MUSE Meets 2021

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Welcome to MUSE Meets 2021!

April 27-30, 2021

Please join us for MUSE Meets 2021, happening April 27-30th, a virtual gathering focused on not-for-profit scholarly publishing in the humanities and social sciences. This free event expands on the tradition of Project MUSE’s annual meeting of participating publishers, and builds upon our celebration of MUSE’s 25th anniversary under the theme of “Envision What’s Next.”

In addition to delivering an informative and educational meeting for our publishers, we are excited to augment our programming with global community sessions that invite participation from our library partners and other stakeholders in scholarly communications. We feel it is vital, now more than ever, to encourage dialogue among the library, scholar, and publishing communities, so we can work together to envision a sustainable future. Registration for the event is free to all, as we want to ensure equitable participation for any who wish to join the conversation.

Registration

Space is limited, so RSVP here by April 23, 2021 to reserve your spot at the virtual event!

Schedule

Presenters & Panelists

Elizabeth W. Brown

Publisher Relations Manager, Project MUSE

Liz Brown currently runs the Project MUSE Publisher Relations team’s journals program, including licensing journals, anticipating publishers’ needs, and developing new journal programs and business models. With a background as an academic librarian, she has worked for Project MUSE since 1998, first at the Sheridan Libraries at JHU then with the JHU Press since 2001; during this time, she transitioned from library-facing to publisher-facing roles at MUSE. She has previously held positions in libraries at Rutgers University, University of Michigan, Harvard University, and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Lindsay Cronk

Director, Collection Strategies and Scholarly Communications, University of Rochester

Lindsay Cronk has spent nearly a decade in librarianship, first in consortia and now in academia, honing an approach to service and strategy that is data-driven, dynamic, and grounded in the pursuit of social justice. She believes that libraries are engines for knowledge creation and democratization, and that as such library workers have a leadership role to play in discussions of the research enterprise. She is currently engaged in that effort at the University of Rochester River Campus Libraries where she works extensively in coordination with fellow NERL institutions and recently co-authored the consortium’s first public statement, “NERL Demands a Better Deal.”

Michael Arthur, Head, Resource Acquisition & Discovery at The University of Alabama, calls Lindsay an “innovator and boundary-pusher” and leading library technologist, Andromeda Yelton says she does the job with “Midwestern friendliness and sledgehammer directness.” She considers her creativity in developing practical solutions her central library competency. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0677-8118

Greg Eow

President, Center for Research Libraries

Greg Eow is President of the Center for Research Libraries, responsible for setting strategic directions and overall CRL programming and services in collaboration with the CRL Board of Directors, CRL staff, CRL member libraries, and CRL strategic partners. Before joining the Center for Research Libraries in 2019, he served as the Associate Director for Collections at the MIT Libraries, where he led an administrative portfolio that included scholarly communications and collections strategy, digital preservation, acquisitions and metadata creation, and the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Eow has held previous appointments as Charles Warren Bibliographer at the Harvard Library and as Kaplanoff Librarian for American History at the Yale University Library. Eow currently serves on the Management Board of the MIT Press as well as the Board of Directors of the Chicago Collections Consortium. He is a member of the American Historical Association.

Celeste Feather

Senior Director of Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives, LYRASIS

Celeste Feather is the Senior Director of Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives at LYRASIS, where she leads a team of experts who negotiate group licenses for online content, manage persistent identifier communities, and work with mission-aligned partners to develop new models for scholarly communication. Prior to joining LYRASIS in 2010, she gained expertise through a variety of positions at university libraries and a statewide library consortium. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5907-7606

Kathleen Fitzpatrick

Director of Digital Humanities and Professor of English, Michigan State University

Kathleen Fitzpatrick is Director of Digital Humanities and Professor of English at Michigan State University, where she also directs MESH, a research and development unit focused on the future of scholarly communication. She is project director of Humanities Commons, an open-access, open-source network serving more than 23,000 scholars and practitioners across the humanities and around the world, and she is author of Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019), Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy (NYU Press, 2011), and The Anxiety of Obsolescence: The American Novel in the Age of Television (Vanderbilt University Press, 2006). She is president of the Association for Computers and the Humanities, and she is a member of the board of directors of the Council on Library and Information Resources and of the Educopia Institute. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5251-0307

Phillip Hearn

Sr. Content Development Coordinator, Project MUSE

Phil Hearn has been with Project MUSE since 2011, when he joined the production team during the initial launch of books on the platform. As Ebook Production Coordinator, Phil worked closely with participating book publishers to guide tens of thousands of books through the MUSE production process. In 2018, he joined the Publisher Relations team, where he focuses on books in his current role.

