The University of Georgia Press and New Georgia Encyclopedia: A Collaboration of Like Minds

It's Day 1 of the American Association of University Press Week Blog Tour, and we'd like to start by applauding our friends at Duke University Press for their new book, THE MUTLISPECIES SALON, and how it epitomizes this week's theme—collaboration. In this new approach to writing culture, editor Eben Kirksey creates an anthology that brings together analyses of insects, animals, fungi, microbes, and humans with strands of economic, political, and social life. More information on the book can be found here, and there's also an outstanding companion site in the transmedia collection that's definitely worth checking out.

Roughly 350 miles away from Durham in Athens, Georgia, the spirit of collaboration is alive and well here at the University of Georgia Press. The primary mission of the UGA Press is to support and enhance the University of Georgia's place as a major research institution by publishing outstanding works of scholarship and literature by scholars and writers throughout the world. But in order to ensure knowledge was available to expand upon, the New Georgia Encyclopedia was born. Now this year, for AAUP Week, the encyclopedia is being acclaimed as a groundbreaking collaboration to make knowledge accessible to all.

On February 12, 2004 (aptly Georgia History Day) the New Georgia Encyclopedia launched with a virtual ribbon cutting ceremony.  What started with only 700 entries has grown into a scholarly monolith of the state's history, with over 2,000 articles and over 6,000 images.  It is the first state encyclopedia to to be conceived and designed exclusively for publication online, and it is the product of unification between The Georgia Humanities Council, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, the Office of the Governor, and the Press.

Though the content is exclusively digital, the award-wining encyclopedia has published two books with the Press to supplement the knowledge of Georgia history. In 2007, THE NEW GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA COMPANION TO GEORGIA LITERATURE was published by the Press, and the anthology (which contains articles originally published online) collects biographical profiles of Georgia writers to highlight the state's literary contributions.

In 2011, THE CIVIL WAR IN GEORGIA: A NEW GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA COMPANION was published, also by the Press. Edited by John C. Inscoe, editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia, this groundbreaking work draws attention to the war's legacy, as well as originally published online articles that cover the prelude to the war and the war's years.

Director of the Press, Lisa Bayer, said, "The New Georgia Encyclopedia has become so deeply embedded in the ways in which Georgians of all ages (and people everywhere) learn about our state that I sometimes think we take it for granted. Where else can you find well-organized, vetted, expert information along with images, references, and crosslinking for free? We should be very, very proud—and supportive—of this amazing resource, which shares the rich history of our state with our world."

Kelly Caudle, project director and managing editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia, elaborated on on how each compliments the other. "The NGE and the Press are natural partners, each doing its part to make the best scholarship on Georgia available to the academic community as well as the larger public," she said. "With a scholarly credibility endowed by the Press partnership, the NGE attracts a wide audience of readers curious about Georgia's stories—and in turn the NGE sends users straight to the authoritative source behind the entries: UGA Press books. It's been a mutually supportive partnership."

If you have any comments or are interested in learning more about the New Georgia Encyclopedia, the Press, or University Press Week, tweet to us at @UGAPress or talk to us on Facebook at the University of Georgia Press using the hashtag #upweek.

University Press Week: Day 5 of Blog Tour

The University Press Week blog tour ends today!

Columbia University Press features a post on the global impact of university presses.
We hope you have enjoyed learning about the roles university presses play when it comes to publishing.

Today the theme is "The Global Reach of University Presses." The tour stops at the following presses:

Georgetown University Press explains how Georgetown University Press gives its readers the tools they need to have a global reach themselves through their foreign language learning materials, international career guides, and international affairs titles.

Indiana University Press discusses their Mellon-funded Framing the Global project. This project supports scholarly research and publication that will develop and disseminate new knowledge, approaches, and methods in the field of global research.

Johns Hopkins University Press continually strays outside the borders of the United States. Their post explores the global reach of their book translations, international marketing, and Project MUSE.

