Help Students Shape the Future of Sustainable Publishing
BISG's Sustainability Working Group is proud to support Ooligan Press, an award-winning student-run publisher at Portland State University, in their efforts to create a new best practices guide on sustainable publishing.
This project builds on Ooligan’s earlier work, Rethinking Paper & Ink: The Sustainable Publishing Revolution, originally published in 2011. That book offered an early look at the environmental impact of publishing and inspired conversations that continue today. At BISG’s Annual Meeting this past April, we distributed copies of Rethinking Paper & Ink—so if you attended, you may already be familiar with its insights and approach.
Now, more than a decade later, Ooligan Press is updating and reimagining that work with the support of BISG through our Sustainability Working Group. Their goal: to create a practical, industry-wide resource that reflects both current challenges and new opportunities in sustainable publishing.
Why Your Input Matters
The new best practices guide is designed to capture the perspective of the entire supply chain—from publishers and printers to distributors, retailers, and beyond. Even if you don’t consider yourself a sustainability expert, your perspective and experience are valuable. What concerns do you have? What steps have you taken successfully? What barriers stand in the way?
By sharing your input, you’ll help ensure this guide is not only informative, but also relevant and actionable across the diverse landscape of publishing.
How to Get Involved
Ooligan Press is gathering feedback through a short industry survey. Your responses will directly shape the scope and recommendations of the guide.
Ooligan Press Project Manager Kayla Mullinax describes the project this way:
“Ooligan Press, a student-run trade press at Portland State University, is writing a best practices guide for sustainability in publishing in collaboration with BISG. We are looking for your input on key topics that can affect anyone in the supply chain to make our book as applicable as possible. Voice your sustainability concerns by completing the survey here! For more information, you can email us at sustainability@ooliganpress.pdx.edu.”
Looking Ahead
By participating in this effort, you’re helping to shape a forward-looking resource that will benefit the entire publishing industry AND give graduate students vital experience in book publishing. Together, we can ensure that sustainability moves from aspiration to standard practice—building on the foundation of Rethinking Paper & Ink while charting a new course for the future.
If you'd like to contribute beyond taking the survey, we encourage you to share it with your peers and to sign up for BISG's Sustainability Working Group, where support of this project is one of two key initiatives this year. To join the working group, please e-mail info@bisg.org.