Second Annual Celebration Shines a Light on the Ways University Presses Are Innovating and Supporting the Growth of Vital Areas of Research
New York, NY—The Association of American University Presses is celebrating the second annual University Press Week from November 10 – 16, 2013. The focus this year is on the variety of ways that university and academic presses are innovating both in the formats that they publish in and the subject areas in which they find vital research to further excellence in scholarship.
Moving well beyond traditional print and your everyday ebooks, university presses are finding better and evolving ways to disseminate information to general readers and scholars alike. From “beyond groundbreaking”* apps like Yale University Press’s Interaction of Color for the iPad to multimedia course materials like the University of California Press’s This is Mark Twain to Georgetown University Press’s Arabic Language Program, university presses are raising the bar in the publishing landscape and maintaining a critical edge in the acquisition of leading-edge research and scholarly works.
“It is an exciting time for AAUP members. So much is changing in publishing, with new formats, new distribution models, even new content types; and at the same time we get to do what we’ve always done—work with the most creative and interesting minds in every field of inquiry,” says AAUP Executive Director Peter Berkery. “University Press Week gives us a chance to step back from individual projects and appreciate the combination of dedication and innovation that marks the AAUP community.”
Innovative publishing examples include:
• Learning from YouTube, from MIT Press, where YouTube is the subject, form, method, problem, and solution of this video-book.
• The Library of Arabic Literature, from NYU Press, is a new series offering Arabic editions and English translations of key works of classical and premodern Arabic literature.
• The Orange Grove is the University Press of Florida’s open access digital repository for educational resources, providing an environment for educators to share and contribute.
• Texas BookShelf from the University of Texas Press will be the most ambitious and comprehensive publishing endeavor about the culture and history of one state ever undertaken.
• Canadian Theatre Review is the go-to-source for any audience seeking critical analysis of current trends and controversies in Canadian theatre, incorporating video, social media, critical reviews, and research articles, published by the University of Toronto Press.
• And many more examples can be found at “Ideas Unbound”—an online gallery of innovative projects from AAUP members (coming soon to www.universitypressweek.org).
University Press Week will once again feature events on campuses nationwide and this year for the first time a live streamed event on Shindig on November 15 that readers and scholars anywhere can join and pose questions to the participants about the implications of innovation on scholarly publishing. Moderated by Carlin Romano, the panelist will include William Germano, Dean and professor at Cooper Union, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Director of Scholarly Communication at the Modern Language Association, and Gita Manaktala, Editorial Director, The MIT Press. The discussion will also include how online and social media marketing is opening new avenues and allowing scholars and presses to adeptly find their audiences.
November 15, 2:30-3:30pm
Innovation in Scholarly Publishing
Hosted by Shindig
“University presses are among the unacknowledged teachers of mankind, their books not simply preserving thought but awakening readers, harrowing minds, and sowing beginnings.”
—SAM PICKERING, literary scholar and essayist
For more information or to arrange an interview contact Sarah Russo, SR|PR, (917) 627-5993 or sarah@sarahrusso.com
For further details about the AAUP and University Press Week visit: www.UniversityPressWeek.org.
#UPWEEK
*Debbie Millman, in Design Matters