The 2010-2011 AAUP committees and their respective chairs have been announced and may be viewed on the AAUP site. New this year are the Eco Publishing and Library Relations Committees. The Book, Jacket, and Journal Show will now be handled by a separate committee, allowing the Design and Production Committee to focus on other issues, including digital workflow.
View the charges for the various committees and task forces in the members-only section of the website (password required).
On August 10, President Obama signed into law H.R. 2765, known as the SPEECH Act. Strongly supported by the publishing community and other First Amendment advocates, the act prohibits federal courts from recognizing or enforcing foreign libel judgments that do not pass First Amendment muster. The legislation also allows American authors and publishers to seek a declaration in court that such a foreign judgment is not enforceable in the U.S., and to do so even if no attempt has been made to enforce the foreign judgment.
As the confirmation hearings for new Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan were underway, AAUP created Books for Understanding: The U.S. Supreme Court. This online resource offers a guide to scholarly work on the nation’s highest court, including studies of individual cases, influences on the court, and the appointment process.
The massive BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has produced devastating effects of which the impact will be felt in the environment, industry, and by governments for a very long time. As containment and recovery efforts continue, Books for Understanding: Oil provides perspective on the role of this valuable natural resource, in economic, technological, and political development, in international relations, and in global environments.
Earlier this month, federal judge ruled California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional, prompting another round of debate on the issue of same sex marriage. Books for Understanding: Same Sex Marriage
The university press e-book consortium project, led by NYU Press, Temple University Press, Rutgers University Press, Penn Press, and the University of Nebraska Press, has received a second grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will run from August through January, and will allow the partners to move forward in developing their business model and formally involving other university presses.
In April 2010, AAUP hosted its first Web seminar, “XML Workflow Case Study: The University of Michigan Press.” The seminar was organized by members of the AAUP Professional Development Committee and moderated by Kristin Harpster Lawrence (Wayne State). Presenter Karen Hill took attendees through Michigan’s implementation of an XML workflow, from the decision to undertake the shift to its effect on different press departments. There were approximately 70 registered seats for the workshop, with many registrations including groups of participants.
View the presentation slides here: http://www.aaupnet.org/programs/seminars/xml2010.html
In the wake of two tragic mine disasters in West Virginia and China during the month of April, AAUP has created Books for Understanding: Mining. This online resource offers a guide to scholarly resources on miners and mining, with more than 100 relevant titles from 25 AAUP member presses.
A number of Books for Understanding bibliography topics have been in the news of late. Updates to these lists ensure that Books for Understanding includes the most recent and up to date scholarship published by university presses on these subjects.
• Immigration: New laws aimed at illegal immigration in Arizona have caused much controversy.
• Terrorism: An attempted bombing in New York City’s Times Square has raised concerns about terrorism.
• Emergency Management: Severe flooding caused much of Nashville, TN, to shut down earlier this month.
• April was National Poetry Month. The U.S. Poets Laureate bibliography includes work by some of nation’s most celebrated poets.
Since the February 18 fairness hearing on the Google Books settlement, Judge Chin has been confirmed by the Senate for a seat on the Second Circuit Court of Appeal. It is unclear at this time how his promotion will affect the settlement. He may decide the case before moving up, take the case with him, or pass it on to a new judge.
The Public Index has made available a report categorizing and summarizing the objections to the settlement agreement: http://thepublicindex.org/docs/commentary/objections-responses-2.pdf.
Meanwhile, a group denied admittance to the current Google Books class action settlement has filed their own suit. In April, the American Society of Media Photographers and other groups representing graphic artists and photographers filed a class action suit alleging that the scanning and display of work for the Google Books program infringes their copyrights. The parties are seeking “monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief.”
Cornell University Press, partnering with Cornell University Library and Cornell faculty in the departments of German Studies, Comparative Literature, History, Music, and Philosophy, have been awarded a new grant from the Mellon Foundation to support Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought. The new English-language book series will cover the literature, culture, criticism, and intellectual history of the German-speaking world. Works in the series will be published in electronic format and in short print runs backed up by trade-quality bound books produced on a print-on-demand basis.
Ithaka released “Faculty Survey 2009,” the “fourth in a series of surveys conducted over the past decade examined faculty attitudes and behaviors on key issues.” The findings are detailed in a three-part report, covering “Discovery and the Evolving Role of the Library,” “The Formation Transition for Scholarly Works,” and “Scholarly Communications.”
View the report: http://www.ithaka.org/ithaka-s-r/research/faculty-surveys-2000-2009/faculty-survey-2009
Judging of the 2010 AAUP Book, Jacket, & Journal show took place January 28-29 at the AAUP Central Office in New York. Throughout its history, the AAUP Book, Jacket, & Journal Show has honored the design and production teams who further a long tradition of excellence in book design. Approximately 281 books, 286 jacket and cover design entries, and 8 journals were entered. 56 books, 1 journal, and 40 jackets/covers were chosen by the jurors as the very best examples from this pool of excellent design.
These selected entries will be displayed at the premiere of the 2010 Book, Jacket, & Journal Show during the AAUP Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, June 17-20, 2010.
View the 2010 Selected Entries:
http://www.aaupnet.org/programs/marketing/designshow/winners2010.html
The parties to the Google Book suit submitted a revised version of the settlement to the court on November 13. After the submission of the amended settlement agreement, supplemental notice was issued, and an extended comment period was opened.