New York University Press features a post by Chip Rossetti, managing editor of the Library of Arabic Literature (LAL). He discusses the new LAL series, an ambitious international project which comes out of a partnership between NYU Press and NYU Abu Dhabi.

Princeton University Press director, Peter Dougherty, writes about the importance of foreign language translations to the future of university press economic health and fulfillment of our missions.

University of Wisconsin Press director, Sheila Leary, profiles the publishing career of Jan Vansina, one of the founders of the field of African history (rather than colonial history). His innovative seven books with the University of Wisconsin Press from the 1960s to the present have continually broken new ground, influencing the historiography of Africa and several related disciplines.

Yale University Press online marketing manager Ivan Lett writes on recent transatlantic collaboration of US-UK marketing initiatives for Yale University Press globally published titles, series, and digital products.

Look for some more great content during University Press Week! Follow the tour with this schedule or the hashtag #UPWeek on Twitter and Facebook.

University Press Week: Day 4 of Blog Tour

The University Press Week blog tour continues! We are more than halfway through the tour, and today is the longest leg of the tour, with posts from 9 of our fellow university presses.

Today the theme is "The Importance of Regional Publishing." The tour stops at the following presses:

Fordham University Press director, Fredric Nachbaur, writes about establishing the Empire State Editions imprint to better brand an market the regional books, reflect the mission of the university, and co-publish books with local institutions.

Louisiana State University Press discusses the challenge of capturing an authentic representation of Louisiana's culture, especially when it is an outsider looking in, as many authors (scholar or not) are. The post will also discuss how it takes more than just a well-written, thoroughly researched book to suceed in depicting the nuances of Louisiana's food, music, and art. It also requires a relationship of respect and acceptance between subject and author.

Oregon State University Press gives a brief introduction about regional publishing, followed by specifics about the OSU Press list.

Syracuse University Press has a post from regional author, Chuck D'Imperio. He discusses the roots of regional writing in many of the "classics." From oral testimonies to local guidebooks, these stories contribute to the culture and history of the region.

University of Alabama Press tackles the importance of regional publishing.

University of Nebraska Press editor-in-chief, Derek Krissoff, defines the meaning of place in university press publishing.

University of North Carolina Press editorial director, Mark Simpson-Vos, highlights the special value of regional university press publishing at a time when the scale for so much of what we do emphasizes the global.

University Press of Kentucky regional editor, Ashley Runyon, writes on her unique editorial perspective as a born-and-bred Kentuckian as well as preserving Kentucky's cultural heritage. The post will also feature some highlights about what makes Kentucky (and Kentucky books) unique.

University Press of Mississippi marketing manager and author, Steve Yates, describes how regional publishing changed his writing and his life.

Look for some more great content during University Press Week! Follow the tour with this schedule or the hashtag #UPWeek on Twitter and Facebook.

Film Festival Teasers

With the 2013 Spotlight on the Arts festival in full swing at the University of Georgia, we are super excited about all the activities going on, especially the First Annual Film Festival sponsored by the University of Georgia Press and Specials Collections Library. Before heading to the showings today through Friday, check out the following reviews and trailers for the films to be shown.

I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang! (1932) will be shown at 7:00 p.m. tonight in the UGA Special Collections Library Auditorium. The review on TVGuide.com said, it is “[o]ne of the toughest movies ever made, an uncompromising and frightening film that lays bare the inhuman conditions of the penal system in post-WWI Georgia.” Check out the full review here.

Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) will be shown at 7:00 p.m.on Thursday, November 14 in the UGA Special Collections Library Auditorium. “’The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys’ digs into the flaming recesses of the adolescent mind with such acuity, compassion and good humor that it will plummet you back to that painfully awkward age when hoarded tidbits of bogus sexual lore had the weight of magic passwords to the kingdom of heaven,” said The New York Times reporter Stephen Holden in his review of the film. Check out the full review here.

