December, 2016 - In This Issue:
Funding Update - 100th Library!
You have all made 2016 a remarkable year. We began the year with 76 funding libraries and were only at 47% of our cost recovery goal. Twelve months later 24 additional libraries have made funding commitments to Independent Voices and 22 libraries have made generous supplemental contributions.  As a result, the project is 96% funded with only $67,500 left to reach the cost recovery goal of $1.789 million. 

With new commitments late this fall from Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Trinity College, the table was set to hit another important milestone of 100 funding libraries. That honor goes to the University of Washington, who became the 100th library on December 13. Thank you to all 100 libraries that have made this possible. Together we are proving that libraries can drive and support the creation of important digital resources without waiting passively for a traditional publisher to do so and we can make the content open to everyone.

We all owe a very special thank you to Sharon Farb and Roxanne Peck at University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA made an extraordinary supplemental contribution of $200,000 to the Independent Voices project. Their contribution reflects UCLA's commitment to the content in Independent Voices and open access publishing by libraries.  Without their unexpected and incredibly generous contribution, the funding goal would not be within reach. Thank you, UCLA!!

In addition to the librarians of UCLA, there are a number people who have been particularly generous with their funding and their advocacy that I would also like to recognize and thank.
  • Kim Armstrong - Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA)
  • Mark Herring - Winthrop University
  • Martha Hruska - University of California - San Diego
  • Elizabeth Kirk - Harvard University
  • Susan Macicak - University of Texas
  • Jean McKenzie - University of California  - Berkeley 
  • Liz Mengel - Johns Hopkins
  • Robert Miller, Celeste Feather, Jill Grogg and many others - LYRASIS
  • Bernie Reilly, James Simon, Mary Wilke and Francis Alba - Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
  • Steve Sowards - Michigan State University
  • Christine Stamison - North East Research Libraries (NERL)
  • Michael Stoller - New York University 
  • Tom Teper - University of Illinois
  • Doug Way - University of Wisconsin
Jisc and Growing UK Interest
Though the scope of Independent Voices is focused on North American publications, the social movements of the 1960s, 70s and 80s were happening in many places outside of North America too.  We are exploring an opportunity to expand our collaborative effort with libraries in the United Kingdom to identify, clear copyright, and add British material to Independent Voices.

Working in partnership with Jisc, Reveal Digital is offering UK libraries the opportunity to help fund Independent Voices as originally defined, while holding 50% of their contributions for adding their local holdings of alternative press materials to Independent Voices.

In early December we kicked off the effort with a well- attended webinar where we introduced participants to Reveal Digital's approach and the Independent Voices collection.  The webinar included presentations by Thorne Dreyer, one of the founders of Austin's The Rag, and  Dr. Tessa Jordan, who spoke about research she has done with feminist periodicals including Branching Out (see below article for more information on this historically important title).   You can listen to the entire webinar here.  If you want to skip all the stuff you know about Reveal Digital to get to Thorne and Tessa's content, fast-forward to around the 21:47 mark. 

Beyond the immediate Independent Voices opportunity, we are discussing with Jisc how we might continue to include UK libraries in Reveal Digital's model in a way that will help 

sustain our organization and facilitate the open access digital publishing goals of UK Libraries a nd Jisc.  We see exciting opportunities to build more well-rounded collections by pooling North American and European content as well as sharing the c ost and decision making in an equitable way.  More details to come.
 

Branching Out - Canadian Feminist Art & Politics
Branching Out was the first national feminist magazine in Canada. It was founded by Susan McMaster in 1973, the year after Ms. magazine began publishing in the U.S. Unlike Ms., Branching Out was never a commercial publication. It was produced exclusively by volunteers. However, it was intended to be a newsstand publication with attractive covers and professional layout. Like many alternative press publications, Branching Out had a relatively short run. Its last issue was published in 1980. 

Susan McMaster, who went on to become a successful Canadian poet, brought an editorial focus on the arts. Her publishing partner and managing editor, Sharon Batt brought her interest in political activism. As a result, Branching Out presented an interesting mix of art and politics. 

Early on Branching Out focused on providing a publication venue for fiction and non-fiction content. The magazine published the more successful Canadian writers like Margaret Atwood alongside up-and-coming Canadian writers. Another popular element in every issue was the law column. The Alberta Law Society gave Branching Out a large grant to enable them to publish of legal advice. 

In addition to the arts, Branching Out covered important women's issues that were not covered in the mainstream press. For example, in 1975 the mainstream press wo uld not cover the candidacy of Rosemary Brown who was running for leadership of the New Democratic Party. Branching Out did a long-form interview with Rosemary Brown and featured her on the cover. Over the years Branching Out shifted to publishing theme issues like women in sports, women in the environment, women in fashion and become a more overtly feminist publication. 

Branching Out was added to Independent Voices this past summer. Susan and Sharon received the digital files to use however they wish and they have subsequently incorporated them into other Canadian projects focused on feminism, magnifying the impact of your investment.
Partner Spotlight: Michigan State University
Peter Berg, head of Michigan State University's Special Collections Library, is featured in the first of what I hope will be many Partner Spotlight videos to come. Peter recorded the narrative in MSU Library's excellent sound studio. We took care of the rest by adding descriptive images to his narration to create a three-minute video. You can watch it here

Dr. Peter Berg
There are many librarians, rights holders, and researchers who are passionate about their work and about their involvement with the Independent Voices project. We would love to give voice to these people in a compelling way. If any of you would like to nominate yourselves or colleagues for a Partner Spotlight video, please let me know. The time requirement is less than four hours for a person to write and record the narrative piece and to provide any illustrative photographs. We will take care of the video editing and publishing tasks. Easy!
ALA-Midwinter Events
Reveal Digital will be hosting two events at ALA - Midwinter this year. Beyond these scheduled events Jeff Moyer and I will be available for one-on-one meetings. If you are unable to attend the Funders Round Table or would just like to meet one-on-one, please give me a call or send an email. 
 
Funders Round Table, Saturday from 1:30 to 3:00. Hilton Atlanta, Room 221 (This room will be much easier to find than was our meeting in Orlando!)
Come hear an update on where we end up with fundraising, what's happening with the digitization plan, etc. We'll also present detailed information about our shift to an investment fund approach. There will still be time to tweak the plans to incorporate your input, so your participation will have an impact on where we go as an organization. If you are attending ALA in January, I hope to see you. 

In addition to librarians from funding libraries, this meeting is open to anyone who is interested in what Reveal Digital is doing.

Executive Committee, Sunday from 8:30 - 10:30. Hilton Atlanta, Room 216
Our Executive Committee is expanding from six people to between 12 and 15 people. We will use this time to get to know the new members, make several strategic decisions and plan for a working session at ACRL. 
 
This is a closed meeting. If you are interested in attending, please contact me prior to the conference to discuss.

Authored by,

Peggy Glahn
Program Director
Reveal Digital
734.821.3931




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