CONTENTS
MIT Premieres Digital Media & Learning Series
O’Reilly TOC Conference Focuses on Practical Digital Resources
Publishing’s Carbon Footprint
AAUP Presses at MLA 2008
Lobbying for the Humanities: Humanities Advocacy Day 2008
Mellon Foundation Supports Four More University Press Collaborations
Caravan Project Begins Second Year with $25,000 NACS Grant
Miscellany:
AAUP Welcomes Its First Introductory Members
Harvard Faculty Adopts Open Access Policy For Articles
Senate Hearings Held On Founding Fathers Papers
Annual Meeting Web Site Updated
Kosovo And The Former Yugoslavia Added To Books For Understanding
AAUP Book, Jacket, & Journal Show—Judging
Calendar: see Calendar on AAUPnet.org
Posted by: site admin @ 9:12 am
By Shaun Manning
Communications Coordinator, AAUP
Supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MIT Press has recently published six titles exploring the effects and interrelationships of emerging digital technologies on youth and learning. The books, available as free chapter-by-chapter downloads at MIT’s web site and also as cloth and paper editions, offer a substantial new body of scholarship in the field of digital media and learning, and will be followed by a new quarterly journal in winter 2009.
The books, collectively known as the MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, view the effects of digital technology on youth identity, social interaction, and formal and informal education, among other topics. In titles such as Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected, edited by Tara McPherson, authors often treat technology as context rather than subject to more effectively examine how digital tools are being used by the youth who take such things for granted, and discover what opportunities may exist to enhance learning. In addition to the obvious benefits and perils bestowed by the internet, MIT’s Digital Media and Learning books also look at the roles of video games, social networking, amateur audio and video production, and mobile phones in establishing problem-solving skills, media literacy, and activism among the youth population. “This engages all of us as publishers,” said Ellen W. Faran, director of the MIT Press, “because today’s young people are tomorrow’s authors and readers. If their immersion in digital media makes them see and learn differently, we need to adapt.”
Though these are not the first scholarly books on digital culture and its effect on young people, the simultaneous publication of six titles represents a significant addition to the body of research available. Because of the significant interest in the field and the rapid pace at which the technological context evolves, MIT will follow up the Digital Media and Learning Series with the quarterly International Journal of Learning and Media (IJLM), which is also supported by the MacArthur Foundation and produced in partnership with the Monterey Institute for Technology in Education. “This new area is an emerging field of inquiry, highly interdisciplinary and also cross-sector in nature, involving practitioners and innovators as well as academics,” Faran said. “The faster exchanges and collaborative opportunities of the journal environment—including an online community—will support making these connections.” In keeping with its subject matter, the peer-reviewed IJLM will make use of web publishing’s multimedia capabilities to offer video content and an interactive community.
Each of the six titles— Civic Life Online; Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility; Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected; The Ecology of Games; Learning Race and Ethnicity; and Youth, Identity, and Digital Media—can be downloaded for free as single-chapter PDFs at mitpress.mit.edu. It is also possible to purchase print editions of these books, which MIT offers for $32 in hardcover or $16 paperback. As with any publishing project that offers free, open access to its content online side by side with that same content for sale in a physical book, the effects on customer purchase behavior can be difficult to quantify. But in a series focusing on the digital world—so much so, in fact, that free open access was a condition of the MacArthur digital learning grant—it is only appropriate that the value of publishing research online takes center stage. Further, adopting a perspective supported by the findings of the National Academies Press’s research on digital publishing, MIT views the two formats as complimentary rather than competing. “Readers and users seem to appreciate both for different purposes at different times,” Faran observed. “So far our sales of the paperback editions of the Series books are modest, which seems to bear this out.”
The MIT series represents a part of a larger initiative on the part of the MacArthur Foundation, a project studying the implications of digital culture and learning on the education system, policy decisions, and young people themselves. Information on grants and access to ongoing research are available at http://digitallearning.macfound.org/.
Posted by: site admin @ 9:11 am
By Brenna McLaughlin
Electronic & Strategic Initiatives Director, AAUP
The first O’Reilly Tools of Change (TOC) Conference, held in June 2007, generated a huge buzz in the book publishing industry. Focused on the emergence of new publishing models from innovative technologies, the TOC conference brought together the visionaries of tech and of publishing. Manolis Kelaidis’s (Royal College of Art) demonstration of his synthesis of analog and digital—a paper book printed with conductive ink and bound with circuitry to allow for hyperlinked text—was certainly the high-water mark of excitement and energy.
