Kevin Stranack, PKP Operations Director, tells the story of long-time PKP supporter and Development Partner, the University of Pittsburgh.
In 2012, PKP first asked institutions using our free, open source Open Journal Systems software to consider supporting us financially and with in-kind resources as part of a new Development Partner program. One of the first organizations to step up was the University of Pittsburgh Library System, which provided funds and the time of some of their most highly skilled staff to contribute to the advancement of OJS.
In addition, Tim Deliyannides, then Director of the Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing at Pitt, volunteered to serve as the first Chair of the new PKP Advisory Committee. In his five years in that role, Tim helped PKP learn the critical importance of community governance and how to best engage with our friends and supporters.
As well, Tim chaired PKP’s first Annual General Meeting, and set the tone for our future meetings. Over the years, the contributions to technological and community development of Pitt leadership and staff members including Aaron Brenner, Lauren Collister, Vanessa Gabler, Clinton Graham, Brian Gregg, Rick Hoover, and others allowed for PKP to progress far beyond what we thought imaginable in the early days of our collaboration. Pitt’s continued support today, after all these years, is something for which all of us at PKP are truly grateful.
Aaron Brenner, Associate University Librarian for Research and Learning, shared the following insights regarding the University Library System’s (ULS) support for PKP:
At Pitt, we continue to view PKP as a key provider of infrastructure – and, crucially, community – that helps move us towards more equitable practices of scholarly communication at a global scale
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📌 Country Feature: Open Access, OJS, and OPS in Japan
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