Glory (1989) will be shown at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, November 15 in the UGA Special Collections Library Auditorium. James Berardinelli with Reelviews reviewed the film saying, “Glory is, without question, one of the best movies ever made about the American Civil War...The reason isn't just the way in which Kevin Jarre's script illuminates a frequent oversight of history books, nor is it the fine acting or epic feel that director Edward Zwick achieves on a modest budget - although those elements are part of Glory's effectiveness. Rather, it is the way in which the filmmakers weave an impressively large historical tapestry without ever losing sight of the characters that make up the individual threads. Glory has important things to say, yet it does so without becoming pedantic.” Check out the full review here.

Aren’t you more excited about going to see these films now? We look forward to seeing you there! Also, check out more events for UGA's 2013 Spotlights on the Arts festival here.

University Press Week: Guest Blogger Nik Heynen

As part of the blog tour celebrating University Press Week, today's post highlights a subject area for which our press is known. Due to the Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation series collaboration, UGA Press continues to excel in the field of geography. Books such as Julian Brash's BLOOMBERG'S NEW YORK and Andy Merrifield's THE POLITICS OF THE ENCOUNTER have become popular books for both scholarly and trade audiences.

Today's post is by guest blogger Nik Heynen. Heynen is professor of geography at the University of Georgia and series co-editor for the Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation series.. He has coedited three books: NEOLIBERAL ENVIRONMENTS: FALSE PROMISES AND UNNATURAL CONSEQUENCES; GLOBALIZATION’S CONTRADICTIONS: GEOGRAPHIES OF DISCIPLINE, DESTRUCTION & TRANSFORMATION; and IN THE NATURE OF CITIES: URBAN POLITICAL ECOLOGY AND THE POLITICS OF URBAN METABOLISM. Heynen's current book project is a study of the politicization of anti-hunger programs, with a particular focus on the Black Panthers.

In 2007 Neil Smith, Derek Krissoff and Nik Heynen sat down at the San Francisco AAG to discuss the idea of essentially re-creating a book series at the University of Georgia Press that Neil had initially created at Temple University Press (with Peter Wissoker). For a host of reasons, Neil's Place, Culture, and Politics series only produced two (very good) books including George Henderson's California and the Fictions of Capital and Katharyne Mitchell's Crossing the Neoliberal Line Pacific Rim Migration and the Metropolis before it prematurely shut down. 

Melissa Wright (a Professor in Penn State’s Department of Geography), Andy Herod and Nik Heynen (both Professors in Geography at the University of Georgia), with Derek Krissoff, got the Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation series off the ground at UGA Press later that year. In 2011, Deb Cowen (Professor at the University of Geography at the University of Toronto) replaced Andy as one of the series co-editors. More recently, Derek went off to be the Editor-in-Chief of the University of Nebraska Press, and the GOJST series has been lucky to start working with the UGA Press' new Editor in Chief, Mick Gusinde-Duffy. 

Based on the goals of the Neil Smith Temple series, with a few tweaks, the Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation series is devoted to books that engage the importance of space for questions of social and political change. This focus necessarily covers a broad range of subject matter, including international political economy, urban studies, gender, race, sexuality, and poverty and inequality. While the series is interdisciplinary, its primary emphasis is on critical human geography. 

We have worked hard to publish in the series that are designed to inform both intellectuals of broad stripes and as well as those engaged in political processes of different kinds, from policy makers to grassroots activists. As series editors, we are interested in producing books that live on in academic offices and classrooms around the world, but also take on life in political chambers, organizing halls, and the streets where both space and politics are produced. 

Nineteen books later, with a large number more either under contract or at various stages of review or publication, many people tell us they think the series is doing very well. We agree. 

While ultimately it is the quality of the books that make a book series, much of the early success of the series has resulted from the commitment and support of our inaugural editorial advisory board. The members of that board include: Sharad Chari (University of Witwatersand); Bradon Ellem (University of Sydney), Gillian Hart (University of California, Berkeley), Andy Herod (University of Georgia), Jennifer Hyndman (York University), Larry Knopp (University of Washington, Tacoma), Heidi Nast (Depaul University), Jamie Peck (University of British Columbia), Frances Fox Piven (City University of New York), Laura Pulido (University of Southern California), Paul Routledge (Leeds University), Bobby Wilson (University of Alabama). 

