Libraries Week
To celebrate Libraries Week, we’re spotlighting OUP colleagues who help support and champion libraries through their work. Taking inspiration from this year’s theme, Libraries Change Lives through literacy and reading, we want to recognize the many libraries we work with around the world, and the role they play in connecting people with stories, knowledge, and community – particularly pertinent during the National Year of Reading. Here are some of the roles across our organisation that support Libraries.
Michael Spurling
Library Asset Management Specialist
“I’m one of the specialists who run the library in OUP’s Oxford office, looking after the Education section.
“While we are a digital-first business, it’s clear that printed books still have a special place. When children visit the library with their parents, their excitement is unmistakable. We’ve welcomed pupils from small village primary schools touring both the museum and library, sometimes their very first school trip. Their enthusiasm is infectious. They begin by eagerly exploring every section, pulling books from the shelves, until, gradually, a calm silence sets in. Inevitably, they gravitate towards the children’s section, settling down with picture books.
“Libraries are vital spaces that connect people with knowledge, inspiration, and each other, and being part of the OUP library means preserving access to our trusted content and helping colleagues make the most of it every day.”
Kathi Fountain
Head of Business Development, Institutional Sales, Americas
“I joined OUP’s Academics Sales team in 2017 after nearly 20 years working as a librarian. Libraries and publishers really are aligned in their objectives to share knowledge and enable the creation of new knowledge—we are simply approaching these from different perspectives. For my part, I have relished the opportunity to better understand the inner workings of publishing. It has enabled me to serve as a translator between librarians and the Press.
“As part of this work, I have coordinated librarian feedback, and presented alongside librarians, including at a Choice webinar, all to further our mission.”
Anna Shannon
Marketing Manager, Oxford Children’s
“Through our wonderful Children’s books, we love working with libraries, and indeed librarians, in lots of ways: from organizing interactive author and illustrator events (often with an outreach focus), to partnering with key organizations like the Youth Libraries Group and School Library Association, where we exhibit at conferences, champion our creators for panel discussions, and more.
“We also collaborate closely with trusted library suppliers to make sure the right supplies find the right library shelves, and with organizations such as The Reading Agency to support initiatives like the popular Summer Reading Challenge, where, this year, four Oxford Children’s titles were selected, including The Twirly Wiggly Dance and Gordon Starts a Band. We’re always looking for new ways to celebrate reading through libraries, and most recently, our picture book author Donna David (The Awesomely Adventurous Librarians) was the keynote speaker at the Power of Libraries Conference and part of the London Book Fair panel on the role of libraries and bookshops in the National Year of Reading.”
Julia Mielish
Discovery Manager
“As the Discovery Manager for OUP, I have the unique ability to apply my experiences as a librarian to ensure that we provide exceptional service and support for libraries that acquire OUP content. Working with the Discovery Working Group and our mutual library discovery partners, we prioritized setting up a NISO standard for KBART Automation, a service which streamlines and automates tracking of OUP content in library catalogs. This service is updated monthly with little interaction or ongoing maintenance, thanks to an API linking OUP to our discovery partners. In addition, libraries can purchase title-by-title content more freely without having to manage collections and activate specific titles within large collections. Librarians report being excited for the new offering and that it saves hours of manual work for their library staff.
“We are the first university press to automate KBART delivery, and work like this cannot be successful without strong collaboration across OUP that ensures that our metadata is accurate and can be delivered in a securely ensuring trustable data for our libraries.”
Kate Dennis
Consortia Manager
“As a Consortia Manager at OUP, I build long-term partnerships with library consortia and work with them to ensure consortia agreements remain workable and sustainable in complex funding and policy environments.”
Molly Hansen
Marketing Manager
“I’ve always been a massive fan of libraries and librarians and am so grateful that my work at OUP intersects with them. Three years ago I completed a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro which gave me key insights into the ever-evolving world of libraries, archives, and more.
“My role at OUP recently expanded to include work on Library Community Initiatives which includes collaboration with librarians on conference sessions, webinars, and other content exploring changes in the industry and the evolving needs of library professionals. I’m thrilled to be stepping into this work and look forward to working with librarians around the world.”
Related articles
