Program Committee
Mary Rose Muccie, Temple, Chair
Amanda Lanne-Camilli, SUNY
Brady Dyer and Bailey Morrison, Texas
Jill Rodgers, MIT
Sylvia Hunter, Toronto
Sharon Pavlas-Mills and Jay Dew, Texas A&M
Program
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Pre-Meeting Workshops
Small Press
Organizers: Jane Bunker, Director, Northwestern University Press; Justin Race, Director, University of Nevada Press; Dan Williams, Director, TCU Press
Each small press is unique in its successes, but all share the same challenges and frustrations: too many books and too few resources—time, money, and staff. This workshop offers strategies to help any small press get a lot from a little, starting with what the AAUP can offer small presses and how to find that information and make the most of it. You will also learn how to make your press visible and essential to your parent institution; how to organize personnel and workflow to maximize efficiency, including working with interns and choosing in-house or outsourcing for various steps in the workflow; how to garner national attention and publicity for your books; and what authors can gain by signing with a small press over a larger or commercial house. With so many hats to wear, this workshop hopes to show you how you can be the best haberdashery in town.
Design & Production Managers Roundtable: We Still Make Beautiful Books!
Organizers: Melissa Bugbee Buchanan, University of Georgia Press; Lisa Tremaine, Art Director & Production Manager, University of New Mexico Press; Kristina Kachele, Kristina Kachele Design; and the AAUP Design & Production Committee
The D&P Roundtable will bring together production managers and designers to engage with and propose solutions to the common problems facing design and production staff at university presses. The workshop will be participant-focused, with ample opportunity for junior staff to pose questions and senior staff to contribute wisdom. Topics to be covered include: design templates, working with freelancers, how to stay inspired, cost-saving strategies, printing and reprinting, project management, who does what in EDP departments, and more! Once participants have registered, some may be recruited to introduce topics in which they have a particular expertise or interest.
Who Buys University Press Books? De-mystifying Sales Channels
Organizers: AAUP Marketing Committee
Panelists: Ken Rhodes, General Manager, Eurospan; Trent Harmon, Lead Content Manager for Wholesale, Ingram; Elizabeth Jordan, Buyer and Manager, BookPeople Bookstore; Brian Murphy, President, Brian Murphy Group
How do you engage with book sales channels? Have your methods changed? Join four industry experts to learn about the channels of international book sales, domestic wholesale, independent bookstores, and course adoptions. Each expert will address the question: “what do you wish university press staff knew about book sales in your channel?” to the group and take your questions. A group discussion and networking period will close the workshop.
11:30 AM–12:45 PM Directors Luncheon
Get to know your fellow directors and meet with association leadership. During lunch, the Association’s Executive Director Peter Berkery; Association President Darrin Pratt (Colorado); and Association President-Elect Nicole Mitchell (Washington) will circulate among the tables to answer your questions and listen to your suggestions. Registration is limited to directors at AAUP member presses.
1:00 –3:00 PM Directors Meeting
Organizers: Meredith Babb, Director, University Press of Florida; Donna Shear, Director, University of Nebraska Press
This meeting will give us the opportunity to share collective wisdom about a number of key management issues that we all face as press directors. Attendees can sign up to join one of the following discussion topics.
- Reorganization/restructuring—planning for it, preparing the staff, handling the stress
- Leadership development/succession planning
- Morale and culture—keeping it high or raising it up/what to do about people who bring it down
- Stepped up competition in talent and hiring/attracting good people/why do they want to come to my Press?
Reading materials will be circulated prior the meeting to help inform the discussions. Time will be reserved at the end of the meeting for discussion groups to share observations and possible action items.
1:00–4:00 PM Journals Assembly
Chairs: Katie Luu, Journals Marketing Specialist, MIT Press and Emily Taylor, Journals Manager, Ohio State University Press
Panelists: Toni Gunnison, Journals Manager, University of Wisconsin Press; Dan Morgan, Publisher, University of California Press; Emily Taylor, Journals Manager, Ohio State University Press; Katie Yantzi, Journals Production Manager, University of Toronto Press
Join your Journals colleagues at this year’s action-packed Assembly! The theme for this year’s Assembly is “how to start a new journal” and part of the workshop will be devoted to a rousing conversation between our peers from small, midsize, and large UPs about their recent new journal projects and the challenges and lessons of starting new journals today. Audience participation will be strongly encouraged. We’ll also have ample opportunity for “speed networking” and splitting into small groups to discuss the various aspects of starting new journals and sharing the latest happenings at our own Presses.
3:15–5:00 PM AAUP Annual Business Meeting
5:00–6:00 PM Newcomers’ Reception
Sponsor: Books International
Ubiquity Press is sponsoring Typewriter Rodeo, who create poems based on attendees’ ideas on the spot, using vintage typewriters.
