David Parker & Kadian Pow Presenting at the UKSG Conference in Glasgow (Apr 10)

David Parker, Co-Founder of Lived Places Publishing and Kadian Pow, Birmingham City University, will be presenting on Author Identity Metadata at this year’s UKSG Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, April 8-10.

To set up a meeting in advance with David, please EMAIL DAVID directly.

Taking appointments MON 8th, TUE 9th and WED 10th April: In-person & online/phone

Location: Scottish Event Campus (SEC), Exhibition Way, Glasgow, G3 8YW United Kingdom

ABOUT THE SESSION:

Author Identity Metadata: Why a Small Publisher Can Address a Major Challenge

Group D on the Programme: 11:30 am on Wednesday April 10

Library patrons want to search for and locate authors by particular identity markers, such as gender identification, country of origin, sexual orientation, nature of disability, and the many intersectional points that allow an author to express a point-of-view. Artificial Intelligence, skilled web researchers, and data scientists in general struggle to achieve accuracy on single identity markers, such as gender. And what right does anybody have to affix identity metadata to an author other than the author theirselves? And what of the risks in disseminating author identity metadata in electronic distribution platforms and in library catalog systems? Can a "fully informed" author even imagine all the possible misuses of their identity metadata?

Oh, but the benefits. Academic and scholarly publishing catalogs are not capturing the depth and breadth of voices readers want to read. How can publishers be held accountable to amplify the underrepresented voices, the globally marginalized voices, the many counter-narratives we need to hear? Imagine a publisher's online catalog that allowed a reader to select, with confidence, a book from a self-identified queer, neurodiverse author from Ghana?

In this discussion an author, a librarian, a publisher, and an ebook platform provider will present the early learnings from an effort at Lived Places Publishing to engage its author and editor community in the development of author generated, author approved, and author delivered identity metadata to support the development of robust catalog records and searchable fields in the publisher's online catalog.

Here's the survey we used to collect data for the session.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

David Parker is the co-founder and Publisher of Lived Places Publishing. In previous professional roles, David founded Business Expert Press, which has more than 1,000 titles in its catalog today. He was also editor-in-chief at Person Education early in his career. David later launched Academic Video Online, the largest subscription collection of academic videos in use today in universities around the world. David is a leader in designing and implementing digital, multi-channel distribution of streaming content.

Lived Places Publishing is David’s most recent effort at bringing together innovative thinking in publishing and distribution with doing important work in the world. At a moment in time when voices are being silenced and teaching the value of difference is under assault, LPP is much more than a business to David, it is a mission.

David is a longtime contributor to Against the Grain with his column “Learning Belongs in the Library.” His writing has appeared in the Scholarly Kitchen, EdTech Times, UKSG Insights, and more. David consults with mission-based organizations seeking to build distribution of their teaching and learning content into university libraries. David is a competitive triathlete, yogi, and a passionate connector of people who always, always, always answers his email!
Dr. Kadian Pow is a Lecturer, in Sociology and Black Studies, at Birmingham City University. Dr. Pow is also one of Canvas 8 Expert Consultant in Cultural Trends, and has worked on racial equity projects with Beatfreeks, and Museums in the UK and USA. Her main interests include Black feminism in online spaces, television, fandoms and representation, intersectionality, the sociology of Black hair and identity, and museum decolonisation efforts.

Extending her Black feminist praxis, Kadian founded Bourn Beautiful Naturals in 2017 during her PhD studies.

Her first book, Stories of Black Female Identity in the Making: Queering the Love in Blackness, was published by Lived Places Publishing in 2023.
Natasha Edmonds in the Director of Publisher & Industry Strategy for Clarivate, a global information services provider, whose subscription- and technology-based solutions cover the areas of Academia & Government, Life Sciences & Healthcare, and Intellectual Property.

Natasha's background in managing both sales and library teams has provided her with insight into the public, academic, and private sectors. In her prior roles, she was a sales specialist for ProQuest, and an Information Advisor for Kingston University, managing and promoting print and electronic resources across four academic library locations. Before that, she was a librarian for Handsworth Grammar School in Birmingham, UK.

About Lived Places Publishing

Lived Places Publishing (LPP) is building a catalog of applied and concise course reading material in interdisciplinary collections. Each title we publish explores the intersection of identity and place, humanizing an issue through lived experience(s).

Our model is constructed with libraries in mind:

DRM-free, unlimited user access, and unrestricted PDF download of titles
Whole ebook interlibrary loan (ILL) to one partner institution at a time
Affordable, perpetual access pricing (single, one-time fee) with region-appropriate discounts to ensure every institution across the globe can own the LPP collection
5% of all sales set aside to fund author-choice open access publishing at our average production cost (actual costs published publicly on our website, updated every 6 months)

More info for librarians: https://livedplacespublishing.com/librarians

We are growing quickly: Institutions such as UPenn, Georgetown, NYU, Princeton, UT Austin, LSU, Northwestern, University of Toronto, and Cambridge University have all become partners recently. We hope to welcome you to this growing family of institutions.

About Our Books

Our books are short course readings (~150 pages), exploring the intersection of identity and place. Each LPP book includes learning objectives, recommended assignments, and discussion guides, and are designed to take up about 2-3 weeks of a college-level course. Lived Places Publishing books are written to bring theory and concept to life and to illustrate the theories and concepts that underpin the curriculum in each discipline we publish to.

View our complete catalog: https://livedplacespublishing.com/catalog