Typical Activities Carried Out by Associate Publishers

While position descriptions for members of the leadership team appear above in 2.3, a list of typical duties for each position appears below.

Publisher

See list of duties and activities in 2.2.

Associate Publisher for Journals

• Start list here.

Associate Publisher for Books

• Start list here.

Associate Publisher for Resources

• Serve as publisher for projects seeking publication in the Repository (i.e., collections, exhibits, and crowdsourcing initiatives).
  • Work with project editor(s)/author(s) to design and develop the project for digital publication.
  • Create webpage(s) for the project and publish on the WAC Clearinghouse.
  • Update/maintain project webpage(s) over time.
• Serve on editorial board for the WAC Repository and report activities to the WAC Clearinghouse leadership team and AWAC.
  • Collaborate with other editorial board members on statements, procedures, and guidelines related to the Repository.
  • Issue open call for submissions, periodic reminders, and direct solicitation requests for submissions.
  • Manage article submissions and oversee the review process.
• Organize resources.
• Update resources, as needed.
• Serve on leadership team and editorial board.
  • Respond as necessary to special requests from the publisher.
  • Collaborate with other associate publishers on special initiatives and developments.

Associate Publisher for Databases

• Serve as Managing Editor for the CompPile Editorial Team.
  1. Lead the CompPile Editorial Team.
     1. Call meetings.
     2. Recruit associate editors.
     3. Report activities to the WAC Clearinghouse leadership team.
  2. Coordinate activities of indexing journals and books (Completion Project).
     1. Receive and respond to indexing submissions.
     2. Communicate with indexers and journal editors.
     3. Clean up submissions and upload to WAC Clearinghouse dropbox for uploading to the database.
  3. Coordinate efforts for research bibliographies.
  4. Coordinate outreach and publicity for CompPile to raise its profile.

Associate Publisher for Design and Production

(Note: This position is currently held by two associate publishers who divide the duties between them, one managing web design and production and the other managing manuscript design and production.)

Web Design and Production Responsibilities

• Assess and improve Clearinghouse websites
  • Quarterly (Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec):
    • Using different browsers and devices, download a sampling of book chapters and journal articles to check for functionality. Report any malfunctions to the co-associate publisher for design and production and to the publisher and make repairs to malfunctions as able; the publisher may make some of the repairs as needed.
    • Check for broken links on all sites (main site, submissions portal, and tools site). Repair as able; the publisher may make some of the repairs as needed. (Note: an automated link checker should be used, currently being evaluated).
    • On a rotating basis (i.e., active journals one quarter, book series another quarter, etc.), check for consistency of information across all pages of all sites (main site, submissions portal, and tools site) (e.g., names and affiliations of editorial team members, names and affiliations of editorial board, names and affiliations of publications review board, names of book series and journals, etc.).
  • Annually:
    • On a rotating basis (i.e, main site one year, submissions portal another year, tools site another year), oversee UX testing of all Clearinghouse sites. (Note: A relationship has been established the University of Tampa’s Department of English and Writing for UX testing by undergraduate students studying professional and technical writing; this relationship can be continued or replaced with another provider.) Report the outcomes of the UX testing to the publisher and associate publishers and make changes as indicated in collaboration with the co-associate publisher for design and production and with the publisher.
    • Check that the content and links in all website footers (main site, submissions portal, and tools site) are accurate and working. Report any needed changes to the publisher (who has access to this area of the sites).
  • Once every three years:
    • Evaluate available content management systems. Depending on the results of UX testing and accessibility testing (see next section for information on accessibility testing), cost, and other relevant factors, migrate to a different content management system as needed. (Note: Outsourcing the migration might be an option depending on cost and other factors.)
• Identify and address accessibility of websites and publications (in collaboration with the Associate Publisher for Accessibility and Sustainability)
  • Annually:
    • Concurrent with and using the same rotation as for the user testing described above, oversee an accessibility audit of the websites (the accessibility audit of the main site should include the publications available there). (Note: For the first year of accessibility testing, a relationship was established with the Lab for Usability, Communication, Interaction, and Accessibility at Auburn University for accessibility testing, but due to cost, this relationship will likely be replaced with an automated testing tool, currently being evaluated). Report outcomes of the accessibility audit to the publisher and associate publishers and make changes as indicated in collaboration with the co-associate publisher for design and production and with the publisher.
• Provide access to sites for authorized users
  • Ad-hoc
    • In collaboration with the publisher, establish login credentials for authorized users of all websites (main site, submissions portal, and tools site). (Note: Instructions are stored in the Design and Production folder of the Associate Publishers share drive on Google., with more details available at https://docs.murasoftware.com/v7-1/content-managers/groups-users-and-access-control/) Update master list stored in the Associate Publishers folder on Google Drive.
• Serve on leadership team and editorial board.
  • Respond as necessary to special requests from the publisher.
  • Collaborate with other associate publishers on special initiatives and developments.