6:00–7:00 PM Opening Reception
Sponsor: Ingram
7:00–9:00 PM Opening Banquet
Featured Speaker: Dan Rather
Monday, June 12, 2017
7:00 AM 5K Run
Organizers: Greg Britton, Editorial Director, Johns Hopkins University Press; Elizabeth Scarpelli, Director, University of Cincinnati Press
Get your blood pumping with an early-morning walk or run before a full day of sessions. Participation in the walk/run is not limited, but the t-shirts provided by Project MUSE will go to the first 50 to register
7:30–8:45 AM Continental Breakfast
Model Contract for Digital Scholarship Breakfast
Join colleagues to discuss and give feedback on the Model Contract for Digital Scholarship created with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and in consultation with various member presses, university attorneys, and authors. The document and its associated materials provides a flexible solution for contracting open access and new form digital projects which may not quite fit with traditional author agreements. Presses that don’t wish to adopt it wholesale will still find many useful clauses within the document.
7:30–8:45 Editoria Breakfast
Erich van Rijn of the University of California Press will provide an overview and demonstration of Editoria, a new web-based, open source scholarly monograph production platform and single source publishing solution. This will be an opportunity for presses interested to gain an exposure to this powerful new workflow tool for book production and also those interested in potentially experimenting with the use of the system.
8:45–10:15 AM AM Plenary Session
From Words to Action: Institutionalizing Diversity in University Presses and Beyond
Welcome and Introduction: Nicole Mitchell, Director, University of Washington Press and AAUP President-Elect
Speakers: Dr. Marilyn Mobley, Case Western Reserve University; Earl Lewis, President, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Discussion Moderator: Gita Manaktala, Editorial Director, MIT Press
As presses, we play a crucial role in supporting and disseminating scholarship within and beyond the academy, and incorporating diversity has never been more important for our organizations, our readers, our society, and our democracy. How do we move beyond knowing that diversity matters to operationalizing our knowledge into action? Our speakers, both experts in the field, will discuss what it means to institutionalize a culture of inclusion, how to start the conversation, and how to put it into practice.
View the session recording.
10:45 AM–12:00 PM Concurrent Sessions and Collaboration Labs
Collaboration Lab: Publicists, Put Your Authors to Work: Guiding Enthusiastic Authors
Facilitator: Colleen Ellis, Publicity and Communications Manager, University of Texas Press
This interactive session will provide an array of reasonable, helpful initiatives that harness an author’s enthusiasm for promoting their book. These initiatives help the author focus his or her well-meaning but sometimes inexperienced efforts or unrealistic expectations on concrete actions. The initiatives empower authors to act on their own in constructive ways that are beyond the scope of the usual promotional plans implemented by a publicist.
Acquisitions Editors and Faculty Editorial Boards: Toward a More Perfect Union
Chair: Sara Cohen, Editor, Temple University Press
Panelists: Robert Devens, Editor-in-Chief, University of Texas Press; James Cox, Professor of English, University of Texas and Chair, Faculty Editorial Board, University of Texas Press; Mary Francis, Editorial Director, University of Michigan Press
As acquisitions editors at university presses, we all report to faculty editorial boards who steward the imprimaturs of our universities, yet there is remarkable variation in how those boards operate. These variations include how often the boards meet, at what point in the publication process they review materials, and what materials they review. We have different ways of preparing for board meetings as individuals and departments, and different sources of anxiety and enjoyment associated with our board processes. This panel is intended to open up a conversation about how our boards work, how we interact with them, and how we might strengthen relationships between acquisitions departments and faculty boards.
View the session recording.
Cover Design Within Reach
Chair: Matt Avery, Principal Designer, University of Chicago Press
Panelists: Rachel Moeller, Assistant Production and Design Manager, University of Minnesota Press; Than Saffel, Art Director/Production Manager, West Virginia University Press; Lindsay Starr, Designer, University of Texas Press
Designing book covers on a budget is a longstanding challenge for university presses, never more so than now. We will discuss ways to stretch (or create) resources in addition to strategies for ensuring efforts put toward developing book covers are productive. These include working with freelance designers; communication and planning with designers and other stakeholders; technology and work-flow practices; reaching consensus (and approval!) for covers; managing author expectations; creating original artwork; and finding and using low-cost resources.
Diversity in Scholarly Journal Publishing
Chairs: Julie Lambert, Production Coordinator, Penn State University Press; Ann Snoeyenbos, Manager, International Sales and Special Markets, Project MUSE
Panelists: Karma R. Chávez, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, University Texas, Austin and book review editor at QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking; Pedro Moreno, Coordinator of Services for Users with Disabilities and Social Sciences Librarian for African and African Diaspora Studies, Public Affairs, Anthropology, American Studies and International Relations, University of Texas, Austin; Sandra Scham, senior lecturer, Catholic University of America and coeditor of Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies
“Diversity” within the sphere of journal publishing could have many different angles. This panel will explore editorial considerations leading to a more inclusive journal and thus a broader readership. In the journals community, when we talk about “diversity” we should consider how to attract a more diverse pool of authors and readers. It is then up to the journal’s staff to coordinate efforts to bring this diversity into a coherent journal product that can be made accessible for all. This panel will bring together members of two editorial boards to talk about their experiences and a librarian to discuss adaptive technologies. Attendees will walk away with both concepts to apply and concrete measures to implement with their own journal(s).