In February 2008, O’Reilly hosted a second TOC Conference, one that generated far less buzz. One thing that became clear is that the publishing industry is moving on from visionary statements to the decidedly less sexy and more productive work of integrating new technologies and models into the cycle of scholarly communications. To some degree, not all the panels had yet caught up to this spirit of how-to (rather than what-if, how-cool, and try-me!), although there was interesting information to be gleaned from every panel.
Presentation slides from many sessions can be downloaded via the TOC web site (http://en.oreilly.com/toc2008/public/schedule/proceedings). Panels included an overview of the DRM mistakes of the music industry and discussion of how the publishing world might avoid the same; several looks at new digital marketing and distribution strategies, such as widgets and content designed for mobile devices; and examinations of how blogs and books are being integrated across authoring, reviewing, and marketing spheres.
One interesting tension was between the continued pressure to deliver free digital content (Tim O’Reilly’s keynote, “Free is More Complicated Than You Think”), and the suggested strategy of producing high-value, high-priced digital content (Scott Gray, O’Reilly School of Technology, “Adding Enough Value to Digital Content to Actually Make Money”). Obviously, the balance that can and will be struck between these two poles of digital content delivery will be different for various publishing sectors and content groups—it will be no news flash to AAUP members that infotainment and scholarly communications will always have different drivers. It is clear that how to best serve the authors and readers in each sector is still the most pressing challenge for publishers, one that will not be solved by the emergence of any one single technology or model.
Related upcoming conferences include the STM Book 2.02 Seminar (“Now it Gets Real: Making, Selling, Distributing, Discovering and Using E-Books”) and, for the eyes-on-the-horizon vision to the hands-on-the-day-to-day ideas, the AAUP Annual Meeting (“Preserving the Future”).
BISG and the Green Press Initiative Release Environmental Benchmarking Survey
By Brenna McLaughlin, Electronic and Strategic Initiatives Director, AAUP
In 2007, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) set as one of its research goals the measurement of the U. S. book industry’s environmental impact. Partnering with the Green Press Initiative (GPI) and hiring the Borealis Centre for Environmental and Trade Research, BISG pursued this goal through the development, collection, and analysis of an Environmental Benchmarking Survey. On March 10, 2008, the final report was released, indicating the current carbon footprint of book publishing in the United States, as well as tracking efforts by many publishers and vendors to reduce the climate impact of our work.
The number? The U.S. book industry emits 12.4 million metric tons of carbon per year, or a net 8.85 pounds per book. Steps the industry is beginning to take to reduce this load include increasing the use of recycled or environmentally sustainable papers, reducing overproduction, and reducing office and plant energy use.
The Survey subcommittee and Borealis Centre had two main hurdles to cross in producing this survey and report. The first was simply to understand the extent of publishing activities that needed to be measured. Impacts of forest harvest and paper production were obvious, but then came the related question of how much the stored carbon in printed books offset this. The final calculation of the carbon footprint had to account for every step, from the obvious energy consumption of printing and binding to the less obvious amount of travel and transport involved in the industry, including the shipment of books from manufacturing to warehouse to store to customer, as well as staff business travel.
The second hurdle was obtaining the data from a wide array of industry players. Publishers, paper mills, printers, distributors, and retailers were all targeted, and a total of 104 firms participated in the survey. The survey report notes that a possible limitation was self-selection bias—that is, companies with environmental policies in place might have been more likely to respond to an attempt to benchmark the industry’s environmental impact. However, a significant share of key segments responded, including 45% publishing market share and 24.6% of printing market share.
AAUP members were invited to take part in the survey, and many did so. Several university and scholarly publishers, represented in the AAUP by the members of the Eco-subcommittee of the Design and Production Committee (once the Eco Task Force), have been at the forefront of environmentally sustainable publishing. Eighteen AAUP members are signatories to GPI’s Treatise on Responsible Paper Use.
The full BISG/GPI report, “Environmental Trends and Climate Impact: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry,” is available for sale at the BISG web site. Another useful tool for publishers who wish to pursue environmentally responsible practices has recently been released: In February 2008, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) issued a “Handbook on Paper and the Environment,” a practical guide to issues of sustainability. Sessions on “The Green Challenge” are planned to address these issues at the AAUP annual meeting in Montreal this June.