Sylvester Johnson

Associate Vice Provost for the Humanities and Director of the Center for Humanities, Virginia Tech

Sylvester A. Johnson is Assistant Vice Provost for the Humanities and Executive Director of the “Tech for Humanity” initiative at Virginia Tech. He is the founding director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Humanities, which is supporting human-centered research and humanistic approaches to the guidance of technology. Sylvester’s research has examined religion, race, and empire in the Atlantic world; religion and sexuality; national security practices; and the impact of intelligent machines and human enhancement on human identity and race governance. He is currently writing a book on human identity in an age of intelligent machines and human-machine symbiosis.

Helen MacDiarmid

eBook Production Coordinator, Project MUSE

Helen MacDiarmid trained as an archivist, and has worked at small and large repositories making collections available to researchers. She joined Project MUSE in 2019 as the eBook Production Coordinator. Her understanding of metadata and attention to detail facilitates the movement of assets across the information ecosystem, and she endeavors to gain maximum exposure for publishers’ scholarly books. Helen has a Master of Library Science with a specialization in archiving from the University of Maryland and a Master of Art History from American University.

Liz Mengel

Associate Director Collections & Academic Services, Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries

Liz Mengel serves on the Libraries’ senior management team. She supports a team that includes everything from art collections to digitization. She has been at JHU since 2001 where she started as a science and engineering librarian. She has been actively engaged in collections development and management from both a practitioner’s standpoint and that of broader strategic institutional values perspective. Active in library assessment, she has presented on library value and measures. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, she held positions at Rice University and Shell Oil Company (Houston, TX). She holds a BA in Art History from the University of Houston and an MLS from the University of North Texas. She has completed 1 marathon and now only runs short distances for fun. In addition to running, she is an avid golfer, tennis player, and a mighty fine cook.

Laura Mesotten

Process Manager Research and Open Scholarship, KU Leuven Libraries

Laura Mesotten works as Process Manager Research and Open Scholarship for KU Leuven Libraries Artes. Artes is the department within KU Leuven Libraries that manages and develops services and collections for research and education for the Faculty of Arts and, more generally, the Humanities and Social Sciences Group. Laura’s job focus is on scholarly communication and open science and she is a strong believer in Fair Open Access. Together with Demmy Verbeke, she is responsible for the day-to-day management of the KU Leuven Fund for Fair OA. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1186-1506

Jaclyn Parrott

Assistant Professor and Collection Management Librarian, Eastern Washington University Libraries and Learning Commons

Jaclyn has been serving as Assistant Professor, Collection Management Librarian, and Religious Studies Subject Liaison at EWU Libraries and Learning Commons since 2018. Previously, she spent five years as Branch Librarian and Manager at Moody Bible Institute-Spokane Library. Besides an extensive customer service and leadership background, she has experience in all aspects of librarianship, including administration, reference, instruction, cataloging, acquisitions, technology, outreach, and access services. Currently, she manages the collections budget, resources, and personnel in the Collection Services Unit at EWU.

She earned an MDiv from Moody Theological Seminary, a Professional Librarian’s Life Certificate, an MLISc from University of Hawai’i, and a BA in Communication Studies (with a Business Administration minor) from Eastern Washington University.

Besides a passion for education, she enjoys recreating in the outdoors, traveling, reading, music, riding her motorcycle, taking pictures, and spending time with her Springerdoodle Fyodor, friends, and family.

Frances Pinter

Executive Chair, Central European University Press

Dr Frances Pinter is the Executive Chair of the Central European University Press and formerly CEO of Manchester University Press. She was the founding Publisher of Bloomsbury Academic. She is also the founder of Knowledge Unlatched, taking a particular interest in developing sustainable business models for Open Access monographs. Previously she was Publishing Director at the Open Society Foundation. Earlier she founded Pinter Publishers that also owned Leicester University Press and established the imprint Belhaven Press.

Wendy Queen

Director, Project MUSE

Wendy Queen is the Director of Project MUSE at Johns Hopkins University Press. She began her career focusing on the intersection of human interaction and technology. With a background in the humanities and a Masters in Information Arts and Technologies, Wendy first joined MUSE in a technical role. Through the years and many positions at MUSE, her leadership and contributions have ensured that MUSE continues to innovate across its platform and business models for the benefit of its partner publishers. Wendy has served on boards and committees for COUNTER, AAP, CrossRef, NISO, and ALPSP. She serves on the Scholarly Communications Group at Johns Hopkins University and is a member of the executive leadership at JHU Press. Wendy has served as a PI on grants from Mellon and the NEH as well as served as an advisor and reviewer of numerous grant proposals.

