We are a book publisher and a provider of online professional development courses for librarians and other library workers. Soon, we also plan to be a union of sorts, providing a network of assistance for librarians and other information workers whose employment is precarious. On the publishing side, we are known as a politically progressive voice (or chorus) in the LIS field. This goes back to our origins as a project of Rory Litwin, who at the time was very active in ALA SRRT and the Progressive Librarians Guild, as well as to his 1998-2005 project, the newsletter/webzine Library Juice. During these years, Litwin served the progressive library community mainly by creating web presence for groups and projects, and also by serving on committees and the like.

In 2005, after retiring the webzine, Litwin began to explore the possibility of publishing books. His conversations with Robbie Frankin of McFarland and Company, and Duluth, MN publisher Tony Dierckins (X-Communications and Zenith City Press), gave him some initial guidance. The first four books were released in 2006. Library Juice Press and Litwin Books have published at a steady pace of approximately a half dozen titles annually.

The publishing project needed to be encompassed by a formal, legal business entity in order to engage with service providers and do all the things a publishing company has to do. Initially, this was Library Juice Press, LLC. In 2010, this was folded into Litwin Books, LLC, out of a desire for a broader publishing scope and an imprint to go with it. Library Juice Press is the home for our books for an audience of librarians, library workers, and LIS scholars, while the Litwin Books imprint encompasses archival studies, broader information studies-adjacent topics, and some library history titles that are of interest to history readers outside the LIS field. Litwin Books, LLC is a for-profit business currently based in Sacramento, California. Library Juice Academy, the online professional development business, is operated under the Litwin Books, LLC umbrella. There is a very small core group, along with an array of contractors who are helping us mainly as a side gig or as part of their own freelance businesses (instructors, designers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, legal services, accounting services, and other assistance).

Library Juice Academy was originally Litwin's plan to fund his doctoral studies at UCLA, but quickly evolved into full-time work that didn't allow for any other activities as intensive as continuing in a PhD program would have been. The business moved to Sacramento, California in 2013. Library Juice Academy offers around 20 online courses per month for librarians and other library workers who want to develop specific skills and knowledge sets to enhance their careers. We have students from around the world, and have served over 10,000 course participants by the time of this writing in 2020. About half of our enrollees in a given course are repeat customers.

In 2019, Litwin formed a group to pursue a new project, Library Juice Connections. Library Juice Connections will be a member organization devoted to helping librarians and other library workers who rely on precarious and often short-term contract jobs for their livelihood. The core group forming it are Rory Litwin, Lacey Torge, Natalie Baur, Nicole Capdaret-Arest, and W. Aaron Collie. As of this writing in late 2020, we are still slowly doing the planning and setup. In 2021, we plan to launch an informational presence while we pursue nonprofit status as a 501(c)4. Once we are operational and open to membership, we plan do offer such services as a network for mutual assistance and information sharing, model contracts and strategies, a mentorship program, a job board, virtual events, and potentially group-funded legal assistance on employment issues, and information resource purchasing for those working outside institutions. We are excited and hopeful about this project and hope you will join us on this journey.

Please feel free to direct questions to Rory Litwin, at rory@litwinbooks.com.