Posted by: site admin @ 9:10 am
By Linda McCall
Administrative Manager, AAUP
The 123rd Modern Language Association Annual Convention, which is the largest gathering of teachers and scholars in the humanities, took place December 27-30, 2007, in Chicago. Most of the 8,888 registered attendees at MLA 2007 visited the Exhibits Hall in the Hyatt Regency Chicago where the AAUP Presses Section was bustling with college-level educators and others eager to review the latest language and literature publications. Thirty-five member presses exhibited independently in spaces ranging from one-half of a booth to three continuous booths.
In addition to the 35 independent exhibitors, 22 member presses participated in the AAUP Cooperative Booth, where approximately 175 books and journals were on display. Best selling books included Other South: Faulkner, Coloniality, and the Mariategui Tradition (University of Pittsburgh Press), Routes and Roots: Navigating Caribbean and Pacific Island Literatures (University of Hawaii Press), and Reframing Latin America (University of Texas Press). Several authors with books on display in the cooperative exhibit stopped by, including Wenying Xu, author of Eating Identities: Reading Food in Asian American Literature (University of Hawaii Press), and John T. Shawcross, co-editor of Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books: An Authoritative Text of the 1667 First Edition and Paradise Lost: A Poem Written in Ten Books: Essays on the 1667 First Edition (Duquesne University Press).
In order to give recognition to each participating press in the AAUP cooperative exhibit, all of the books and journals were grouped together by press. A special display was setup on behalf of Temple University Press, which was a participant in the cooperative exhibit as well as being one of the collaborators in The American Literatures Initiative (see Mellon article) with New York University Press, Fordham University Press, Rutgers University Press, and University of Virginia Press. Visitors to the AAUP cooperative exhibit who were interested in learning more about this collaboration were referred to the booths of the other four collaborating presses, which were exhibiting independently.
The MLA 2008 Convention and Exhibit is scheduled for December 27-30 in San Francisco. For more information on the 2008 Convention, visit the MLA web site.
Posted by: site admin @ 9:08 am
By Shaun Manning
Communications Coordinator, AAUP
The National Humanities Alliance (NHA) held its annual Humanities Advocacy Day program March 3 and 4, offering roundtable discussions and advocacy training on Monday before sending volunteer lobbyists to Capitol Hill. Meeting with congressional staff on Tuesday, the goal was to encourage senators and house representatives to support funding appropriations for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
For people like me who are new to lobbying, the idea of approaching Congress for millions of dollars can seem daunting. NHA seeks to prepare its lobbyists with group discussions on issues important to the scholarly community, such as “Humanities and the Civic World,” “Digital Media,” and “Research and Scholarship,” generating additional talking points by highlighting common concerns among a variety of organizations. An afternoon policy brief addressed the specific legislative priorities we would be addressing Tuesday—a $177 million appropriation for NEH and $12 million for NHPRC. In the FY2009 budget that President Bush submitted to Congress, NEH is slated to receive $144.4 million, and NHPRC is zeroed out for the fourth year in a row. While the proposed NEH appropriation is slightly up from last year’s, in real terms it represents a cut because of higher mandated administration expenses.
The training itself, presented by Jessica Jones Irons, Executive Director of NHA, and Ember Farber, Legislative and Advocacy Assistant with the American Association of Museums, focused largely on the importance of lobbying, the significance of timing Humanities Advocacy day early in a busy season, and what to expect during a meeting with congressional staff. There was also some discussion as to what not to do, such as making vote-related or other threats and distributing staffers’ direct-dial numbers obtained from business cards. The session was useful in promoting a feeling of “ready-as-I’ll-ever-be”—which is very necessary in calming nerves—but to me there remained a sense of wondering whether this would all go to plan.
Fortunately, I found myself in a group with people who had done this before. Our team, representing New York-based organizations, was led by Steven Wheatley, Vice President of the American Council of Learned Societies, and Rosemary Feal, Executive Director of the Modern Language Association, with myself and University of Cologne researcher Eva Bosbach contributing to the discussions. Once the very short meetings—averaging about seven minutes—had begun, the conversations were very relaxed, on-point but not overly formal or intimidating.
Mr. Wheatley and Ms. Feal set out the importance of funding the NEH at a level higher than the president’s budget requested, indicating programs that would need to be cut if the Endowment were to only receive $144.4 million and showing the congressional staffers an alarming chart representing the sharp cuts to NEH since 1994. For my part, I mentioned projects by AAUP member presses, such as the Founding Fathers papers and other documentary editions, that are funded by NHPRC and that would thus be endangered if the program were to be eliminated.
