Another Industry Leader Has Joined Our Advisory Council

We are delighted to announce another addition to our Advisory Council: Michele Cobb, Executive Director of the Audio Publishers Association (APA).

Michele has served on the Audio Publishers Association (APA) board as a director and officer since 2001, and is currently the association’s Executive Director. She is a frequent speaker at events worldwide on audio publishing. As a partner at Forte Business Consulting, she provides PR, Sales, Marketing and Business Development services for the publishing industry, and is Publisher of both AudioFile Magazine and MMB Media, as well as the Audio Publishing Director for L.A. Theatre Works.

Additions to the Project Advisory Council

We are pleased to announce two additions to our Advisory Council:

• Libby Jordan: Executive Director, Partnerships and Specialty Markets, Open Road Integrated Media
  
  Libby Jordan has been been in publishing for close to three decades—beginning with The Hearst Corporation’s magazine division and, soon thereafter, escaping into the magical world of commercial fiction at Dell/Delacorte (now a division of Penguin Random House) where she oversaw marketing for authors including Danielle Steel, John Grisham, Elmore Leonard, Maeve Binchy, and more. Over the years, Libby has held executive sales, marketing, and training positions with large publishers, independent presses, and a tech start-up or two. She founded a small digital marketing and design firm dedicated to training and educating authors in the effective use of social media and, in her spare time, serves as the director of the Book Division for NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute where, each summer, she works with 100+ recent college graduates looking for their first jobs in publishing. Libby is also, not so secretly, in love with the library reading app Libby, and will wax rhapsodic about it for hours on end. Ask anyone.

• Dominique Raccah: Publisher and CEO, Sourcebooks

  Dominique Raccah is the entrepreneurial Publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks, the company she founded from her home in 1987. Dominique has lead a continuously growing, pioneering general book publishing house that proudly produces everything from adult and teen fiction, to top titles in children’s books, to baby names and college guides. Sourcebooks is the largest woman-owned book publisher in the country as well as the largest trade book publisher in Chicago. Dominique has been widely recognized as a leader in innovation in book publishing, being named Publishers Weekly Person of the Year in 2016. An inspiring and passionate presenter, Dominique speaks internationally on innovation, the future of book publishing and entrepreneurship, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, and The New York Times.

Panorama Project Advisory Council Holds First Meeting

The Panorama Project Advisory Council held its first meeting on Friday, July 20, 2018, to help guide the project's research activities, technical planning and development, and the growth of its organizational infrastructure. Going forward, the council will meet on a monthly basis.

The first meeting was focused on bringing council members up to speed on the project’s work to date, including the project’s three current priorities: 1) pilot research, 2) long-term planning, and 3) community outreach.

1. Our pilot research projects are essential to proving our core proposition—that we can conduct the data driven research into the impact of library holdings, and that our efforts will provide valuable insights. The pilot projects also help us refine our research methodologies and they inform our long-term planning. 
2. Our long-term planning includes our long-term research focus, technical implementation plan, and organizational development strategy. 
3. Our community outreach work includes partner engagement, building industry support, and identifying and engaging people/companies/organizations who can help us.

The council provided valuable feedback and suggestions on ways to ensure that we effectively share our research plans, update the community on the work that’s underway, and engage with interested parties. With these suggestions in mind, we are working on a blog post on our current pilot projects.

The council will meet again in mid-August.

Advisory Council Announced

We are pleased to announce the initial members of the Panorama Project Advisory Council. The council will help guide the project’s research activities and nurture the development of the supporting organization.

The council includes the following industry thought leaders:

• Todd Carpenter - Executive Director, National Information Standards Organization
• Skip Dye - Vice President, Library Marketing and Digital Sales; Vice President, Sales & Operations, Penguin Random House
• Sari Feldman - Executive Director, Cuyahoga County Public Library
• Susan Hildreth - Treasurer, American Library Association
• Alan Inouye - Director of Public Policy, American Library Association
• Erica Lazzaro - Executive Vice President, Publisher Services & General Counsel, Rakuten OverDrive, Inc.
• Peter McCarthy - Director, Digital Services, Ingram Content Group

Learn more about the Advisory Council.