Building organizational capacity for an open access, feminist press and library
Through this project, Founder and Design Director Juliana Castro and Editorial Director Jessi Haley will enable the expansion of the Cita Press (citapress.org) catalog (both content and functionality), pursue joint projects with Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and other partners, and pilot and implement revenue-generating programs to sustain Cita in the long term. In direct alignment with objectives of the Mellon Foundation’s Public Knowledge Program, Cita Press celebrates the spread of culture and knowledge by publishing the writings of women authors whose works are open-licensed or in the public domain. Through its library of collaboratively designed free books, Cita honors the principles of decentralization, collective knowledge production, and equitable access to knowledge.
Educopia is proud to serve as the fiscal sponsor for Cita Press.
Project Deliverables
- 6 new Cita Press titles with original forewords and original book covers (providing market rate compensation for contributors)
- Pilot strategic partnerships:
- An EPUB conversion workflow model in collaboration with DPLA
- A translation project in partnership with a literary translator exploring the possibilities of using AI to enhance open source translation accessibility
- A publication-focused pilot with a university or center resulting in a publication and associated materials (e.g. curated online exhibition, possibly with DPLA)
- Develop and pilot Cita Studio service offerings intended as a major source of earned revenue for Cita beyond the project period (eventually ~20% of its operating budget)
- Develop and implement a robust sponsorship program to support select Cita Press publications and events beyond project period
- Develop and implement a lightweight membership program to support the ongoing development of original educational content that further contextualizes Cita publications within current events and trends relevant to key audience segments
- Improved digital infrastructure: providing greater flexibility in ongoing maintenance and development costs, and enabling incremental feature enhancements to increase reader engagement
Co-Principle Investigators and Cita Press Co-Directors
Juliana Castro (Cita Press)
Jessi Haley (Cita Press)
Capacity Building and Sustainability Consultants
Jessica Meyerson (Educopia)
Advisory Board
Janneke Adema
Vicky Checo
Katherine Maher
Jessica Meyerson
Mindy Seu
Contractors
DPLA
Funder
Mellon Foundation