It was, of course, also fortunate that the senators and representatives whose staff we met were all sympathetic to the humanities. Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-14), Maurice Hinchey (R-22), and Jerrold Nadler (D-8) are all members of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, and Rep. Hinchey is also a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer have been similarly supportive, each signing a “Dear Colleague” letter in 2006 requesting additional funds for NEH.
Most of the staff we spoke with nevertheless expressed doubts about significant success for this year’s appropriations cycle, noting President Bush’s past resistance to raising funding above the levels set forth in his budget. Still, congressional support has been instrumental in keeping the NHPRC alive, as the historical publications program has received $5.5-7.5 million per year in FY06-08, years in which the president has sought to eliminate the program entirely. FY04 was the last year the NHPRC was fully funded at its authorized level of $10 million.
Whatever the level of appropriations the NEH and NHPRC ultimately receive, the lobbying efforts of universities, scholarly societies, and other cultural institutions coordinated by the National Humanities Alliance sends a clear and concerted message about the value of these programs. For congressional staff who may not be familiar with our goals, or for members of congress who do not intrinsically share our priorities, the opportunity for discussion on Humanities Advocacy Day gives us the chance to inform and, hopefully, to influence.
Online resources for humanities advocacy are available at http://www.humanitiesadvocacy.org/
More information on Humanities Advocacy Day, including photos from the 2008 event, can be found at http://www.nhalliance.org/
Posted by: site admin @ 9:07 am
By Shaun Manning
Communications Coordinator, AAUP
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded grants in support of four proposed collaborative projects in the underserved scholarly fields of Slavic Studies, American Literatures, South Asian Studies, and Ethnomusicology. The grants, which follow on the earlier announcements of funding for University of North Carolina Press and UNC Chapel Hill’s “Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement” and University of Minnesota Press and the Institute for Advanced Study at UMN’s “Quadrant” program, represent the Mellon Foundation’s increasing efforts toward supporting collaborations to facilitate wider dissemination of scholarly research.
The AAUP member presses working together on the Slavic Studies project are University of Wisconsin Press, Northwestern University Press, and the University of Pittsburgh Press. The Mellon initiative will allow the three presses to publish and promote first monographs in Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies by junior scholars, helping those scholars in developing their careers by supporting their development as authors and arranging for book tours. The project web site can be found at www.mellonslavicstudies.org.
New York University Press leads the American Studies Initiative collaboration with Fordham University Press, Rutgers University Press, Temple University Press, and the University of Virginia Press to publish emerging scholars’ first books in the English-language literatures of Central and North America and the Caribbean. For this project, a shared, centralized, external editorial service will be created to handle all editorial and production aspects of books published by the initiative. The American Literatures Initiative web site is www.americanliteratures.org.
“South Asian Studies across the Disciplines” will focus on giving scholars increased access to archival materials, exploring new methods and theories, and foster cross-discipline scholarship that is both broad and deep. The initiative, led by Columbia University Press in collaboration with University of California Press and University of Chicago Press, will build upon the strength of each university’s faculty, appointing Dipesh Chakrabarty (Chicago, history), Sheldon Pollock (Columbia, literature), and Sanjay Subrahmanyam (UCLA, history) as series editors. The aim is to publish six monographs per year, with each press responsible for two series editions.
Indiana University Press, Kent State University Press, and Temple University Press form the ethnomusicology collaboration, and the Mellon Foundation has awarded them a one-year planning grant to establish the best methods for publishing related scholarship online. The planning phase will also explore potential partnerships with information technology vendors to aid in presenting and distributing this scholarship.
In a related effort, the Mellon Foundation is also funding programs that seek to further advance the efforts of humanities scholars by tightening the relationships between universities and their presses. University of North Carolina Press has joined with UNC Chapel Hill for the print and digital publication project, “Publishing the Long Civil Rights Movement,” for which the team has been awarded a three-year Mellon grant.
University of Minnesota Press and the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota will also receive funding for their interdisciplinary research and publication project, “Quadrant,” which will create research residencies for scholars and endeavor to publish the fruits of such research. Quadrant will itself be composed of four collaborative groups, Design and Architecture, Environmental Sustainability, Global Cultures, and Health and Society.
Together these Mellon grants are helping university presses discover new and innovative ways to promote and disseminate scholarship, by creating an environment in which a greater variety of projects can see the light of day. By pooling resources, it is hoped that presses will be able to accept monographs by emerging scholars that would not have been viable before, and in turn the universities will benefit by these scholars’ increased profiles in the academic community.