We are very grateful for all of their guidance and the solidarity they brought to this endeavor. As they say, "we couldn't have done this without you". As these things go however, we recently decided it is was time to refresh the board as we move into the next phase of the series, so we were recently very pleased to announce the second generation of the GOJST board, which includes: Mathew Coleman (Ohio State University), Sapana Doshi (University of Arizona), Zeynep Gambetti (Boğaziçi University), Geoff Mann (Simon Fraser University), James McCarthy (Clark University), Beverly Mullings (Queen's University), Harvey Neo (National University of Singapore), Geraldine Pratt (University of British Columbia), Ananya Roy (University of California, Berkeley), Michael Watts, (University of California, Berkeley), Ruth Wilson Gilmore (CUNY Graduate Center), Jamie Winders (Syracuse University), Brenda S.A. Yeoh (National University of Singapore). 

One of the members of the initial editorial board who we did not yet thank is Neil Smith, who served until he passed away on September 29th, 2012. As we recognized the first anniversary of Neil's passing, we at the series started working to launch a Neil Smith Book Prize in recognition of his inspiration, and the other many forms of help he offered getting the series up and going. We hope the Neil Smith Book Prize will not only honor Neil, but also serve to keep the series growing with the highest caliber scholarship possible. Stay tuned to learn more about efforts to help us establish the book prize in Neil's name when we launch our fund raising drive in the coming months.

Next stop on the blog tour: the University of Pennsylvania Press, where Penn Press acquisitions editors discuss the foundations and future of some of the press's key subject areas. A complete blog tour schedule is available here.

University Press Week: Day 2 of Blog Tour

The University Press Week blog tour continues! All week long, 37 different university press blogs will feature posts about the importance of university presses.

Today the theme is the "Future of Scholarly Communication." The tour stops at the following presses:

Duke University Press shares a post by Priscilla Wald, professor of English and Women's Studies at Duke University. She comments on the slow future of scholarly communication.

Harvard University Press has a guest post from Jeffrey Schnapp, faculty director metaLAB (at) Harvard and editor of the new metaLABprojects book series. He discusses the emerging currents of experimental scholarship for which the series provides a platform.

Stanford University Press director Alan Harvey discusses the challenges presented by new technologies in publishing, and how the industry model is adapting to new reading-consumption habits.

Temple University Press explores the partnerships university presses and libraries can forge as the means of communicating scholarship evolves.

University of Minnesota Press editor, Dani Kasprzak, discusses a new UMP initiative.

University of Texas Press assistant editor-in-chief, Robert Devens, addresses the future of scholarly communication.

University of Virginia Press features a post by historian Holly Shulman, editor of The Dolley Madison Digital Edition and the forthcoming People of the Founding Era. She looks at the need for university presses to adapt to new technologies, while acknowledging the difficulties of doing so.

Look for some more great content during University Press Week! Follow the tour with this schedule or the hashtag #UPWeek on Twitter and Facebook.

University Press Week: Day 1 of Blog Tour

The University Press Week blog tour begins today! All this week, bloggers at 37 different presses will highlight the value of university presses and the contributions they make to scholarship and our society. Individual presses will blog on a different theme each day, including profiles of university press staff members, the future of scholarly communication, subject area spotlights, the importance of regional publishing, and the global reach of university presses.

Today the theme is "Meet the Press." The tour stops at the following presses:

McGill-Queen’s University Press highlights Jonathan Crago and Kyla Madden, key members of the editorial department. They discuss their experiences in scholarly publishing and their vision for MQUP.

Penn State Press introduces one of its staff members.

University of Illinois Press profiles UIPress editor-in-chief Laurie Matheson, who discusses her journey through the field and the changes that she has seen during her career including shifts in the library market.

University of Hawai‘i Press features the peripatetic academic publishing career of UHP's soon-to-retire journals manager.

University of Missouri Press profiles new press director, David Rosenbaum, who started his new role on Nov. 1. He covers topics such as his plans for the UM Press's future and his transition back to a university press.

