Library and University Press Publishing: Then and Now

Against the Grain, Dec 2014

By Bob Nardini, Published on 01/01/14

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Library and University Press Publishing: Then and Now

Librar y and University Press Publishing : The n and Now Bob Nardini Ingram Library Services Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atg Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation - Article 7 ALA MIDWINTER ISSUE v OLUME 26, NUMBER 6 DECEMBER 2014 - JANUARY 2015 TM “Linking Publishers, Vendors and Librarians” Library Publishing and University Press Publishing: Then and Now by Bob Nardini (Vice President, Product Development, Ingram Library Services) <> George Wilton Jacks (grandson of Bruce and Katina Strauch) was born on Monday, November 10 at 9:42 pm. He weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz. He and his mother Ileana and dad Sam are doing very well in Jacksonville, FL. Isn’t he just adorable? A precious bundle of joy for all. “Everything changed in the fall of 2008,” writes John Hussey to open the first of nine articles in this issue of Against the Grain devoted to the intersection of publishing by academic libraries and by university presses. John, now my Ingram colleague but who was then at the University Press of Kentucky, relates how the economic crash made a ruin of Kentucky’s plans for the publishing season. At the same time, the crisis forced the Press to analyze “every facet of the business” to survive in a harsher financial climate. One thing that eventually changed at Kentucky was that the Press and the library were merged organizationally and these two campus units who until then had had little to do with one another “were now sharing office spaces,” as John puts it in “Academic Publishing is Not in Crisis — It’s Just Changing.” That was the same year, 2008, when Against the Grain commissioned an earlier special issue on this same topic (December 2008-January 2009). Patrick Alexander, then and now at the Penn State University Press, is a special issue contributor then and now as well. “Then,” Patrick described the assets university presses might bring to a joint enterprise between organizations so culturally different. He confessed to having “no secret recipe” for success in these unions, which were in If Rumors Were Horses Hto begin? appy 2015! Lots of news to report so far! Where McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers’ founder Robert Franklin announced that he has passed the job and title of President to the awesomely deserving Rhonda Herman. Franklin will assume the new title of Founder and Editor-in-Chief. Founded in 1979, McFarland is an independent publisher of academic and nonfiction books. I remember reading about Franklin in the Wall Street Journal many years ago — it’s a great article. “Publishing: Niche Publisher Prospers — Without Grishams or Kings,” by Eleena de Lisser, Wall Street Journal, eastern edition, 12 March 1998, B1. Located in the beautiful mountain town of Jefferson, North Carolina, the publisher offers 5,100 books in print, offers nearly 3,000 eBooks through online booksellers, operates its own printing facility, and employs 55 people. Rhonda Herman joined the company in 1982 as Business Manager. She was promoted to Vice President in 1991 and to Executive Vice President in 2004. While she has worked at various times in her McFarland career in every corner of the operations, the early stages of taking shape at places like the University of California, New York University, Cornell, Duke, and North Carolina. Six years later, Patrick finds that best practices “continue to be in relatively short supply” and that cultural differences are as strong as ever. But he suggests that libraries and presses might evolve to complement one another, invoking in his suggestion the biologist E.O. Wilson. Read about it and even watch an E.O. Wilson video in, “The Ant, the University Press, and the Librarian: Reflections on the Evolution of Scholarly Communication.” Maria Bonn once referred to those early projects from 2008 as the “usual suspects,” pioneers who often found themselves drafted for panels as spokespersons for the young continued on page 12 What To Look For In This Issue: Opening Pandora’s (Cable) Box....... 63 Words of Warning.............................. 64 Frienemies: Vendor Tech Support.... 74 Grassroots Monographic Shared Print in the Corn Belt ................................. 76 The Coming Bubble Bust.................. 79 Collection Management and Shared Access in a Contemporary Consortial Environment...................................... 80 Interviews Audrey Powers................................... 41 Peter Shepherd .................................. 43 Stanley Wilder ................................... 49 Profiles Encouraged Audrey Powers................................... 42 Peter Shepherd .................................. 46 continued on page 6 Library Publishing ... from page 1 movement. Maria was then director of the University of Michigan’s Scholarly Publish ing Office. She recalls that publisher audience members ranged from “curious to skeptical to downright antagonistic” toward aspiring li (...truncated)


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Bob Nardini. Library and University Press Publishing: Then and Now, Against the Grain, 2014, Volume 26, Issue 6,