SPARC supports We Here’s publication, up//root, with second $20,000 grant

SPARC, a project of the New Venture Fund, granted We Here $20,000 for the second year in a row.

The grant chiefly goes toward compensating editors, authors, and peer reviewers for up//root: a we here publication.

We Here is super excited to announce SPARC, a project of the New Venture Fund, has granted us a second $20,000 grant specifically to support up//root: a we here publication. Grant funding helps provide stipends for editors, authors, peer reviewers, as well as help cover a percentage of costly subscriptions.

Last year up//root onboarded two new editors, bringing the editorial team to a total of five people and published five features, each as unique as their authors. They are call-to-action pieces that bring attention to glaring needs in the Library and Information Science (LIS) community: Make the Library Loud: Removing Communication Barriers for Library Workers with Hearing Loss. They are bold statements, condemning white supremacy and racism while holding our communities accountable: Letter to Asian Diasporic Library Workers and Confronting Anti-Asian Racism: A Statement on (In)visibility and Targeted Online Harassment. They are also personal narratives diving deep within the archive: The House Archives Built and creative expressions using poetry and prose: Drowned Disillusions. All features reflect up//root’s objective to empower folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) to disrupt oppressive practices, and cultivate accessible knowledge. 

Last year’s grant also provided an opportunity to contract an accessibility consultant, Dr. Michele Williams of MAW Consulting, to review the up//root platform and PDF downloads. Through this review, we have shifted from providing a PDF download for all articles (which can also be read directly on the up//root website) to providing a Google Doc that can be downloaded as a PDF by the user if needed.

up//root is particularly invested in supporting new authors, especially as BIPOC experiences and knowledges are systematically dismissed, erased, or invalidated in the LIS field. To demystify the publishing process, in 2021 up//root created the Submissions Tool Kit, BIPOC Citations Guide, and a Peer Reviewer Guide to expound on their approach for new and current peer reviewers.

As an online platform, up//root’s digital footprint is the heart of its impact and reach. In 2021, up//root had 24,000 visits, 18,000 unique visitors and 37,000 views. While most readers are based in the United States and Canada, up//root has also reached visitors from the United Kingdom (689 visits) Australia (147 visits ) as well as China and India, both with 47 visits. 

The editorial team is currently on a publishing hiatus, but along with the advisory team, are working behind-the-scenes on documentation of workflows and creating sustainable practices.

We’re looking forward to another great year of publishing in partnership with our community.

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up//root: a we here publication launched in 2020. Since forming, up//root’s ethos has been to center the works, knowledge, and experiences of people who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) within the library and archives community. The editorial team includes Megdi Abebe, Joyce Gabiola, Sofia Leung, Jorge López-McKnight, and Kristina Santiago. The Advisory Team includes Jennifer Brown, Jennifer A. Ferretti, and Charlotte Roh.