Manuscript Design and Production Responsibilities

• See Appendix Section 4.
• Serve on leadership team and editorial board.
  • Respond as necessary to special requests from the publisher.
  • Collaborate with other associate publishers on special initiatives and developments.

Associate Publisher for Operations and Equity

• Start list here.

Associate Publisher for Accessibility and Sustainability

• Start list here.

Associate Publisher for Marketing and Advancement

1. Publicize through web, social media, and email communications the scholarly publications and instructional and professional resources available through the WAC Clearinghouse.

1. Maintain annual announcements schedule (located on Google Drive in the Social Media folder).
   1. Each associate publisher provides an announcement about their respective area (resources, journals, books, and CompPile) on a rotating schedule. The publisher also provides an announcement about general WAC Clearinghouse information as part of the rotating schedule.
   2. Contact each associate publisher/the publisher one week before their deadline with a reminder asking for their announcement.
   3. Upon receiving announcements, post them to the WAC Clearinghouse home page (the publisher sets up individual logins upon request and provides training in uploading content), social media accounts (see next section), and relevant listservs (such as WRITINGSTUDIES-L, WCenter, WAC-L, and EATAW—individual subscriptions to listservs are needed).
2. Manage current social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Twitter has its own username and password while Facebook and LinkedIn are accessed through personal accounts once you are added as an administrator. (A free account on Hootsuite has been used in the past to manage all three accounts—instructions on how to set up a free account and add access to social profiles are at https://help.hootsuite.com/hc/en-us/articles/1260804250130-Overview-of-Hootsuite).
   1. Consider advisability of adding social media accounts on additional platforms such as Instagram or Pinterest (this would require upgrading to a paid Hootsuite account, rather than continuing with the free account currently in use).
   2. Monitor accounts via Hootsuite regularly (check for comments on Clearinghouse accounts and posts by followed accounts).
3. Oversee social media guidelines currently in use by editorial board members (posted on the WAC Clearinghouse Tools site at https://wactools.colostate.edu/documents/ and also available in the Shared Drive in the Social Media folder).
   1. Review guidelines annually for needed updates or changes.
   2. Accept comments/suggestions via email from editorial board members (has been done in November each year\

2. Collaborate with the editorial team to nominate books and journals for awards.

1. Maintain list of awards and award nominations. Update award deadlines, descriptions, and contact information in December of each year.
2. Solicit nominations from editorial board members.
   1. Send annual email (has been done in January each year) to all journal and book series editors with links to lists of awards and award nominations.
   2. Maintain lists of email addresses for all editorial board members.

3. Establish advancement partnerships and lead fundraising efforts.

1. Lead fundraising efforts.
   1. Collaborate with publisher to determine frequency (has been done biannually in September/October) and messaging.
   2. Post announcements via website, social media, and relevant email listservs (such as WRITINGSTUDIES-L, WCenter, WPA-L, and EATAW).

4. Serve on editorial board.

1. Respond as necessary to special requests from the publisher.