University Press of Colorado features managing editor Laura Furney, who has been at the press for 20 years, and is playing an integral role in two recent developments at UPC.

University Press of Florida spotlights an acquisitions editor who is working to develop and grow innovative new subject areas.

Look for some more great content during University Press Week! Follow the tour with this schedule or the hashtag #UPWeek on Twitter and Facebook.

37 presses kick off University Press Week with a blog tour

Next week, the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) will celebrate University Press Week November 10-16. This week started back in the summer of 1978 when President Jimmy Carter proclaimed a University Press Week “in recognition of the impact, both here and abroad, of American university presses on culture and scholarship.”

In the spirit of partnership that pervades the university press community, the University of Georgia Press and 36 other presses will unite for the AAUP’s second annual blog tour during University Press Week. This tour will highlight the value of university presses and the contributions they make to scholarship and our society. Individual presses will blog on a different theme each day, including profiles of university press staff members, the future of scholarly communication, subject area spotlights, the importance of regional publishing, and the global reach of university presses.

The tour will run November 11-15, and comes to the UGA Press blog on Wednesday, November 13, with a post by Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation series co-editor, Nik Heynen. He will discuss the relationship the series has with UGA Press. See a complete University Press Week blog tour schedule at: http://bit.ly/HjQX7n.

In addition to the blog tour, the AAUP and other member presses are planning several features and events for University Press Week. For more information, visit universitypressweek.org.

Four-day film festival presented by UGA Press and Special Collections Libraries

The University of Georgia Press and UGA Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries will be hosting a four-day film festival Nov. 12-15. The four films being shown are “God’s Little Acre” (1958), “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang!” (1932), “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys” (2002), and “Glory” (1989).

UGA Press senior acquisitions editor Walter Biggins will introduce the first three films, and Matthew Hulbert of the UGA History Department will introduce “Glory.” A brief question-and-answer session will follow each film. Admission is free, and all screenings will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries auditorium.

"God's Little Acre" is based on the bestselling and controversial novel by Erskine Caldwell, originally published in 1933 and reprinted by UGA Press. "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang!" is based on Robert E. Burns's autobiography, published in 1932 when he was still running from the law and subsequently reprinted by UGA Press. "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" is based on the novel by Chris Fuhrman, originally published by UGA Press. "Glory" is based in part on Robert Gould Shaw's letters, which were later collected as "Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Robert Gould Shaw," published by UGA Press.

The film festival is part of the UGA Spotlight on the Arts festival, the UGA Press 75th anniversary, and University Press Week. 

Spotlight on the Arts
The Spotlight on the Arts festival is presented by the UGA Arts Council, of which the University of Georgia Press and Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries are participating units. More than 60 events are scheduled during the nine-day festival in November. For more information, see http://arts.uga.edu/.

UGA Press
Celebrating its 75th anniversary, the UGA Press was founded in 1938 and is the largest book publisher in the state. It has been a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1940. With a full-time staff of 24 publishing professionals, the UGA Press currently publishes 80-85 new books a year and has more than 1,800 titles in print. It has well-established lists in Atlantic World and American history, American literature, African-American studies, Southern studies and environmental studies, as well as a growing presence in the fields of geography, urban studies, international affairs and security studies. For more information, see www.ugapress.org/.

University Press Week
The Association of American University Presses (AAUP) is celebrating the second annual University Press Week from Nov. 10-16, 2013. The focus this year is on the variety of ways that university and academic presses are innovating both in the formats that they publish in and the subject areas in which they find vital research to further excellence in scholarship. The AAUP was formally established in 1937 and currently has 130+ member presses.

Upcoming events on the UGA campus

Mark your calendars now for this year's Spotlight on the Arts festival.

From the Spotlight on the Arts press release:
"The University of Georgia will spotlight its arts programs and venues during a nine-day festival in November that includes concerts, theater and dance performances, art exhibitions, poetry readings, film festivals, discussions on the arts and creativity, and more.

