Re: whither university presses?

[Sandy Thatcher <sgt3@psu.edu>]

As I told Joe when he first showed this to me a couple of months 
ago (and allowed me to circulate it to all directors of presses 
that are members of the AAUP), it is the most sensible thing that 
has been written about university presses by someone not already 
working at one in years. I commend it to you all.

Sandy Thatcher
Penn State University Press

> A signal article of interest to this readership, from a frequent
> contributor to this list:
>
> "The Wisdom of Oz: The Role of the University Press in Scholarly
> Communications"
> Joseph J. Esposito
> Journal of Electronic Publishing, 10:1, Winter 2007
> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.3336451.0010.103
>
> The current debate about scholarly communications is a two-sided
> one, with advocates of Open Access policies lining up against
> supporters of traditional publishing.  This is unfortunate, as any
> plausible future for academic publishing will be pluralistic, with a
> variety of models and ventures laboring side by side.  A particular
> segment that warrants much closer attention is the world of the
> university press, which combines many of the best elements of OA
> publishing (mission-based, fair trading practices) with the
> demonstrated strengths of traditional publishing (editorial review,
> functioning business model).  Further, as university presses are
> themselves a part of academic institutions, their programs can be
> used to provide a new form of welcome competition to commercial
> organizations, who do not necessarily proceed with the academy's
> best interests at heart.
>
> Terry Ehling
> Director
> Center for Innovative Publishing
> Cornell University Library
> Ithaca, NY  14853