is Pressbooks, an easy-to-use, online, cloud-based service that enables authors and publishers to create attractive content using a wide variety of templates and formatting options. Templates are available that are tailored for poetry, fiction, family history, dissertations, and many other content types. Pressbooks assigns each uploaded manuscript a unique URL that authors can use to share their work. Pressbooks even enables authors to export their work in the formats that are essential to publishing in print/print-on-demand or as an ebook: PDF, EPUB, MOBI, XHTML, and more.
WEBINAR & TRAINING RESOURCES
Minitex will offer "Introduction to Pressbooks: A Minnesota Libraries Publishing Project" on Thursday, April 27th from 10:00 -10:45 AM. [This session has concluded and a recording is now available.]
More information is available on the project website at mlpp.pressbooks.pub. The site offers training videos, best practices documents, and step-by-step instructions on how to get started with Pressbooks. We encourage you to share the URL with your staff and patrons.
LIBRARY JOURNAL'S SELF-e PROGRAM
For the public library community, we are working with MELSA and CRPSLA on coordinating with Library Journal’s SELF-e program to enable authors (with a library card) to share their work with readers across the state and potentially across the country. This program will be launching in the metro area this summer and is likely to expand to the rest of the state in the near future. We’ll send out news posts and update MLPP’s web page when it launches. For more information, contact MELSA's Andrea McKennan at andrea@melsa.org.
COMMUNITY OF INTEREST FOR ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
For the academic library community, we are launching a Community of Interest (COI) to explore how to support publishing within the library. Community of Interest co-chairs Shane Nackerud (University of Minnesota) and Anne Hatinen (Minitex) will host a one-hour kickoff webinar on Thursday, May 4 at 3:00 p.m. You can request to join the group by visiting the MLPP Pressbooks Community of Interest Google Group.
The purpose of the COI is to explore, discuss, and learn from fellow community members about the use of the tool to support academic library publishing. The first meeting will include the basics: what Pressbooks is (and isn’t); the goals, outcomes, and responsibilities of the COI (check out the Draft Pressbooks COI Roles & Responsibilities); and the logistics of future meetings. The more we can each share our experiences, ideas, and questions the better we’ll all be positioned to support publishing efforts on our campuses and in our communities.
WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK
MLPP is an experimental endeavor, and will grow stronger with your input. Please share your feedback.