The 2013 Spotlight on the Arts festival, to be held Nov. 7-15, will follow the pattern of the inaugural Spotlight festival that attracted some 15,000 attendees to more than 50 events scheduled over a similar period last year."

More than 60 events are scheduled for this year's festival. All of the events designated as Spotlight on the Arts festival events must be sponsored or co-sponsored by at least one of the UGA Arts Council units. UGA Press is one of the twelve units that make up the Arts Council. Other campus units include the Performing Arts Center, the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the department of dance, the department of theatre and film studies, the Georgia Museum of Art, The Georgia Review, the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the special collections libraries and the Office of the Provost.

The second full week of the festival also happens to be University Press Week. In its second year, University Press Week is meant to highlight the extraordinary work of university presses and their many contributions to culture, the academy, and an informed society.

The press will help kick-off the Spotlight on the Arts festival with the ever-popular Dirty Book Sale at the Tate Student Plaza. Hundreds of slightly shelf worn, nearly new books at deeply reduced prices in such subjects as literary studies, history, biography, Civil War, and cooking, as well as fiction and poetry will be available for sale.

November 11–15 will include a week-long exhibit of the 2013 Association of American University Presses Book, Jacket, and Journal Show and a four-day film festival featuring movies that either originated as or inspired UGA Press books.

The press will cosponsor with other UGA departments two additional lectures. The UGA College of Environment and Design, UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, and UGA Press will host an event for the new UGA campus guide, THROUGH THE ARCH, on Friday, November 8. On Tuesday, November 12, author of, THIS DELTA, THIS LAND, Mikko Saiku will give a lecture in the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries. His seminar is cosponsored by the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program, the UGA History Department, the Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries, and UGA Press.

2013 Spotlight on the Arts festival

UGA Press events

Thursday, November 7

Dirty Book Sale

9:00am-4:00pm

Tate Student Center Plaza

Also part of the 75^th anniversary celebration

Friday, November 8

Dirty Book Sale

9:00am-4:00pm

Tate Student Center Plaza

Also part of the 75^th anniversary celebration

Talk and Signing: Larry B. Dendy, THROUGH THE ARCH

4:00-5:30pm

Jackson Street Building, Lecture Hall 125

Co-sponsored with College of Environment and Design, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication

Saturday, November 9

Georgia Literary Festival

Milledgeville, GA

Sunday, November 10

Georgia Literary Festival

Milledgeville, GA

Monday, November 11

AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show

10:00am-4:00pm

Main Library, Third Floor

Also part of University Press Week

Tuesday, November 12

AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show

10:00am-4:00pm

Main Library, Third Floor

Also part of University Press Week

Guest Lecture: Mikko Saiku

5:00-6:30pm

Special Collections Library, Room 285

Co-sponsored with the EECP, History Department, UGA Libraries

Film Fest: GOD'S LITTLE ACRE (book and movie)

7:00-9:30pm

Special Collections Library, Auditorium

Also part of the 75^th anniversary celebration

Wednesday, November 13

AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show

10:00am-4:00pm

Main Library, Third Floor

Also part of University Press Week

Film Fest: I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A [GEORGIA] CHAIN GANG! (book and movie)

7:00-9:30pm

Special Collections Library, Auditorium

Also part of the 75^th anniversary celebration

Thursday, November 14

AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show

10:00am-4:00pm

Main Library, Third Floor

Also part of University Press Week

Film Fest: THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS (book and movie)

7:00-9:30pm

Special Collections Library, Auditorium

Also part of the 75^th anniversary celebration

Friday, November 15

AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show

10:00am-4:00pm

Main Library, Third Floor

Also part of University Press Week

Film Fest: BLUE-EYED CHILD OF FORTUNE (book)/GLORY (movie)

7:00-9:30pm

Special Collections Library, Auditorium

Also part of the 75^th anniversary celebration

University Press Week Updates: Last Day for Blog Tour

Today is Day 5 of the University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out these posts by our peers:

Author and New York Times editor Constance Rosenblum celebrates the regional pride of university presses over on the New York University Press blog.

