Michigan Publishing Podcast

This is Chapter 1 of the audiobook of Doing the Charleston: My Personal History of Scholarly Communication by Katina Strauch and Darrell W. Gunter, published by Against the Grain, LLC and distributed by Michigan Publishing Services, April 2025.

This is the preface from the audiobook of Doing the Charleston: My Personal History of Scholarly Communication By Katina Strauch & Darrell W. Gunter, published by Against the Grain, LLC and distributed by Michigan Publishing Services, April 2025.

This is the introduction of the audiobook of Doing the Charleston: My Personal History of Scholarly Communication By Katina Strauch & Darrell W. Gunter, published by Against the Grain, LLC and distributed by Michigan Publishing Services, April 2025.

Book Description:

In 1980, Katina Strauch started the Charleston Conference: Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition to bring together librarians, publishers, and vendors to discuss issues shared by the three groups. The meeting has continued annually and boasts over 3,000 attendees in person and virtually. This memoir is Katina’s diary and story of the Charleston Conference and its development concurrently with her career as a professional librarian. Over the last 45 years, there have been massive changes in scholarly communication, changes that Katina has been at the heart of. Where and what will the library and publishing professions develop next? The sky’s the limit to reimagining! Let’s go.

Katina Strauch began life as a librarian in the mid-1970s. In 1980, she started the Charleston Conference: Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition to bring together librarians, publishers, and vendors to discuss issues shared by the three groups. The meeting has continued annually and boasts over 3,000 attendees in person and virtual, as well as an online counterpart several times a year, Charleston in between. In 1998, Katina partnered with Italian booksellers Casalini Libri to begin the Casalini Fiesole Retreats. These take place every year in different countries around the world. Katina has continued as a professional librarian and has won many awards. She has published numerous books and articles on collection development and acquisitions. She has served on the National Museum and Library Services Board and the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Information Board of Visitors. Katina retired as a librarian in 2016. She sold the Charleston Conference and its associated Against the Grain publications imprint to the non-profit publisher Annual Reviews in 2023.

The Open Access: In Conversation mini-series explores the theme of this year’s International Open Access Week, “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” Through this series, we talk to a range of stakeholders addressing questions around open access and the implications of open access for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. This episode features MPS Director of Publishing Services Jason Colman and host Kristen Twardowski of University of Michigan Press, as they discuss library publishing and the importance of Open Access journals & publishing partnerships.

The Open Access: In Conversation mini-series explores the theme of this year’s International Open Access Week, “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” Through this series, we talk to a range of stakeholders addressing questions around open access and the implications of open access for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. This episode features Miguel Escobar Varela, author of the book Theater as Data: Computational Journeys into Theater Research.

The Open Access: In Conversation mini-series explores the theme of this year’s International Open Access Week, “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” Through this series, we talk to a range of stakeholders addressing questions around open access and the implications of open access for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. This episode features two guests, Jim Ottaviani and Rachel Woodbrook, librarians and data curators at the University of Michigan's Deep Blue Repositories, and host Elizabeth Demers of University of Michigan Press, as they discuss research data curation, the growing importance of data repositories, and inclusivity.

The Open Access: In Conversation mini series explores the theme of this year’s International Open Access Week, “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” Through this series, we talk to a range of stakeholders addressing questions around open access and the implications of open access for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. This episode features Carrie Nelson, Director of Scholarly Communication at University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.

The Open Access: In Conversation mini series explores the theme of this year’s International Open Access Week, “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” Through this series, we talk to a range of stakeholders addressing questions around open access and the implications of open access for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. This episode features two students from the University of Michigan. 

The Dialogues in Democracy: In Conversation mini series explores core tensions in American political culture with our University of Michigan Press authors. This episode explores implications of American political leadership with Emile Lester of Liberalism and Leadership: The Irony of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Richard Waterman of The Presidential Expectations Gap: Public Attitudes Concerning the Presidency.

The Dialogues in Democracy: In Conversation mini series explores core tensions in American political culture with our University of Michigan Press authors. This episode explores issues of race in society and politics with Katherine Tate of Concordance: Black Lawmaking in the US from Carter to Obama and Stephen Knadler of Vitality Politics: Health, Debility, and the Limits of Black Emancipation.