Posted by: site admin @ 9:06 am
By Shaun Manning
Communications Coordinator, AAUP
Now entering its second year, the Caravan Project (http://www.caravanbooks.org/) has refined its methods and goals to help scholarly publishers deliver books in non-standard formats. Developed by Peter Osnos as a way to navigate the emerging digital culture, Caravan has made 62 titles from eleven presses available as downloadable ebooks and audio books, and also created large-print editions through print-on-demand. Recently, Caravan was awarded a $25,000 grant by the National Association of College Stores (NACS), which will allow for increased exposure in university bookstores.
Osnos describes Caravan as a “system of research and development” aimed at increasing serious non-fiction publishers’ options for producing and distributing content. AAUP members participating in the Caravan Project include Beacon Press, University of California Press, University of North Carolina Press, Yale University Press, and more. “Caravan is an effort to enable publishers to do books in all the ways that technology now permits and to support distribution of those books through all the available channels.” The goals, Osnos said, are twofold: “We want to help publishers to know how to do electronic books, and distributors to know how to sell them.” He acknowledged that while many university presses operate their own digital initiatives, Caravan provides the option of offering multiple electronic formats, including PDF, Microsoft Reader, and audio files that can play on any portable music player. Though the POD aspect of Caravan may seem out of place—a physical product in an otherwise digital operation—the experiment is paying off. Recently, one vendor ordered three hundred copies of a large print book through Caravan’s print-on-demand service, an order that might not have been possible to fill through traditional publishing systems.
With Caravan established as a service for university presses and other scholarly publishers, it is perhaps not surprising that it was awarded a grant from the National Association of College Stores (NAS) to promote its products in the academic environment. The groundwork for the grant was set when Osnos gave a presentation on Caravan at an NACS convention, and the association saw the potential benefits of this publishing program for its members. The NACS grant will allow college stores to sell Caravan’s digital products, thereby giving the stores a model on which to base other sales of digital content in the future.
The distribution piece of the Caravan Project has already undergone notable changes since its inception, based on early results. Caravan has moved toward a more comprehensive system of digital distribution by taking advantage of recently-launched initiatives from Ingram’s Digital Ventures, booksense.com, and Overdrive’s Content Reserves, which offers e-books and audio books to libraries and can be adapted for use at retail stores. “The most effective way we can sell these books, once we’ve created them, is through the growing universe of digital delivery systems,” Osnos said. In addition to taking advantage of these larger-scale distribution systems for booksellers, a partnership with Emusic.com, one of the largest vendors of digital music, will soon make Caravan titles available for download at the site’s recently-launched audio books section.
As patterns of user preference emerged, there were also some changes in the available formats. Caravan had been offering its audio books on CDs in addition to the downloadable mp3s. But Osnos said that audio books on CD were less popular than digital files. “What we’ve found is, for people who do want the CD, we can distribute an audio book as a download and allow the listener to create one CD, and that way you don’t have to ship a CD.” The digital rights management (DRM) code of the audio book digital files allows customers to produce a single disc for personal use.
According to Osnos, the possibilities created by Caravan represent a substantial shift in publishing, as new technologies will allow publishers to operate on a more “made to order” system. If books are printed on demand, or serially available in digital formats, the problem of excess inventory will be greatly reduced. The flexibility of digital media also allows Caravan to make participating publishers’ books available by chapter or section, an option that will prove useful to students and researchers. Though some of this may have been possible in the recent past, only in the last few years has research been available that has indicated the most effective methods of producing and distributing digital content. In addition, consumer interest in e-books is currently in an upward swing with the advent of Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s E-Reader devices, and the popularity of audio books has soared with the ubiquitous use of mp3 players such as the Apple’s ipod. “In time digital books will become increasingly significant sources of revenue, as the public become more familiar with digital formats,” Osnos said.
Because Caravan is not itself a publisher or vendor, it does not set or suggest prices for the digital and POD books created through the initiative. But Osnos hopes that as publishers gain greater familiarity with these formats this will lead to audio and e-books bearing prices that are competitive with the standard editions. Currently, he noted, audio books can be fifty percent more expensive than a new release hardcover.
The Caravan Project is set to conclude in mid-2009, at which time the findings of the program’s research will be published in a final report, possibly as a multi-platform book. But the life of Caravan will continue in the implementation of its research into digital publishing and distribution systems. “By all means, we hope and expect publishers to use what we’ve all learned in their own multi-platform programs,” Osnos said.
Athabasca University Press and Abilene Christian University Press are the first presses to join AAUP under the Introductory Member category. Athabasca is an open access scholarly press focusing on Canada, the North American West, and the Circumpolar North. Abilene publishes scholarship on Christian themes and history, with a particular focus on the Churches of Christ perspective.
