This is part 8 of the Travels with Terence series, following our digital projects editor on his pilot press in-person training program. In one of his first dispatches from Liverpool, Terence noted to the team back home:

the energy at the press is incredible and catching. All the more because so many of the staff have traveled from afar—Oxford, Dublin, and even as far away as Poland!—to be a part of the sessions. The more we delve into what Manifold can do the more everyone is looking to push what we've built in ways we haven't yet considered.

Given the diversity of the sample materials Allison Welsby, the press’s editorial director, provided, Cast Iron Coding outfitted Liverpool's instance with an early release of Manifold version 3.0. With 3.0 we’re introducing support for a variety of new kinds of projects. Liverpool was a prime candidate. When they were selected for the Manifold Digital Services pilot, the Liverpool team commented:

All university presses should strive to meet the needs of authors, whether through traditional formats and workflows or through innovation and additional functionality. Manifold gives us the opportunity to offer something different.

The difference offered will hopefully expand and augment the great work the press has been producing since 1899. The third oldest university press in the UK, Liverpool University Press has kept young with new initiatives and offerings. One of the thirteen presses who participated in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach to funding open access books, Liverpool is at the forefront of presses seeking means to increase access to titles and broaden the reach and scope of their publications.

Beyond his meetings at the press, Terence also had the opportunity to be part of the Love Open Love Research Love Data week, a joint collaboration between the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool John Moores University Libraries. When he returned, Terence reflected:

I can’t thank Alison enough for setting up the session. We don’t always get the chance to engage with the scholarly community in the UK directly, and this proved to be a wonderful opportunity to make new in-person connections and learn more about the work going on in those spaces. I’m looking forward to continuing the conversations we began in the weeks and months ahead.

• Miles traveled: 9,004
• Near Misses: Had he been fifteen minutes earlier, Terence would have been able to have seen Prince Charles, who was conducting an event just a little ways from his hotel.

Liverpool University Press is led by Managing Director Anthony Cond, who also serves as a board member for the Association of University Presses. For more information about all the exciting and innovative work they are doing, check out their website and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to reach out on the community Slack channel, tweet us at @manifoldscholar, and follow along with development on Github.