I am looking for authors to write about self-publishing with an emphasis on libraries for a special segment in Against the Grain. The focus should be on electronic publishing of serious materials in commercial sources like Amazon or academic institutional repositories though some attention might be given to the traditional print vanity presses. I’m looking for short papers of about 2,000 words that treat one of the following questions or topics:

1. Do any libraries attempt to collect or make available self-published materials by adding them to their collections or providing links to the source? If yes, do these libraries make these materials available in the traditional ILS or a separate finding tool? How do these libraries make their collecting decisions? Does it matter whether the self-published material is free or has a cost? I’m interested in responses or case studies from all types of libraries.

2. Do any libraries have policies on self-published materials including what to do if requested by a library user? Once again, I’m interested in all types of libraries.

3. I’m looking for a volunteer to write a bibliographic essay on the subject with special focus on libraries.

4. I’m looking for one or more members of the publishing and/or vendor community to comment on this topic.

5. I might be interested in one or two authors who could describe their experiences with self-publishing, especially if they have made efforts to market to libraries. Any such article would be better if the author could compare and contrast the self-publishing experience with the traditional publishing process. I wish to exclude any experiences about self-publishing in institutional repositories.

I would need the completed paper by March 1, 2013. Against the Grain is not a refereed publication, but it is highly regarded in collection development and acquisitions circles. The articles are also indexed in Library Literature.

If interested or if you have questions, please respond to me privately at [log in to unmask].

My apologies for duplicate copies of this announcement from cross posting.