Reimagining the Monograph
Chair: Alex Humphreys, Director, JSTOR Labs
Panelists: Laura Mandell, Director, Initiative for Digital Humanities, Media and Culture, Texas A&M University; Charles Watkinson, Director, University of Michigan Press and Associate University Librarian, University of Michigan Library
Monographs are increasingly making the print-to-digital shift that journals started twenty years ago, opening up new possibilities for the ways that a long-form argument can be presented and communicated. Yet a richer online environment for scholarly monographs has not come to pass, or at least not at scale. In October 2016, JSTOR Labs, an experimental platform development group at JSTOR, convened a group of scholars, librarians, and publishers to unpack the design issues around the presentation of digital monographs. The group proposed a set of principles for reimagining the presentation of monographs in order to improve the user experience and increase the value of ebooks to scholars. In this presentation, we will introduce these principles, which are outlined in a new white paper available and demonstrate a prototype that the JSTOR Labs group built based on the working group’s feedback: a topic-based navigational aid for monographs called Topicgraph. We will reflect on the implications of these principles for authors, researchers, libraries and publishers. Last, we will contemplate next steps for this work and explore and seek audience input on potential future prototypes and directions.
Switching Departments Mid-Career
Chair: Debby Bors, Senior Production Editor, Manuscript Editing Department, Johns Hopkins University Press
Panelists: Tara Cyphers, Managing Editor/Acquisitions Editor, Ohio State University Press; Laurie Matheson, Director, University of Illinois Press; Bob Oeste, Senior Analyst, Johns Hopkins University Press; Micki Reaman, EDP Manager, Oregon State University Press; Cecilia Stoute, Sales, Rights and Marketing Specialist, Institute of Peace Press
Wouldn’t it be nice to have the flexibility to switch departments mid-career? These panelists did and will tell you how they managed it. From a variety of departments and presses large and small, these press employees will share their backgrounds, tips, and insights into how to make the change.
Why Markup Matters
Chair: Bill Kasdorf, VP and Principal Consultant, Apex Content and Media Solutions
Panelists: Linda Secondari, Creative Director and Principal, Studiolo Secondari; Sylvia Hunter, Principal, All in the Words, and Communications and Marketing Specialist, Inera; Caleb Clauset, VP Product, Typefi
To many people in publishing, markup is even more mystifying than metadata. We all understand now how important metadata is in managing and selling our books. But what’s the point of all the alphabet soup? Authors use Word, typesetters use InDesign, we get PDFs, we get EPUBs. At the end of the day, does markup really matter? As this session will explain, it matters a lot. Unlike most previous markup-related sessions at AAUP, this session is not about the “how” —the tagging and the coding, but about the “why”—the point of paying attention to good markup. It’s designed not for the technical and production people who already “get” XML; it’s for the rest of us, the managers and designers and editors and marketers who have been told for years that XML is a must but have never understood why—and may be wondering whether it really has much value after all. This session will begin with an overview by Bill Kasdorf of the benefits of markup, with an emphasis on the value of standards-based markup. He’ll be followed by Linda Secondari, who will show how markup can make life so much easier for designers, and how it can be liberating and enabling, not confining. Then Sylvia Hunter will show how valuable good markup is at the editorial stage, both in making life easier for the copyeditor and in making the books better—which, after all, is what editorial is all about. Finally, Caleb Clauset will show how markup streamlines the production process for university press books, enabling the creation of multiple formats—PDF, EPUB, online, and a future-proof archive—from a single workflow.
12:00–1:30 PM Lunch
Herding Cats: Adventures in Scholarly Publishing
Featured Speaker: Dr. Jesús F. de la Teja, Texas State University
1:45–3:00 PM Concurrent Sessions and Collaboration Labs
Book, Jacket, and Journal Show
Chair: Julia Kushnirsky, Art Director, Columbia University Press
Judges: Catherine Casalino, Catherine Casalino Design; Liam Gillick; Jena Sher, Jena Sher Graphic Design; James Victore
A panel of notable designers and educators honors the best in design and production from the 2017 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show and discusses the current state of the scholarly book.
Get Creative: The Challenges (and Opportunities) of Working with Authors of Creative Works
Chair: Amanda Sharp, Marketing & Sales Manager, University of Georgia Press
Panelists: Parneshia Jones, Sales and Community Outreach Manager and Poetry Editor, Northwestern University Press; Gianna LaMorte, Assistant Director, Marketing and Sales Manager, University of Texas Press; Tom Payton, Director, Trinity University Press; Erin Rolfs, Assistant Director, Marketing Manager, Louisiana State University Press
Most university presses have strong scholarly lists and know how to work with authors to market those books. Authors of creative works (creative nonfiction, fiction, music, poetry, photography, and short fiction) require a different approach to marketing, publicity, events, and sales. One could argue that these authors have higher (and possibly unrealistic) expectations. How do marketing and acquisitions manage those expectations? Where do these titles fit in a press’s list? What marketing, publicity, and sales strategies work and what don’t? How can marketing and acquisitions work together to make this part of the list successful? This roundtable discussion will be an opportunity for marketing and acquisitions to have a frank discussion on approaches when expanding (or minimizing) this part of the list. Let’s identify and capitalize on the positives of working with authors of creative works.
View the session video.