Melanie Schaffner

Director, Sales and Marketing, Project MUSE

Melanie Schaffner has been with Project MUSE since 1996, and currently leads the teams responsible for the strategic development, planning, and implementation of all sales and marketing activities for the organization. She has over thirty years of marketing, communications, and business development experience across several categories of intellectual property. Melanie holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a Master of Science from Johns Hopkins University. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3662-7978

Ann Snoeyenbos

Manager, International Sales and Special Markets, Project MUSE

Ann Snoeyenbos has worked at Project MUSE in this role since 2004. Her responsibilities include Book and journal collection sales to academic libraries outside of US/Canada, as well as sales to schools, special and public libraries worldwide. Before joining Project MUSE Ann was Librarian for West European Social Science at New York University. Ann holds an MA in West European Studies, and an MLS in Library Science, both from Indiana University Bloomington.

Kelley Squazzo

Director of Publisher Relations, Project MUSE

Kelley Squazzo joined Project MUSE as Director of Publisher Relations & Content Development in 2019. Kelley previously held positions at JHUP as acquisitions editor for public health and at Wolters Kluwer as executive editor for nursing education. In her role at MUSE, she brings expertise in scholarly publishing strategies including open access, digital humanities, and e-learning solutions. Kelley holds a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Maryland.

Kelly Swickard

Metadata & Linked Data Strategist, Project MUSE

Kelly Swickard is the Metadata & Linked Data Strategist. She has worked for over ten years as an academic librarian doing cataloging, metadata, resource description, reference and instruction, and digital archives. She has graduate degrees in archaeology, art history, and library and information science. Swickard believes strongly in the importance of good metadata as the foundation of sharing knowledge. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3197-2932

Karin Wulf

Professor of History and Director of the Omohundro Institute, William and Mary

Karin Wulf is the director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, which has been publishing the William and Mary Quarterly, the leading journal in early American scholarship, and books with the University of North Carolina Press, since 1943. She is also Professor of History at the College of William & Mary, and co-chair the College’s Neurodiversity Working Group. Her scholarship focuses on women, gender and family in the early modern British Atlantic. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1414-7591

Maurice York

Director of Library Initiatives, Big Ten Academic Alliance

As the Director of Library Initiatives for the Big Ten Academic Alliance, Maurice is responsible for coordinating collective action at scale amongst the research libraries of the BTAA towards their commitment to realizing an interdependent, networked future. The central initiative in Maurice's portfolio is the BIG Collection, a comprehensive strategy to strengthen an interdependent future for the 15 world-class research libraries of the BTAA by joining the separate collections into one collection, shared and fully networked, across all physical and digital domains.

In his previous position, Maurice was on the executive leadership team at the University of Michigan Library, where he led the technology division in developing and delivering cornerstone digital infrastructure projects for information discovery, digital preservation, and access. Before Michigan, Maurice was the Head of Information Technology at the NC State University Library, where he designed and led the implementation of the technology program for the James B. Hunt Jr. Library.

Contact Us

Please email Kelley Squazzo at ksquazzo.muse@jhu.edu with any questions.

Code of Conduct

Project MUSE is committed to promoting the principles of Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (EJI). These values are intrinsic to our mission of serving the global academic and scholarly community, and as a virtual gathering of that community, MUSE Meets 2021 will foster an environment where diversity, dignity, and integrity are central to each interaction. While we encourage spirited and free intellectual discussions throughout this event, all such interactions must take place in the spirit of mutual respect and empathy.

To ensure that MUSE Meets 2021 is a positive and rewarding event for all panelists and attendees, we offer this Code of Conduct, adapted in part from the AUPresses Code of Conduct. Any conduct that runs counter to the principles of EJI or in any way threatens the safety or dignity of another participant will have their access revoked immediately.

Prohibited behaviors may include but are not limited to:

• Offensive or harassing behavior or language based on group status, including but not limited to race, ethnic background, national origin, age, religion, disability or medical condition, gender expression or identity, marital or parental status, sexual orientation, appearance, occupation or professional status, or veteran status;
• Sexual harassment, including unwelcome attention, stalking (physical or virtual), and non-consensual physical contact;
• Abusive, biased, or disrespectful conduct that has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with another person’s ability to participate in the event;
• Real or implied threats of physical or professional harm.

We thank all members of the Project MUSE community for making MUSE Meets 2021 a respectful, positive, professional event where scholarly communication can flourish.

Land Acknowledgment

Project MUSE respectfully acknowledges and gives thanks to the Piscataway Tribe, the Indigenous people who are traditional owners of the lands of the Chesapeake Bay region. We also acknowledge all Indigenous Peoples, the traditional owners of the lands and waters of the United States of America.

Archive of Past Meetings