Sinéad Neville, Director at Cork University Press, reports on visiting Liverpool University Press

I spent April 22 to 26, 2024 at Liverpool University Press as part of the Association of University Presses Directors Residency Program. I am enormously grateful to the Association for making this opportunity possible and to Anthony Cond and the team at Liverpool University Press (LUP) for generously hosting me.

I completed the residency as I neared the end of my second month at Cork University Press (Cork UP). I was keen to take part in the residency whilst still in the “listening and learning” phase of my new role, gathering early observations, and beginning to think about the strategic direction for Cork UP as it nears its centenary in 2025.

Having worked in professional and academic publishing previously, I spent the immediate 2 1/2 years prior to my current role in the performing arts industry where I led marketing and communications for a local theatre in Cork. In terms of re-entering the ever-evolving academic publishing industry and scholarly communications landscape, I knew that this residency would be a great opportunity to learn about the latest developments from a pioneering press such as LUP. This is my first role within a university press setting and I was keen to learn about different presses’ operating models and how they relate to their parent institution.

Thanks to Anthony’s thoughtful planning, the week delivered, in both variety and scope, beyond what I had anticipated. On Monday, I took the short train journey to Manchester to meet with members of the team at Manchester University Press (MUP). Chief Executive Simon Ross provided insights into MUP’s operating model, how it reports to the university and how the press has remained agile by strategically growing MUP’s trade list and open access (OA) platform. I also had the opportunity to meet with Production and Operations Manager Jen Mellor, Sales and Marketing Director Chris Hart, and Editorial Director Emma Brennan.

Cork UP has undergone numerous changes in recent years, including being brought in under the University Library unit. Anthony offered excellent advice and acted as a sounding board around topics such as change management, growing and maintaining the press, advocating for increased resources from university senior leadership, and finding new opportunities from funding to partnerships.

Throughout the rest of the week, I had the opportunity to meet with directors and members of the LUP team from sales and marketing, books editorial, journals editorial and subscriptions, production, and finance to ask both “bigger picture” and “deep in the details” questions. Some of the most valuable insights included learning how LUP has adapted to changes within the industry across distribution, print, and digital, and how the press has taken back control of much of its e-distribution. I was also heartened to hear how the press managed to address a discount restructure to the trade a few years ago without major pushback.

Anthony arranged for me to meet with Professor Frank Shovlin from the university’s Irish Studies department and recommended my meeting with Emma Smith, Artistic Director and CEO of the Liverpool Irish Festival. It was certainly a bonus to make these connections as Cork UP publishes broadly in the area of Irish Studies and the city of Liverpool has strong historical connections.

The week ended on a high note with an opportunity to attend a collaborative symposium between the University of Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and Research Libraries UK (RLUK) on Opening the Monograph: its future within an open scholarly landscape. To attend an event that brought together the full range of stakeholders involved in the open scholarship debate—from academics, policy makers, funders, librarians, and publishers—was a real privilege and opportunity for reflection on Cork UP’s approach to open research.