How to Uncover Plagiarism before Going to Press: From Inaccurate Citations to Intellectual Theft
Chair: Robert Kimzey, Managing Editor, University of Texas Press
Panelists: Alan Thomas, Editorial Director, University of Chicago Press; Sandy Thatcher, Former Director, Penn State University Press; Katie Duelm, Managing Editor, Texas A&M University Press; Carrie Hudak, Senior Production Editor, Princeton University Press
Acts of plagiarism are rarely clear cut and publishers rely on a number of practices to try to prevent it from happening. Panelists will address this sticky issue and the steps a publisher might take to avoid publishing something that contains questionable text. This session will explore some of the historical and cultural ways plagiarism has been considered (Can plagiarism sometimes be pedagogy?), whether author’s intent and the audience matters, and the concept of what’s common knowledge for a general audience versus for a scholar working in a specialized field. We will also consider the due diligence a sponsoring editor can perform in advance of offering a contract and how peer review, copy editing, and fact checking raise the bar. Join us as we hold a wide-ranging discussion highlighting a few best practices intended to root out inaccurate citations and uncover outright intellectual theft.
Increasing Visibility for Content Published Outside the Traditional Journal Issue
Chair: Brian Shea, PR and Advertising Manager, Johns Hopkins University Press
Panelists: Angela Anderson, Senior Editor, Marine Corps University Press; Joyce Gettman, Journals Marketing and Fulfillment Manager, University of Nebraska Press; Katie Smart, Publicist and Exhibits Coordinator, Duke University Press
Sometimes research can’t wait for the next issue. As marketers, we need to make sure this content is discovered. Come learn strategies to navigate the many choices available to share content and publicize research that’s published outside of the traditional publishing schedule.
The Mellon University Press Diversity Fellowship Program: Perspectives from the First Year
Chair: Larin McLaughlin, Editor-in-Chief, University of Washington Press
Panelists: Maryam Arain, Editorial Associate/Mellon University Press Diversity Fellow, Duke University Press; Niccole Leilanionapae’aina Coggins, Mellon University Press Diversity Fellow/Assistant Editor, University of Washington Press; Jesús J. Hernández, Acquisitions Assistant /Mellon University Press Diversity Fellow, MIT Press; Gita Manaktala, Editorial Director, MIT Press; Christian Pizarro Winting, Editorial Assistant, Columbia University Press
Given recent surveys demonstrating the need for diversity in publishing, with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and AAUP, four university presses collaborated to develop the Mellon University Press Diversity Fellowship. The MUPDF is a one-year apprenticeship in the acquisitions departments of the University of Washington Press, Duke University Press, MIT Press, and the University of Georgia Press, with the expressed goal of the fellows acquiring deep and specialized knowledge of the acquisitions process. This panel will feature the four inaugural Mellon Diversity fellows speaking on why they applied, what they expected or anticipated versus how that might have changed, what they learned, and what made this fellowship unique from an internship or traditional editorial assistantship. Panelists will also include the editor-in-chief and editorial director from two of the participating presses.
No Silos and Limited Resources: The Business of Publishing in Small University Presses
Chair: Dan Williams, Director, TCU Press
Panelists: James McCoy, Director, University of Iowa Press; Justin Race, Director University of Nevada Press
This panel will examine various issues unique to small presses, particularly those concerning limited staff and resources. There will be brief presentations on inventory management, interdepartmental communication, budgets, workflow, student interns, acquisitions, and campus relations. An open discussion on small-press issues will follow the presentations.
3:30–4:45 PM Concurrent Sessions and Collaboration Labs
Collaboration Lab: Book, Jacket, and Journal Show
Facilitators: Jill Shimabukuro, Design and Production Director, University of Chicago Press; Linda Secondari, Creative Director and Principal, Studiolo Secondari
Publishing is in a state of continuous change. Traditional assumptions about what a book is, how it is manufactured, and how it is distributed are disrupted regularly. How does the AAUP’s prestigious and venerable book design competition stay relevant in this environment? How can we ensure that the competition reflects the realities of university press publishing? Do we do enough to promote this significant and demanding endeavor beyond our sphere? Come share your opinions and ideas to ensure that the competition stays relevant to and reflects our community and identify actionable ideas to explore and take forward. Those not in Austin will be able to participate via conference line. We will be gathering feedback before the meeting via online survey and voting tools. All attendees are welcome to participate in this discussion. On hand to support the exchange will be task force members Greg Britton, Jeffrey Cohen, Colleen Ellis, Julia Kushnirsky, and Than Saffel.
View the session livestream.
Says Who? Authority Issues When Publishing Collaborative Digital Scholarship
Chair: Marguerite Avery, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Trinity University Press
Panelists: Mark Edington, Director, Amherst College Press, and Publisher, Lever Press; SJ Klein, Fellow, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, and Trustee, Wikimedia Foundation Board, 2009–2015; Laura Mandell, Director, Initiative for Digital Humanities, Media, and Culture, Texas A&M University; Zachary J. McDowell; Assistant Professor (incoming), Department of Communication, University of Illinois Chicago; Heather Staines, Director of Business Development, Hypothes.is
If authoritative publications are the most valuable asset of a university press, then the peer review process is its currency. Yet as research and scholarship become more collaborative and distributed in process, and more digital and multimedia in format, methods of peer review are challenged and markers of authority are called into question. Attributes of our (not so) new digital landscape of scholarly publishing do not map neatly onto the original practices, and chaos ensues. This panel seeks to discuss issues of authority and peer review in this new age of scholarly publishing, which is often defined by digital output, new models of authorship and attribution, and new modes of distribution. Perspectives from a range of stakeholders in digital publications will be presented in response to questions posed before the panel, with the objective of finding a path to successful publication and reception of collaborative digital scholarship. As publishers, we cannot afford to be sidelined—or sideline ourselves—in this conversation about what counts as authoritative scholarship and the future of scholarly publishing.
