March 29, 2022 – The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Board of Directors are proud to announce the organization’s new core values that will guide its governance and strategic goals.
Charged with articulating the specific values that define SSP’s culture, the Board of Directors developed the Core Values Task Force, led by board member Randy Townsend and president-elect Miranda Walker. Through a collaborative process involving the SSP Board, committee co-chairs, and staff, the Core Values Task Force completed a series of activities to gather feedback from the community about what values best-represented SSP. The new core values are:
Community: Bringing diverse stakeholders together to harness their collective knowledge and unique perspectives; creating connections that result in authentic relationships
Inclusivity: Providing equitable opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds to feel welcome to contribute their thoughts and ideas to the scholarly publishing community
Adaptability: Challenging the status quo, embracing new ideas, and maintaining effectiveness in an evolving environment; learning from mistakes to improve all aspects of scholarly communications
Integrity: Building trust through responsible actions, transparency, respect, and honest relationships
“Core values are what support the mission and vision, shape the culture, and reflect what is at the heart of SSP’s purpose,” said Melanie Dolechek, SSP Executive Director. “They ensure our members are working towards a common goal and provide guidance to the work we do as a community.
Complementing the new core values, SSP also recently updated its strategic goals. Although the Board of Directors did not either want or need to make any dramatic changes to SSP’s overall direction, they did want to simplify and refocus the organization’s goals in line with the specified core values.
Society for Scholarly Publishing’s Strategic Goals for 2022-25 are:
- Embed diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in all that we do
- Make SSP a home for scholarly communications professionals at every career stage
- Engage with the global scholarly communications community
- Develop new content and services
- Ensure SSP’s continued financial sustainability
“I am hugely grateful to everyone who had a hand in developing both our core values and our strategic objectives,” said SSP President, Alice Meadows. “It was truly a community effort and I’m confident that both will stand SSP in good stead in the coming years.”
SSP invites community members to recognize the demonstration of their core values in real life when they see it using the hashtags #Community, #Inclusivity, #Adaptability, #Integrity, or #CoreValues. Read in The Scholarly Kitchen about the Core Values Task Force’s process and how SSP plans to embed its values in the community. Learn more about SSP or become a member to be a part of how these values and goals manifest in the scholarly publishing community.
About the Society for Scholarly Publishing The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP), founded in 1978, is a nonprofit organization formed to promote and advance communication among all sectors of the scholarly publication community through networking, information dissemination, and facilitation of new developments in the field. SSP members represent all aspects of scholarly publishing—including publishers, printers, e-products developers, technical service providers, librarians, and editors. SSP members come from a wide range of large and small commercial and nonprofit organizations. They meet at SSP’s annual meetings, educational seminars, and regional events to hear the latest trends from respected colleagues and discuss common and mutual (and sometimes divergent) goals and viewpoints.
Contact Melanie Dolechek, Executive Director | info@sspnet.org | 303-422-3914
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