Abstract
Library-based publishing efforts are gaining traction in academic and research libraries across the world, primarily in response to perceived gaps in the scholarly publishing system. Though publishing is a new area of work for libraries, it is often a natural outgrowth of their existing infrastructure and skill sets, leveraging the institutional repository as publishing platform and repositioning librarians’ skills as information managers. For decades, these initiatives were primarily ad hoc and local, limiting the potential for library publishing to effect significant change. In 2013, over 60 academic and research libraries collectively founded the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC), a professional association expressly charged with facilitating knowledge sharing, collaboration and advocacy for this growing field. This article offers an overview of library publishing activity, primarily in the US, followed by an account of the creation and mission of the LPC, the first professional association dedicated wholly to the support of library publishers.