New Financial Models for Journals
Chair: Katie Smart, Publicist and Exhibits Coordinator, Duke University Press
Panelists: Leslie Eager, Director of Publishing Services, Project Euclid; Leslie Ellen Jones, Executive Editor, African Arts; Jason Colman, Director, Michigan Publishing Services
As subscription rates decline, publishers and editorial offices are seeking new avenues for financial support for their journals. We’ll hear from representatives from Project Euclid, Michigan Publishing Services, and African Arts Consortium on alternative publishing platforms, alternative funding models that are capable of sustaining open-access publications, and forming and maintaining a journal consortium. This session will provide concrete ideas for the journals community to take back to their teams.
Trends in the Academy
Chair: James Cox, Department of English, University of Texas, Austin
Panelists: Karma Chávez, Associate Professor, Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, University of Texas, Austin; Maria Juenger, Professor, Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas, Austin; David Laude, Senior Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives, University of Texas, Austin; Domino Perez, Associate Professor, Department of English, and former Director of the Center for Mexican American Studies, University of Texas, Austin
This roundtable will address key issues facing higher education in the early twenty-first century, including budgets; anti-factual, anti-intellectual, and anti-scientific cultural and political forces; funding for research; conveying the importance of research to the public; job placement for undergraduate and graduate students; diversity in undergraduate and graduate programs; shared faculty governance; and the future of tenure.
You Can Quote Me on That
Chair: Thom Lemmons, Senior Editor, Texas A&M University Press
Panelists: Emilie R. Algenio, Copyright/Fair Use Librarian, Texas A&M University Libraries; Craig Hillis, co-editor of Pickers and Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic Singer-Songwriters of Texas; Glynn S. Lunney Jr., Professor and intellectual property law specialist, Texas A&M University School of Law
A publisher, an author, a fair-use librarian, and an intellectual-rights law specialist discuss their experiences and perspectives on the implications of fair use in art and music publishing. How should publishers counsel authors who are doing important, original scholarship, yet remain concerned about the legal ramifications of using copyrighted materials? What is the current lay of the land in fair use litigation? Are there best-practices guidelines that can help authors and book publishers make good decisions? Panelists will discuss these and other important topics before taking questions from attendees.
View the session video.
6:15–8:00 PM Reception
Sponsor: The New York Review of Books
Location: The Contemporary Austin, 700 Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701
9:00–11:30 PM Typographic Film Festival at the Alamo Drafthouse
Sponsor: Thomson-Shore
Location: Ritz Alamo Drafthouse, 320 East 6th Street, Austin, Texas 78701
Enjoy a screening for of the new documentary Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production, written, directed, and produced by Briar Levit.
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
7:30–8:45 AM Continental Breakfast
Small Press Breakfast
Manuscript Editing Breakfast
Calling all manuscript editors! Come meet other folks from manuscript editing departments and discuss what is new (and old) in our field. Redrawn art, software programs, preliminary layouts, sample pages, proof stages, author relations, bluelines, F&Gs, jackets/covers, advance copies, workflow, combined Editorial/Design/Production departments—have your questions and discussion topics ready. Or, just network with other editors and/or managers! All interested parties welcome.
Library Relations Breakfast
Join members of the Association’s Library Relations Committee to discuss and plan library relations initiatives.
9:00–10:15 AM Concurrent Sessions
Translations: The Lay of the Land
Facilitator: Trevor Perri, Acquisitions Editor, Northwestern University Press
Panelists: Lara Mainville, Director, University of Ottawa Press ; Trevor Perri, Acquisitions Editor, Northwestern University Press; Mohamed Sheriff, Literature Specialist, Literature & Arts Education Division, National Endowment for the Arts
Translation is fundamental to exchange ideas between countries and cultures. But translating books is expensive, time consuming, and requires a lot of management. Organizations around the world, from government entities, to private institutions and foundations, offer several types of grants for translation. How do they operate? How to work with them? How to manage a translation project effectively and efficiently, and how to avoid pitfalls?
Finances for Everyone
Facilitator: Robbie Dircks, Associate Director & CFO, University of North Carolina Press
Panelists: Mike Bieker, Director, University of Arkansas Press; Dan Wackrow, Chief Financial and Operating Officer, Harvard University Press
An abbreviated version of the popular Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers Workshop, this session will review primary financial statements; then, the participants will walk through a series of day-to-day publishing transactions, resulting in the creation of a balance sheet and income statement. Topics covered will include accrual vs. cash accounting; deferred and prepaid income and expenses; capitalization of fixed assets; and the importance of setting reserves. Bring questions!
View the session video.
