1 Project planning for the library

Library project team

The role of the library in publishing an open textbook differs by institution and depends largely on the availability of resources. It is important to consider the roles and areas of responsibility involved in creating an open textbook and ensure that expectations are realistic and sustainable. What follows is an example of one way of organising teams and designating responsibilities. This will look different at every institution and, possibly, for every book.

At Monash University Library (MUL), we work closely with authors and provide a relatively high level of support for each book. This has resulted in a high level of skill and understanding for project members, and ongoing and positive relationships with key academic authors. At the time of writing, our support teams consist of four people who work on open textbook projects in addition to their ongoing workload:

• Project manager: responsible for planning, organising and directing the publication.
• Librarian: may have a variety of roles depending on the needs of the project — for example, Pressbooks support, referencing, accessibility testing.
• Copyright Advisor: ensures copyright compliance and coordinates legal agreements with Monash University’s legal team.
• Senior Manager: oversees and signs off on the project, and organises contracts and legal requirements.

The team should meet without the authors to discuss:

• the specifics of the project 
• Library team member responsibilities
• foreseeable issues or complications
• next steps.

It can be difficult to determine precisely what support different projects need. Some authors may need more help with accessibility, others may need help creating H5P activities, using Pressbooks, or with layout and consistency.

If any members of the team have not worked on an open textbook project before, the team should also discuss:

• an overview of publishing an open textbook (see below)
• the basics of Creative Commons and Copyright Law
• understanding the Pressbooks publishing platform.

Setting up your project

Project parameters

The Library team should have a firm understanding of the library’s role within the project. Consider:

• what will the library be responsible for?
• what will the authors be responsible for?
• how flexible are these boundaries?

This can be very difficult to determine as each project is different. The best approach is to start with an agreed list of responsibilities and have ongoing discussions about whether these need to be adjusted.

Documentation

The Library project team should consider how the project documentation will be stored and accessed. Some documents will need to be accessible to the authors (for example, the publishing schedule and style sheet), other tools may only need to be accessible to the library team (for example, peer review information).

Make duplicates of all the document templates needed for the project and name and file them accordingly. This will save time later when the project’s workload has increased and help familiarise the team with the tasks involved. Be aware that your filing system may need to be adjusted once you have discussed tools and processes with the authors.

Budget

There are a number of costs involved in publishing an open textbook. Excluding staff time, which can be very difficult to estimate ahead of a project, project managers will also have to consider the cost of peer review and copyediting at a minimum. Other expenses may involve hiring photographers, graphic designers or illustrators, paying for licensed material, and book launch events. MUL’s publications are hosted on the Pressbooks platform which also incurs fees.

How these elements are funded depends on the institution. When estimating your project budget start out by consulting with the manager to decide which elements are crucial and which can be offered if funding allows.

Always overestimate how much items such as copyediting and peer review will cost, especially if these are ‘must haves’ for your project.

Large co-authored book projects

Some books will have a large co-author team. If this is the case it becomes logistically complex for everyone in the project team to attend meetings and read all communications. In these situations, the author team needs to nominate 1 to 2 project managers who will communicate directly with the library team and act as a go-between with the rest of the authors. This helps to simplify communication, and determine decision making and accountability.

Pressbooks

Set up access to Pressbooks for the authors and provide some basic information about the Platform through the Pressbooks User Guide and YouTube channel. Some authors may wish to explore the platform and its possibilities, others will wait to be guided by the Library. Generally, detailed information about the platform is best provided when most relevant. If an author is writing on the platform they will need to know how to use it very early on. If they are uploading content, then a discussion of the general features is enough during the project’s early stages.

Tips for managing projects

People 

Perhaps the most difficult part of project management is managing people and teams. While it may seem obvious, regular and clear communication is important. Here are some suggestions that will help:

• put a fortnightly reminder in your calendar to check in with the authors.
• summarise key points from meetings and share them with the team.
• ensure that action items have people and due dates assigned to them and follow up on these.
• if there are communication issues, discuss other options with the team. Are too many emails being sent? Can the team use Google Chat or a shared Google Doc to communicate? If there is a lot of discussion, is a face-to-face meeting needed?

Assumptions

It can be easy to assume that everyone in the team has the same understanding of a project’s aims and expected outcomes. This is rarely the case. Project managers may be hesitant to clarify or confirm details that are seemingly obvious or have already been discussed. It is always better to review information again rather than have a group of people working toward different objectives.

Project scope 

While projects always evolve from their initial conception, it is important to have a consistent and shared understanding of the scope and boundaries.  Consider how you will manage situations that may affect budget, timelines or legal agreements, for example when authors want to:

• add chapters or co-authors after they have signed the agreement add back matter
• significantly extend the length of the textbook
• add online activities that need to be hosted on the platform or somewhere accessible for users.

Considerations when publishing Indigenous content

Note: This section refers to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, however, international Indigenous content should also be handled in accordance with the protocols and guidelines established by the relevant bodies .

There are many things to consider when publishing content by or about Indigenous peoples. What type of content is being published? Is it about a specific community and their experiences, or is it more general? Is the author Indigenous? How culturally competent is the information?

Although this section primarily concerns writing about and publishing Indigenous content rather than performing research, the following guidelines may provide insights, particularly regarding consent and permissions, cultural heritage and Indigenous intellectual property.

• AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research 
• Protocols for Using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts
• The TRUST Code: A Global Code of Conduct for Equitable Research Partnerships

Publisher considerations

• Is an Indigenous peer reviewer needed?
• Is an Indigenous copy editor needed?
• What Creative Commons license is appropriate?
  • Generally, Monash aims to publish under a CC BY-NC license, however a No-Derivatives license may be more appropriate for culturally sensitive information.
• Are the authors aware of their responsibilities when creating content about Indigenous peoples? (This may need to be specifically raised in discussions about the work, with mutual understanding about the obligations of the author and the obligations of the publisher)
• Are the authors aware of Indigenous intellectual property rights?
• Will the book launch involve or be coordinated by a specific Indigenous community?

Author responsibilities

• Refer to the Australian Government Style Manual for information about appropriate language, terminology, and respectful approaches and practices.
• Consider using the Indigenous Referencing Guidance for Indigenous Knowledges when selecting and citing sources.
• Be very aware of using dated research. Is it appropriate and factual, based on Indigenous knowledge?
• Authors may need to seek permission from the community even if publishing from their own research. Existing university ethics approval may not go far enough if the nature of this specific publication was not discussed with the families or communities in question.
  • This is particularly important when it concerns images, both in terms of the image content and permissions.
• Does the author have the right to tell the story? Do they have or need permission? Where are permissions stored?

Further information

The insights shared in this guide are based on the experiences and learnings of the Monash Library open textbook team. While it offers valuable considerations, it does not encompass all the complexities involved in writing and publishing work by and about Indigenous peoples.

For more information, refer to the AIATSIS Guidelines for the Ethical Publishing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Authors and Research From Those Communities [PDF, 1.2 MB]. Additionally, case studies such as Reimagining Open Textbooks Through a Decolonising Lens: Non-linear Practices for Holistically Integrating First Nations Knowledges Into Curriculum, provide an in-depth exploration of developing culturally safe open textbook projects.

Attribution

CAUL OER Collective Publishing Workflow by Council of Australasian University Librarians is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license