Publishing During the Pandemic: Strengthening Relationships, Removing Barriers, Reaching New Heights is a presentation in the 2020 PNLA Virtual Poster Session. We encourage you to engage in discussion by leaving a comment on the page. The authors of the presentation will respond to comments the week of August 4-7, 2020.

Presenters: Sherry Buchanan & Maika J. Yeigh

Track: Academic Library

Abstract: Library-supported open access journal publishing has been flourishing amidst the pandemic, but we recognize that our work is rapidly evolving and will never be “business as usual” as we extend our services to meet new needs and challenges. Portland State University (PSU) Library has always been empathetic and service-oriented toward journal editors as we provide hosting and technical support, but now we find ourselves going the extra mile for our editors and authors whose lives have been disrupted — doing whatever it takes to maintain sustainable publishing and highlight social justice. Our focus is directly aimed at helping the underdogs and fostering change.

Portland State University offers an online publishing platform and support for five journals and has uploaded content for two conferences during the pandemic. Readership is at an all-time high across the board. Three out of five journals released issues in May 2020, including our undergraduate journal that had been on hiatus since 2017. The other two hosted journals are publishing in summer and fall, along with a special issue from Northwest Journal of Teacher Education set for fall 2020, solely devoted to manuscripts that take a critical, social justice stance on teacher education at this time of the COVID-19 crisis.

This poster provides readership data for all PSU-published journals, highlights events/issues published this year, and offers strategies that the Library and editors have used to serve as scaffolding and net for authors and each other in a time of unprecedented adversity.

Poster:

About the Presenters:
Sherry Buchanan, MFA, MSLIS, oversees journals and conferences hosted by PDXScholar, the campus repository, at Portland State University Library. She has twenty years of experience within universities, having worked in the classroom, and for digital initiatives, library technologies, circulation, course reserves, interlibrary loan, reference, and statewide chat. Sherry’s research interests include discovery, accessibility, usability, open access, content strategy, universal design, and data-driven collaborative decision-making.

Maika J. Yeigh, EdD, is an assistant professor in the Curriculum and Instruction Department who teaches secondary education, mainly serving students in the Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP). Her research interests include supporting teachers during their induction years and how a stance of teacher inquiry is displayed in the initial years of teaching, as well as how strong clinical partnerships support developing educators. In addition, she is a licensed K-12 reading specialist, with an interest in humane literacy practices that provide adolescent learners with choice and voice in their learning. She has taught in the Portland metro area for over 20 years.