Peer-to-Peer Education and Staff Development in University Presses
Chair: Liz Beasley, Managing Editor, Duke University Press
Panelists: Christie Henry, Editorial Director, Sciences, Social Sciences, Reference, University of Chicago Press; Laura Leichum, Digital Publishing and Rights Manager, Georgetown University Press; Laurie Schlesinger, Associate Director of Sales, Princeton University Press
In this panel, we’ll hear about programs—with names like Days in Residence, Fun Fridays, PERKS, and Lunch and Learns—that some university presses have created in order to foster interdepartmental education, staff engagement, and, in some cases, professional development. While some of these programs are funded and run by fairly large committees, others are not, and some function as employee co-ops. Whether these programs are new or well established, they are all in some ways experimental, shifting course as necessary to meet the needs and interests of staff members at all levels. Panelists will discuss the structure of the programs in place at each of their home presses as well as details of particular projects and events. They will tell us about their most and least successful experiments, and they will share their thoughts on the value—and limitations—of interdepartmental peer-to-peer education. The goal of this panel is information sharing, and we expect a lively Q&A to follow the panel presentations. Attendees are encouraged to bring questions and share ideas for promoting interdepartmental learning and staff development.
The Peculiar Demands of Illustrated Books
Chair: Melissa Buchanan, Assistant Editorial, Design, and Production Manager, University of Georgia Press
Panelists: John Long, Production Manager, National Gallery of Art; Amy Ruth Buchanan, Book Design Manager, Duke University Press; Karen Copp, Associate Director / Design and Production Manager, University of Iowa Press; Tammy J. Cordova, Graphic Design Manager, American Psychiatric Association Publishing
This session will address the unique demands of producing highly illustrated, four-color books. Although we will mainly discuss EDP challenges, we will also consider cross-departmental concerns. Topics will include how pPress departments interact and work together toward a common goal, managing author expectations, time management and scheduling, working with freelancers, working with overseas vendors, color proofing, and e-books. Panelists will bring to bear experiences from presses of various sizes as well as from presses that specialize in illustrated books and those that only produce only a few such volumes a year.
University Press Week: Learning From the Past Five Years
Chair: Fred Nachbaur, Director, Fordham University Press
Panelists: Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, Senior Program Officer, American Booksellers Association; Jeff Deutsch, Director, Seminary Co-op; Tim Johnson, Associate Publisher – Advertising, The Nation; Colleen Lanick, Publicity Manager, MIT Press; Kurt Hettler, Director, of Ingram Academic Services, Ingram Content Group; Brenna McLaughlin, Director, Marketing & Communications, Association of American University Presses
The AAUP community will celebrate the sixth annual University Press Week, November 6-11, 2017. For the past five years member presses have collaborated with key scholarly organizations and institutions, and various civic communities including indie bookstores and libraries, to sponsor a number of events, webinars, and promotional initiatives to coincide with University Press Week. In addition, as a community we have popularized the hashtag #ReadUP, created shareable infographics, hosted online galleries of books and projects that highlight various themes, collaborated on member press blog tours, and organized various other community-oriented activities. This session will focus on how the initiative has evolved over the past five years and feature reports from people in the trenches on what worked, what didn’t, and how the program could improve and reach a wider audience. We welcome thoughts and ideas from the audience; this will be a roundtable discussion versus a series of formal presentations.
10:45 AM–12:00 PM Concurrent Sessions
Accessibility Is for Everyone: Implementing Accessibility Initiatives Across Your Organization
Chair: Jonathan McGlone, Front End Developer and UI Designer, Michigan Publishing
Panelists: Kristin Waites, Digital Products Assistant, MIT Press; Stephanie Rosen, Accessibility Specialist, University of Michigan Library
Many publishers are struggling to understand how best to support accessibility. With digital content and accessibility landscapes rapidly evolving, it becomes difficult to know how to start, where to start, and why to start making your digital content accessible. Rather than confine accessibility to technical efforts from production staff, this panel aims to jumpstart a publisher’s accessibility initiatives by looking at accessibility implemented across the publishing organization – from acquisitions to marketing and sales to production. Relying on the expertise of panelists who have been implementing accessibility initiatives at their organizations, the panel will introduce why accessibility is important along with basic concepts behind accessible publishing, discuss how to assess and integrate accessibility across an organization, discuss methods for working with authors to produce accessible content, and introduce how to make digital content accessible.
Conceiving, Developing, and Creating a Great University Press Website: Lessons Learned from Three Case Studies
Chair: William Bishel, Information and Business Systems Manager, University of Texas Press
Panelists: Patricia L. Searl, Editorial and Technical Specialist, University of Virginia Press; Laura Furney, Assistant Director & Managing Editor, University Press of Colorado; Michael Regoli, Director of Electronic and Journals Publishing, Indiana University Press; Paul Grotevant, IT Manager, Web & Contract Services, University of Texas, Austin
Your website is not only your identity, it’s also a key element in your business. It has to look great, be easily found, show everything you have to show, adapt to business and technological changes, and, in most cases, allow a customer buy a book. There are at least three primary ways to build a website for your organization: do it yourself, work with your university’s website and IT community, or outsource it to a third-party company. This session will feature presses that have followed each of these paths.