The Department of Justice filed its Statement of Interest regarding the Google Book Search Settlement on February 4. Among the concerns the statement details is that the federal court lacks the authority to approve the settlement, which should properly be a matter for Congress. A fairness hearing was held on February 18, during which Judge Chin heard from 26 speakers (21 against the settlement, 5 in favor). Most notably, the court heard from U.S. attorney William Cavanaugh, who argued that the class action vehicle was not appropriate for this matter and that the settlement went too far in modifying copyright, and Duralyn Durie (for Google), Michael Boni, and Bruce Keller (for the plaintiffs) who countered Cavanaugh’s claims and urged the court to approve the settlement.
View the statement of interest from the Department of Justice regarding the proposed amended settlement agreement: http://thepublicindex.org/docs/amended_settlement/usa.pdf
A number of Books for Understanding bibliography topics have been in the news of late. Updates to these lists ensure that Books for Understanding includes the most recent and up to date scholarship published by university presses on these subjects.
In the wake of the devastating January earthquake, the Haiti list offers insight into the history and culture of this troubled nation. The Emergency Management List provides background on the massive reconstruction necessary as the country begins to rebuild after the disaster.
Each February, the U.S. celebrates Black History Month. The Race Relations in the U.S. bibliography features scholarship on African-American history from the era of slavery and abolition through the present, as well as on issues of race in politics, education, the military, sports, arts, and culture.
Home of the newly crowned 2010 Superbowl champions, New Orleans also celebrated Mardi Gras with its famous parade on February 16.
The American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (the PROSE Awards) were announced on February 4, at the annual meeting of the Professional and Scholarly Publishers (PSP) division of the Association of American Publishers (AAP). Once again, works published by AAUP member presses took an extraordinary number awards, in addition to Finalist/Honorable Mention designations.
Since their inception in 1976, the PROSE awards, judged by peer publishers, librarians, and medical professionals, have annually honored distinguished books, journals, and electronic content in a wide variety of disciplines. The prestigious R.R. Hawkins Award, recognizing outstanding scholarly works across all disciplines of the arts and sciences was presented to the University of Chicago Press for Plato’s Philosophers: The Coherence of the Dialogues.
View all 2010 winners here: http://www.proseawards.com/current-winners.html
Books published by university presses were much lauded this fall, with five National Book Award nominations, one of which went on to win in its category. On November 18, Keith Waldrop’s, Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy, published by the University of California Press, was named winner of the National Book Award for Poetry for 2009.
Joining Waldrop with nominations in the Poetry category were Versed by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press) and Open Interval by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon (University of Pittsburgh Press). In Fiction, American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell, a story collection published in the Wayne State University Press “Made in Michigan Writers Series,” was nominated. Adrienne Mayor’s masterful combination of storytelling and scholarship in The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy, (Princeton University Press) was nominated in the Non-Fiction category.
The announcement of the 2009 Nobel Prize Winners also highlighted the importance of scholarly publishers. Two university presses had published the work of 2009 Nobel Laureate in Literature Herta Mueller in translation: Nadirs is available from the University of Nebraska Press, and The Land of Green Plums and Traveling on One Leg from Northwestern University Press. Elinor Ostrom, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, has had her work published by a number of AAUP presses. MIT Press recently published Catherine Brady’s Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA, tracing the life and work of one of this year’s Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine.
AAUP congratulates these presses, along with the many other AAUP members who every day publish works honored and valued by scholars, associations, and prize committees.
Press release:
http://www.aaupnet.org/news/press/october2009prizes.html
All prizes and honors received by AAUP books:
http://www.aaupnet.org/news/prizes.html
In October, AAUP released a newly revised version of its Books for Understanding New York City bibliography. Now featuring more than 300 titles from 34 presses, this extensive list includes books on the city’s history and culture, as well as guides and reference works.
Other recently updated Books for Understanding Lists include China, Social Security, the Nonprofit Sector & Philanthropy, Somalia, Sudan, and Voting & Elections.
http://www.booksforunderstanding.org
US v. Stevens, a case that raised First Amendment concerns about a federal statute intended to outlaw the animal cruelty, was argued in front of the Supreme Court on October 6. The justices generally seemed skeptical of the statute, asking questions and presenting hypotheticals that pointed to possible overbreadth of the law’s language.
AAUP joined librarians, publishers, writers, and other media groups in an amicus brief urging the court to declare this statute unconstitutional, in view of the danger it poses to First Amendment protections.
AAUP statement: http://www.aaupnet.org/news/press/stevens.html
A decision is not expected until early 2010.
“Court seems hostile to law against animal-cruelty depictions”
Analysis by Tony Mauro, First Amendment Center:
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/analysis.aspx?id=22169
The Green Press Initiative (GPI), of which AAUP is an industry member, makes available a Book Publisher Toolkit, which details steps and guidelines for responsible paper use. The toolkit also features brief case studies from publishers of various sizes, and a breakdown of the various Forest Certification Schemes.
The 2009-2010 AAUP committees and their respective chairs have been announced and may be viewed on the AAUP website. Two new task forces have been formed for the upcoming year to address various issues within the association. They include: the Task Force on Changing the AAUP By-Laws and the Task Force on the AAUP Crisis Management Toolkit.
View the charges for the various committees and task forces in the members-only section of the website (password required).
AAUP has joined librarians, publishers, writers, and other media groups in an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a federal statute that they assert creates an overbroad exemption to the First Amendment. U.S. v. Stevens has been characterized as potentially the most dangerous First Amendment challenge of the past decade.
AAUP statement
Former Representative Jim Leach was confirmed by the Senate as Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) on August 7, 2009. Nominated in June for the position by President Obama, Leach was the co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Humanities Caucus.