MS/LIS student Monica Hoh was invited by the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) to participate in the Frankfurter Buchmesse (Frankfurt Book Fair). The event, which was held October 16-20 in Frankfurt, Germany, is the world's largest trade fair for books and draws more visitors than any other book fair.
Hoh won a five-day business and conference ticket to the Frankfurter Buchmesse through her SSP Fellowship. SSP and its blog, The Scholarly Kitchen, presented two sessions at the book fair, exploring the latest industry developments and the current state of Open Access (OA) monograph publishing. Hoh served as a panelist for the session "What’s Hot and Cooking in Scholarly and Academic Publishing."
"After my session and throughout the rest of the week, I was able to attend other panels, presentations, and events at the fair," Hoh said. "I was fortunate to not only listen to Mary Bates' keynote lecture on Artificial Intelligence but to meet and talk with her. I also toured the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (German National Library), unexpectedly meeting fellow cataloging colleagues."
Hoh appreciated the opportunity to witness the business and trade aspects of the book fair as well as the public fair experience. She enjoyed reconnecting with individuals she met at the SSP annual meeting as well as meeting librarians and other publishers.
Hoh's research interests include metadata/cataloging, youth services, and diversity in LIS and she holds a graduate assistantship in the Office of Information Literacy at the Main Library. She earned her BA in theatre and women's studies from Colgate University.