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05.13.2020 | SSP News & Releases

President’s Letter | May 2020

 

 

Greetings from my home office in Virginia!

Spring is typically the craziest time of the year for me. It’s a busy travel and conference season and a time when I am kicking myself for overcommitting! This spring is obviously much different with no travel in sight. With this disappointing respite comes the stress about managing a team from home, maintaining revenue goals in the face of uncertainty, and being strategic while completely blindfolded. 

I know that you have these challenges as well and SSP is committed to supporting you and the scholarly publishing industry in navigating this change. While it is disappointing to not have a most excellent Annual Meeting this year, I want to spend a few minutes talking about what we can offer to help you. 

The Annual Meeting Program Committee had over 30 sessions, posters, sponsored sessions, keynotes, pre-meeting seminars, and more planned for you. The committee is so excited about this content, that they are already very hard at work in identifying how best to serve it to you. Working with SSP staff and the other committees, I am confident that you will get the value of the content in a multitude of formats. 

The Scholarly Kitchen has always been my go-to resource for staying on top of what is happening. The Chefs have been giving the pandemic and the ramifications for what this all means some serious thought. TSK is the only place to get a daily thought-provoking essay on scholarly publishing and the Chefs are committed to continuing. 

The SSP member newsletter, Re:member, is another favorite of mine. There are always links to articles or resources that I have somehow missed and yet find useful.

There are several upcoming webinars listed on the website with new pricing to allow for multiple logins while we are all distributed. The next one is in June and focuses on inclusive workplaces. 

Networking opportunities are hard to replicate in the virtual space. That said, several of the SSP regional groups have organized virtual meet-ups and happy hours. I’ve seen them in London, DC, Boston, and Durham. Keep an eye out for those and stop by for a little social and networking time. 

I encourage you to use other SSP resources to stay engaged; comment on a Scholarly Kitchen post or post a question in C3 to start a discussion.

Finally, SSP will be conducting its annual business meeting via webinar on May 20 and you all are invited. I know you were all worried about missing the business meeting usually presented at the Annual Meeting, but we have you covered. The best part (and the reason this is a “must-see”) is that we will recognize the SSP Award Winners and introduce you to the new SSP Board. 

These past several weeks have been challenging. They have included losses as well as reminders of what is truly important. For those of you dealing with personal illness, caretaking, or just the stress of uncertainty, please know that my thoughts are with you. 

I want to thank you all for being SSP members and seeing the value in our collective experiences. SSP is where we learn, we connect, and we grow. I am confident that we can continue to do that, even if we can’t do it in person for the time being. 

Thank you. Be well. And Stay safe. 
Angela Cochran
2019-2020 SSP President

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