Representatives from three university presses will explain how they created their new sites and offer examples of things to do, things not to do, and things to do differently. A fourth panelist will give a university’s IT website developer perspective, explaining how they go through the “discovery” phase with the client and how they manage expectations. Attendees will gain a better understanding of what is feasible given their circumstances, what they need to consider when deciding how to approach their new website, and how to manage expectations of other press staff and stakeholders.
Four Case Studies, Four Ways: Highlights from AAUP’s Review of OA Projects
Chair: Hope LeGro, Assistant Director, Georgetown University Press, Chair, AAUP Digital Committee
Panelists: Kevin Hawkins, Assistant Dean for Scholarly Communication, University of North Texas Libraries; Mary Francis, Editorial Director, University of Michigan Press
This year’s Digital Committee wrote case studies on a variety of OA monograph projects, which are increasing in popularity among scholars and libraries. Several representatives will talk about their OA projects, highlighting key takeaways, including funding, technology developments, and library partnerships, and the stumbling blocks encountered when developing their projects. Bring your questions, big and small! We have allowed time for a lively discussion of the OA landscape.
Taking Care of the People Who Take Care of Us
Chair: Shannon Davies, Director, Texas A&M University Press
Panelists: Nicole Mitchell, Director, University of Washington Press; Jason Fikes, Director, Abilene Christian University Press
Establishing a development board whose members are charged specifically with giving and raising money for your press can also increase your visibility, elevate your stature, and provide a strong voice of support in good times and bad. Three directors from small and mid-sized presses talk about the formation of their development boards, discussing the nuts and bolts of how to create such a board, how to fund it, how to nurture and sustain it, and how to partner with your university’s development department or foundation. Whether or not you can afford a full- or part-time development person on staff, every press has the potential to bring together an influential group of people who are willing to give of their time, talent, and treasure to benefit university press publishing.
Textbook Publishing in the University Press Environment
Chair: Anna Del Col, Marketing Manager, University of Toronto Press
Panelists: Anne Brackenbury, Executive Editor, Higher Education Division, University of Toronto Press; Michelle Pullano, Textbook Manager, MIT Press; David Harris, Editor-in-Chief, OpenStax
Course sales continue to represent a significant sales channel for many university presses, and an important outlet for the distribution of scholarship, but the higher education market is in a state of flux and presses are being forced to adapt. This panel will look at the current state of textbook publishing in the university press environment from the editorial, sales and marketing, and OER perspectives. How might university presses help redefine what constitutes a “textbook”? What kinds of tools (digital textbooks and platforms, digital exam copies, rentals, on-campus sales and emarketing campaigns) are university presses currently using to access this constantly changing market? And what is the role and impact of Open Educational Resources? Panelists will highlight both the potential and the challenges of working in this segment of academic publishing, and will assess what the future might hold.
What’s Important to Academic Authors
Chair: Jill Rodgers, Subscription & Institutional Marketing Manager, MIT Press
Panelists: Raychelle Burks, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, St. Edward’s University; Ali Dadpay, Professor of Economics, St. Edward’s University; Faegheh Shirazi, Professor, Department. of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas, Austin
What do our authors really think about our publishing practices? Hear from a panel of distinguished and well-published academics, in various stages of their careers, on the thorniest topics: the manuscript submission process (Which management system is the easiest? What would be easier?), peer review (Is double-blind the best? Do you have time to review?), marketing expectations (What publicity and promotion do you expect your press to provide for your book?), and impact measures (Is your T&P committee still looking at impact factors? What altmetrics are important?). This will be a Q&A roundtable-style discussion, with plenty of time to field questions on additional topics from the audience.
View the session video.
Working Remotely
Chair: Greg Britton, Editorial Director, Johns Hopkins University Press
Panelists: Alisa Plant, Editor-in-Chief, University of Nebraska Press; Walter Biggins, Executive Editor, University of Georgia Press; Allyson Carter, Senior Editor, University of Arizona Press; Justin Kehoe, Assistant Acquisitions Editor, MIT Press; Linda Secondari, Creative Director and Principal, Studiolo Secondari
As university press staffs diversify and technology makes it possible, more and more employees work away from their press’s central office. This uptick in working remotely presents challenges only partly met by new technologies. What is it like to work remotely for a university press? What is it like to work with staff who aren’t in the adjoining cubicle or just down the hall? What are the benefits for a press in allowing some staff to work from home, while others maintain the central office? In a frank and spirited conversation—including some participants joining remotely—this panel promises to explore the opportunities and challenges of these new working relationships. The goal is to articulate best practices for both remote workers and their office-bound colleagues.
