Our Story
Begun as a small seminar in 1989, the NMPS has become a vibrant biennial conference, welcoming professionals from the museum publishing world and beyond.
The NMPS Mission: As repositories of the nation’s cultural, historic, and scientific resources, museums are in a unique position to develop specialized publications that reflect their educational missions and collections. Museum publication programs serve many purposes: scholarly, documentary, and informational. The purpose of the National Museum Publishing Seminar is to foster rigorous, informed conversations on the role of museum publishing, and its products, today.
We hope that you will join us at our next conference. For any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
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To count down the days until the 2021 conference, we'll be sharing a session description each day. First up:
Yes, You Can! Demystifying and Digitizing Your Backlist
July 12, 2:00–3:00 pm CDT
Interested in digitizing some or all of your backlist, but not sure where to start? Think you don’t have the time, resources, or know-how? This panel demystifies backlist digitization, offering practical information on all parts of the process, from planning to launch to maintenance. With the Yale University Art Gallery’s recent Online Access project serving as a case study, you will learn how to determine goals and scope; locate a digitization vendor; select appropriate file formats and review PDFs for accuracy; write effective alt text; evaluate fair-use claims; and more. Next, hear from Metropolitan Museum of Art staff—nearly ten years after the groundbreaking launch of MetPublications—who will share information on metrics, updates, and upkeep. Finally, learn about the National Museum of the American Indian’s efforts to increase access to essential, evergreen content by digitizing select titles from their backlist, making some books available for free and others for sale. Through discussion of these three different projects, you will leave with a set of tools that can be applied to your own institution, no matter the size.
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Reduced rate application spaces are still available! If you've encouraged a financial hardship that makes paid registration difficult, apply for a reduced rate of $25.
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Registration for the 2021 digital conference is still open. Interested in learning more about our speakers and sessions? Visit our website to register and find more information.