Introductory Members are not-for-profit scholarly publishers that intend to apply for AAUP membership in one of the other membership categories, but don’t yet meet publication or staffing requirements. Introductory Member presses may participate in most programs, but may not serve on boards and committees, list titles with Books for Understanding, or engage in certain other AAUP business. Presses may not stay in the introductory membership category for more than three years. For more information or for an application, please contact Susan Patton (spatton@aaupnet.org).
Posted by: site admin @ 9:04 am
Information on registration, programming, grants, and pre-meeting workshops are now available at the Annual Meeting website: http://aaupnet.org/programs/annualmeeting/
Several grants are available to offset costs of attending the Annual Meeting. Questia is sponsoring a grant for individuals from small to mid-size presses, and the Whiting Annual Newcomer Grant will be offered to eight individuals from member presses that have not previously attended the meeting. The Whiting Diversity Grant is available to minority staff with at least one year of experience at a member press, and the Richard Eckersley Memorial Grant will be awarded to one emerging university press designer. All grants carry a deadline of April 10. Information and applications are available on the website: http://aaupnet.org/programs/annualmeeting/2008/grants.html
The Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings February 7 on the progress made on various Founding Fathers documentary edition projects. The late-2007 omnibus appropriations act had directed that the US Archivist address concerns about the speed of completion of the documentary editing projects that receive federal funding, as well as digital access to the papers. Witnesses included Stan Katz and David McCullough. Read more from the National Coalition for History.
Several AAUP member presses are involved in the ongoing effort to publish the written records of the Founding Fathers and other important Americans, preserving these important historical records and providing scholars, students, and the general public with access to the thoughts, deliberations, and correspondence of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and others.
Posted by: site admin @ 9:03 am
In light of Kosovo’s recent declaration of independence and the ongoing controversies surrounding its separation from Serbia, Books for Understanding has added a list of titles from member presses covering the countries of the former Yugoslavia: http://aaupnet.org/news/bfu/yugoslavia/list.html
Books for Understanding is a free, easy-to-use resource to help readers find books on current events. New bibliographies are compiled when a major news story breaks or public debate heats up.
The program highlights one of the highest values of university presses: to publish top research and scholarship in all fields regardless of immediate commercial potential. Often the most complete and illuminating background research and knowledge for a breaking news story is only available in scholarly books from presses committed to the public interest.
For the full range of Books for Understanding titles, please visit: http://www.booksforunderstanding.org
Posted by: site admin @ 9:02 am
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) at Harvard has adopted a policy under which each FAS member grants Harvard “permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles.” Harvard would exercise this grant of permission by depositing the articles in an open access repository, and would license use of articles in the repository to other
entities, including commercial ones, for use in, for example, coursepacks. Articles in the repository could be sold, by Harvard or its licensees, provided that they were not sold “for a profit.” Harvard would also apparently have the right to prepare or license the preparation of derivative works.
Under the policy we understand that Harvard FAS members who receive publishing contracts for articles they have written are now required to submit to the publisher an addendum for signature. The first provision in the addendum (which we received from a commercial journals publisher, who had in turn received it from a Harvard author whose article they wished to publish) says:
All of the terms and conditions of the Publication Agreement, including but not limited to all grants, agreements, representations and warranties, are subject to and qualified by a non-exclusive license previously granted by Author to Harvard University. Under that license, Harvard may make the Article available and may exercise all rights under copyright relating to the Article, and may authorize others to do the same, provided that the Article is not sold for a profit.
Books are excluded from the policy, as are articles written before the adoption of the policy, or for which the faculty member entered into a publishing agreement before the policy was adopted. Faculty members may also request that the policy be waived for particular articles.
Posted by: site admin @ 9:01 am
Judging of the 2008 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show was held on January 17-18 at the AAUP Office in New York City. Jurors selected a total of 44 books, 2 journals, and 31 jackets and covers.
The 2008 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show will premiere at the AAUP Annual Meeting in Montréal, June 26-29, 2008. The show will then travel around the country from September 2008 to May 2009.
Since 1965, the AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show has fulfilled its mission to “honor and instruct”: honoring the design and production teams whose work furthers a long tradition of excellence in book design, and, through a traveling exhibit and acclaimed annual catalog of selected entries, visually teaching the tenets of good design. 
For the complete list and show details, go to: http://aaupnet.org/programs/marketing/designshow/winners2008.html