News > Publishing Professional Profiles >

Archive: Publishing Professional Profiles

March/April 2008—Darcy Dapra, Strategic Partner Manager, Google Inc.

Darcy Dapra would like to expel the image that all Google employees are intimidating techno-wizards, but we’re not biting. Even a quick conversation with Darcy—one of only a small group of Google Partner Managers in the United States who work with publishers, libraries, link resolvers, platform hosts, and other affiliates of the scholarly community—reveals that she is one of SSP’s most enviable members. And this is before we heard about her hip digs in a former liquor distillery in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill.

Working in the same division as Google Book Search, which also includes both Google Scholar and News Archive Search, since her November 2006 hire, Darcy is dedicated to the indexing and discoverability of non-book content, such as journals.

“Google's mission is really aligned with that of academic publishing groups, in that we are focused on the efficient dissemination of information worldwide for research and discovery.” Darcy enjoys working with publishing partners to explore new revenue opportunities. Noting that, “it is an unfortunate perception that Google poses a challenge or threat” to traditional print publications, Darcy believes that Google applications and services can be power tools for publishers to reach readers and form online communities, enhancing the reach of scholarly communication.

Prior to her current post with Google and her entrée into the publishing arena, Darcy traveled to Korea on a Fulbright Grant in 1999 and lived with a Benedictine order of nuns in a small town of 300, teaching English and American culture. After later completing her Master’s in Art History, Darcy began an internship with the University of California Press that led to a number of subsequent roles within the Journals Division during the following five years. It was at UC Press that Darcy began her tenure with SSP, attending her first SSP seminar in 2004. Darcy is grateful that Google renewed their organizational membership, allowing her many rewarding opportunities to be involved with and connect to a community of industry peers.

February 2008--Barbara Meyers Ford, President, Meyers Consulting Services; Editor-in-Chief, SSP News

Almost thirty years ago, a group of colleagues sat down in a living room in Chevy Chase, MD and paid the first dues for SSP—making the dream of a scholarly publishing professional membership society a reality. One of those people was Barbara Meyers Ford, who remains an active member in SSP and President of Meyers Consulting Services. “I was fortunate enough to be on staff at Capital Systems Group at the time, which was managing the NSF-sponsored Innovation Guide project, when a group of us decided to move forward on plans for a membership organization,” Barbara says, recalling how SSP was born and how she was one of the founding members.

Over the past 30 years as a member, Barbara has served on the Board of Directors three times, every committee of SSP as either a member or chair (or both), and has attended most meetings since the 1st annual meeting in Boston in 1979. Currently, she serves as Editor-in-Chief at SSP News, editor of the History Section of the website, and is a member of the 30th Anniversary Task Force. As Editor-in-Chief, Barbara works with other SSP members to create a content-rich newsletter with information people at all stages of their careers and all areas of scholarly publishing will find useful and enjoyable.

Barbara recalls her first job in publishing as an editorial assistant for the National Rehabilitation Association in Washington, DC. “I worked with a managing editor in the area of peer review,” Barbara says. “It wasn’t a large journal, so in about 20 hours a week I could do all that was needed to keep the review process moving. I remember using 3” X 5” cards to maintain our review ‘database’!” Today Barbara is a career consultant, working with various types of individuals in many disciplines and areas of human endeavor. “Scholarly publishing covers so much of the world and coupling that with my work in society management makes a package that can’t be surpassed for interest and challenge.”

When not in the role of a scholarly publishing society member or a career consultant, Barbara enjoys being a newly-wed (she was married to Steve Ford in September 2007) and caregiver to her mother. “Steve and I both enjoy baseball and history, so you’ll see us at Camden Yards when we can make a game, visiting nearby Gettysburg, or down in D.C. at the museums,” Barbara says. “We also just bought a house, along with my mother, so there’s always some project to make our small-town-America nest even homier.” And when not editing newsletters, watching baseball, or visiting museums? “You can usually find me curled up with a good book.”

January 2008--Susan Kesner, Director, Publisher Services, Copyright Clearance Center; President, SSP

“I have met some very fascinating people,” states SSP President Susan Kesner, when asked about her favorite aspect of scholarly publishing. “I love the business challenges, the global nature of scholarly communications, and thinking through the various business models.”

Sue has spent most of her career in some form of scholarly communication—first as a librarian, then working for various information companies. After obtaining her master's degree in Latin American history from the University of Wisconsin and a MLS from Wayne State University, Sue worked as a Latin American bibliographer. From there, her career took her along various paths in the industry, to where she now serves as Director of Publisher Services at Copyright Clearance Center in Danvers, MA. There, she works directly with STM publishers, helping them understand the value of the secondary licensing market and CCC’s variety of licensing programs.

Sue is also working to help grow SSP in her role as president. “We are currently working on a three-year strategic plan,” Sue explains. “These are exciting but stressful times for publishers. It can be difficult for publishers to keep current with the latest technology, business and content models. SSP plays a vital role by offering state-of- the-art training, such as educational seminars and our Annual Meeting, industry news and updates on our Web site, research publications, and a supportive network.”

But Sue’s life isn’t all about business models and publishing. “I have a ceramics studio in my house,” she adds with a laugh. Sue enjoys creating ceramics with friends at her home in Massachusetts. “I mostly make functional stoneware. I consider myself a novice, but I am currently working on place settings for my two grown sons.”