Virginia Tech Press' launch builds on decades of open access innovation
The launch of Virginia Tech Press, an expansion of Virginia Tech Publishing, marks a milestone in the university’s longstanding dedication to advancing and disseminating scholarship.
Emerging from decades of activity in open access publishing, Virginia Tech Press represents both a natural evolution and a bold step forward in how the university supports and shares knowledge with the world.
Expanding commitment
Based in the University Libraries, Virginia Tech Press is committed to increasing the visibility, reach, and impact of research. According to Patrick Tomlin, University Libraries’ associate dean, the creation of Virginia Tech Press is “the logical culmination of many years of the University Libraries’ involvement in the curation and dissemination of scholarship.
“At its core, the mission of a university press is to publish rigorous, peer-reviewed, and creative work that broadens knowledge while also enhancing the academic reputation of its parent institution,” said Tomlin. “By establishing a press within University Libraries, Virginia Tech underscores its commitment to connecting the production of scholarly work directly to its educational mission.”
The university’s journey toward creating a press began in the 1990s with the Scholarly Communication Project, which published early electronic journals. Over time, University Libraries’ role in the open access publishing movement deepened, highlighted by its leadership in the founding of the Library Publishing Coalition and the formal establishment of Virginia Tech Publishing in 2017.
Virginia Tech Publishing has a history of publishing quality peer-reviewed scholarship. That work will transition to Virginia Tech Press moving forward.
“Virginia Tech Press is the next step as our publishing activities continue to grow and build upon each other,” said Corinne Guimont, director of Virginia Tech Publishing and Press.
Virginia Tech Press was welcomed into the Association of University Presses as an affiliate member. According to its website, association members “meet high editorial and professional standards and stand with a common mission to ensure academic excellence and cultivate knowledge.”
A new trend
While traditional university presses have often operated independently of libraries, both Tomlin and Guimont said there is a growing trend of presses finding homes within academic libraries. The partnership is a natural one: Both are committed to supporting scholars and advancing the academic mission through the creation and sharing of knowledge. At Virginia Tech, the integration is especially fruitful.
“For us, being in the library is important because this is where the publishing activities at Virginia Tech have always been, it creates more natural collaborations and partnerships with our colleagues in areas like preservation, metadata, data services, and research services,” said Guimont. “These collaborations and partnerships lead to new forms of innovative digital scholarship that push the boundaries of scholarly publishing.”
A firm foundation
Virginia Tech Publishing and Press will carry forward the values that have guided Virginia Tech Publishing from the start: openness, transparency, innovation, and collaboration. Its mission is to publish peer-reviewed open access scholarship in a wide variety of forms, from monographs and journals to digital humanities projects and open educational resources. “Our vision extends beyond traditional forms of scholarship to include more emergent and experimental kinds as well,” said Tomlin.
The press is built on the firm foundation of Virginia Tech Publishing’s success. Since 2017, Virginia Tech Publishing has published more than 60 works, including 34 books, 30 open educational resources, and numerous digital scholarship and multimedia projects. It also has supported over a dozen open access journals. With the launch of Virginia Tech Press, the university is poised to become one of the few fully open access university presses in the nation.
The infrastructure, tools, platforms, and workflows developed through Virginia Tech Publishing will continue to power the press's operations. “We’ve created an infrastructure for scholarly publishing activities at Virginia Tech,” Guimont said, “and we’ve built a strong reputation as an open access publisher, which will greatly benefit us as we grow.”
