mPach: Publishing directly in HathiTrust

Session Type: Presentation/Panel

Session Description:
MPublishing, the University of Michigan’s library-based publishing enterprise, has been using DLXS for many of its publishing needs, but the system’s architecture constrains its ability to support the structure of journals and the features that MPublishing wishes to offer for its publishing services. In order to grow, MPublishing needs a platform free from these constraints.

HathiTrust, a shared digital repository, has been archiving and providing access to reformatted library holdings, and monographs submitted by university presses at partner institutions. Since libraries are increasingly involved in open-access publishing of journals, HathiTrust is a natural place to archive and provide access to born-digital publisher content to ensure its long-term preservation and discoverability.

We see an opportunity to address the needs and values of both publishers and archivists, while developing a shared infrastructure in support of low-cost, open university-based publishing. Therefore, the University of Michigan Library is funding a two-year project to develop a package of tools called mPach for publishing journals in the HathiTrust repository.

mPach is envisioned as an end-to-end publishing system. The core modules provide tools for normalizing a manuscript into a standard, preservable, fully-encoded XML document (employing the JATS schema); assembling the article XML and its related media files in a Submission Information Package (in METS schema); ingesting the SIP into HathiTrust; and rendering the JATS XML in the HathiTrust GUI.

APIs will be provided to extend either end of this core publishing chain. Michigan will develop a plugin to leverage the peer review management features of OJS, and HathiTrust’s Data API will be extended to allow other custom presentations of mPach content.

In this presentation, Kevin Hawkins and Jeremy Morse of MPublishing will provide an overview of the mPach project, its goals and system architecture, and demonstrate a working prototype of the work in progress.

Session Leaders:
Kevin Hawkins, University of Michigan
Jeremy Morse, University of Michigan

Session Notes:
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