12:00–1:30 PM Luncheon
1:45–3:00 PM Concurrent Sessions and Collaboration Labs
Collaboration Lab: How to Get Your Journals Indexed: Insights from the Pros
Facilitators: Katie Luu, Journals Marketing Specialist, MIT Press; Elizabeth W. Brown, Manager of Publisher Relations, Project MUSE, Johns Hopkins University Press
Panelists: Wim Meester, Head of Product Management, Scopus, Elsevier; Mary Onorato, Associate Director of Bibliographic Information Services, MLA International Bibliography
There is a lot of pressure on authors outside the US to submit manuscripts to indexed journals and thus it is important that presses do all that they can to ensure their journals are indexed in the right places. In the first part of this collaboration lab, representatives from Scopus and the MLA International Bibliography will offer insights, tips, and information on new developments that presses can put into practice. Attendees will then break into groups and discuss their own indexing questions, challenges, and potential solutions/goals for getting their journals indexed going forward. The speakers will go around to each table to answer questions.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Transforming Our Organizations Using the Resources We Already Have
Chair: Ellen Bush, Director of Electronic Marketing, University of North Carolina Press
Panelists: Gisela Fosado, Editor, Duke University Press; Minkah Makalani, Associate of Professor of African & African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas, Austin; Jill L. Petty, Acquisitions Editor, Northwestern University Press
This session will address some of the changes at the personal and organizational levels that are part of building a sustainable culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion within our organizations. In addition to attracting a wider pool of candidates, how can we exercise inclusion in our day-to-day operations? How do we welcome and support new hires? How, when, and with whom do we communicate–with words, silence, and body language? How do we support ongoing professional development and incorporate diversity at all levels of leadership? We’ll discuss strategies for dismantling institutional habits that perpetuate exclusion and offer a starter toolkit for strengthening our presses as organizations that thrive on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
A New Edition of The Chicago Manual of Style
Speaker: Carol Saller, The Chicago Manual of Style Online
The 17th edition of CMOS will be published in September, both in hardcover and by online subscription. Carol Saller, editor of the CMOS Online Q&A, talks about changes and continuities in the new edition.
Preparing Authors for Publication
Chair: Rebecca Allen, Marketing Coordinator, TCU Press
Panelists: Justin Race, Director, University of Nevada Press; Suzanne E. Guiod, Editor-in-Chief, Syracuse University Press; Jay Dew, Editor-in-Chief, Texas A&M University Press
What can university presses do to smooth the orientation process for new authors? What can we do to ensure a strong and prepared start for each new project? University presses use a variety of questionnaires, checklists, and guidelines to try to give their authors and themselves the best start possible. What works? What doesn’t? This session will explore an array of strategies for introducing authors to the university press world, gathering necessary information and materials for publication, and establishing and managing author expectations, all while fostering good author-publisher relations. The goal of this session is to identify an array of concrete tactics accessible to university presses of any size.
Scholarly Publishing Services and University Presses
Chair: Jason Colman, Director, Michigan Publishing Services
Panelists: Annie Johnson, Library Publishing and Scholarly Communications Specialist, Temple University Libraries/Temple University Press; John McLeod, Director, Office of Scholarly Publishing Services, University of North Carolina Press; Elizabeth Scarpelli, Director, University of Cincinnati Press; David Alan Rech, President and CEO, Scribe Inc.
Some university presses and library publishers are providing publishing services such as copyediting, typesetting, print/e-book distribution, and digital platforms to support the research outputs and teaching needs of their home institutions. This panel will focus on questions in publishing services, such as business models, vetting processes, necessary resources, pedagogical opportunities, relationships between presses and libraries, and the potential role of publishing services in demonstrating the value of presses within their host institutions.
Successful Partnerships with Independent Bookstores
Chair: Gianna LaMorte, Sales Manager, University of Texas Press
Panelists: Jeff Deutsch, Director, Seminary Co-op Bookstores; Elizabeth Jordan, Buyer and Inventory Operations Supervisor, BookPeople; Amanda Sharp, Assistant Marketing Manager/Publicity and Sales Manager, University of Georgia Press; Emily Hamilton, Assistant Director for Books/Marketing Director, University of Minnesota Press
Join buyers and managers from top independent bookstores and press sales managers who have successfully worked with Indies as they discuss the rewards and challenges of press/Indie partnerships. The conversation will cover supply-chain issues, backlist success stories,press UP sales representation, how to build relationships with booksellers (Don’t be scared!), and most importantly, why university press publishing matters in the independent bookstore world. We also want to hear from you so bring your questions.
To POD or Not to POD
Chair: Sylvia Mendoza, Design and Production Manager, University of Virginia Press
Panelists: Martyn Beeny, Marketing Director, Cornell University Press; Jill Shimabukuro, Design & Production Director, University of Chicago Press
Maintaining inventory has become closely linked to how our books are produced. Marketing/sales and design/production are collaborating more than ever to produce quality books in a very timely and cost-effective way. How do you develop and implement a strategy where digital printing becomes a primary manufacturing option and is also financially viable for your press? In this session, you’ll hear from experts on how best to produce your book to maintain inventory most effectively for marketing, sales, and distribution.
View the session video.
3:30–4:45 PM Closing Plenary
The Importance of Happiness in the Workplace
Featured Speaker: Raj Raghunathan, University of Texas—Austin
In this talk, Raj Raghunathan will share the latest scientific findings on the importance of well-being in the workplace, and what managers and organizations can do to enhance employee well-being. Raj writes about happiness, creativity, and leadership on his popular Psychology Today blog, Sapient Nature. His six-week long Coursera course on happiness, “A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment,” currently has over 170,000 registered students from 196 countries, and was voted the Top MOOC of 2015 and one of the Top 50 MOOCs of all time. Raj’s book, If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?, was published in 2016.