With September upon us, many of our organizations — including SSP — are getting ready to ramp up after (hopefully!) a little bit of a break. Thanks to our wonderful community of SSP volunteers and staff, we have now finalized the membership of our 2021-22 committees. Having attended several of their kickoff meetings, I can’t tell you how impressed I am with everyone’s enthusiasm and dedication — thank you all so much!
That also extends to the members of our Board, of course. Our next full Board meeting is in October and, after a productive day of virtual discussions with the Executive Committee in August, we will have lots to talk about. We’ll be focusing primarily on our strategic goals for the next three years which, unsurprisingly, need revisiting given the upheavals caused by the COVID19 pandemic. We will be sharing more details with you after the Board meeting but, for now, I’m delighted to say that our diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts will continue to be front and center of all we do. That includes continuing our involvement in, and support for, C4DISC, whose recently published Antiracism Toolkit for Organizations is an essential resource that represents a huge amount of work on the part of the 60 contributors.
We will also be looking at how we can continue to ensure that SSP meets the needs of all our members throughout your careers — through our content, services, and programming, as well as through meaningful engagement with the wider scholarly communications community globally. Speaking of which, it’s time to get busy if you’re interested in applying for the 2022 Fellowship Program (application period September 13 through October 14) or if you want to apply for the next mentorship cohort (applications close September 2). But remember, QuickConnect, our micro-mentoring program, is open for applications all year round!
The Generations Fund is a critical element of our strategic planning, as it will enable us to fund initiatives and activities that support the development of our next generation of leaders — and to do so equitably and inclusively so that SSP and our community can benefit from an increasingly diverse leadership. Thanks to the generosity of over 100 individuals and organizations, we are nearly halfway toward our $500,000 goal. With your help, I hope that we can achieve that milestone sooner rather than later so, if you haven’t already done so, please consider making a donation yourself. Every little bit helps — and, if you need some extra encouragement, we will soon be sharing details of how you can join us for a fun virtual fundraising event later this year.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to remind you about our upcoming events, including the perennially popular New Directions Virtual Seminar (October 6-7) “How to Move Fast and Not Break Things: Balancing High-Speed Outputs at the Risk of Slamming on the Brakes,” as well as four more webinars:
- September 14: Early Career Subcommittee Webinar – “A Quick Tour of Tech for Early-Career Professionals in Scholarly Communications” (FREE)
- September 23: “Accessibility in Publishing“
- October 14: “The New 3 Rs: Response, Responsibility, and Relevance“
- November 16: “The Scholarly Kitchen: Current Topics in Scholarly Publishing“
And don’t forget, if you can’t make it to the events, the content is also available in our OnDemand Library — we just added all the Annual Meeting sessions, the two Quickstarter Programs, and all of the webinars for the first half of the year.
Thank you again to everyone who participates in SSP in any way. Publishers, librarians, and vendors; staff, Board members, Co-Chairs, and committee members; sponsors and advertisers; fellows, mentors, and mentees; speakers and authors; and more — you’re all essential to SSP’s success and I am so grateful for your support.
Best wishes,
Alice Meadows
2021-2022 SSP President
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