The Columbia University Press blog features two posts. The one from its editorial director and associate director Jennifer Crewe describes university presses’ willingness and ability to innovate to meet new intellectual and economic challenges. Columbia University professor Sheldon Pollock calls upon the university and its faculty to become more involved with university presses.

John Sherer, director of the University of North Carolina Press, writes about his recent transition from New York trade publishing back to his roots at UNC Press.

The University of Alabama Press features a post from author Rick Bragg.

Author Catherine Allgor says of the University of Virginia Press, "The process of creating this book [THE QUEEN OF AMERICA] with UVP has truly been an exercise in holistic business. In the end, it is a beautiful book. The product reflects the process, which left all of us feeling happy and fulfilled in this work we do. Uniting in a quest for excellence is the hallmark of the University Press, especially mine." She challenges business schools to refer to the university press model when identifying a holistic approach to business.

And finally, the tour wraps up on the Oregon State University Press blog with a post from intern Jessica Kibler.

Thanks for joining us all week on this blog tour!

University Press Week Updates

Today is Day 4 of the University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out these posts by our peers:

The Princeton University Press blog features an interview with Labyrinth Books co-owner Dorothea Von Moltke. She discusses their business model, how prominent university presses are on their shelves, how they make purchasing decisions, how they collaborate with university presses, and also the future of the university town bookstore/university press publishing – what’s unique and special about what they and we do.

Over on the Indiana University Press blog, former intern Nico Perrino shares how university presses are an essential cog within our society's "sophistication machine" and their vital role disseminating scholarly communication and advancing scholarship.

Fredric Nachbaur, director of Fordham University Press, explains on their blog how they have been celebrating University Press Week.

The Texas A&M University Press blog post is by author and Houston Chronicle columnist Loren Steffy. He discusses the impact of university presses, as well as the lasting impact of TAMU Press both on the field of nautical archaeology and on Steffy's family.

Georgetown University Press's publicist, Jackie Beilhart, contributes to today's blog post. It focuses on Less Commonly Taught Languages and how university presses are uniquely talented in creating scholarly material for these languages.

University Press Week Updates and Press Influence Map

Today is Day 3 of the University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out these posts by our peers:

Over on the University of Chicago Press blog, critic, writer, and editor Scott Esposito shares how Wayne Booth's MODERN DOGMA AND THE RHETORIC OF ASSENT contributed to his own engagement with criticism.
Jason Weidemann, senior acquisitions editor for the University of Minnesota Press, writes about the time he recently spent in Cape Town lecturing on publishing.
Author Stephen Wade discusses how university presses "make room for the richness of American voices" for the University of Illinois blog.
Bison Books Manager Tom Swanson explains why university presses matter to their region for the University of Nebraska blog.
Author Laurence M. Hauptman blogs for Syracuse University Press and outlines three main reasons for why university presses matter.

In addition to the blog tour for University Press Week, member presses were asked to create a "Press Influence Map" to show, visually, the significance and outreach of each particular press. More than 30 university press maps demonstrate contributions at both the community and worldwide scale. They are available for browsing here.

"State university presses shine a bright light on their regional community; prestigious disciplinary lists reach out to scholars across the globe as both authors and readers; and institutional  collaborations, translations, prizes, and events can carry the name of a university and its press almost anywhere."

Using Google Maps and a custom iconographic key, the UGA Press map demonstrates the many associations the Press has with people, places, and organizations around the world.

Listed here are:
-workplaces of authors, editors, and other contributors whose books are being published in Fall 2012 and Spring 2013
-locales important to these books, as settings or subjects
-organizations with which we have partnered to publish these books

View our map here or click on the map below.


View University of Georgia Press Influence Map in a larger map

 

University Press Week Updates

Today is Day 2 of the University Press Week blog tour. Be sure to check out these posts by our peers:

MIT Press features a post from editorial director Gita Manaktala on current shifts in reading and scholarship and how university presses can continue to deliver value to readers and authors.
University of California Press has a post from library relations manager Rachel Lee. She discusses the relationship between libraries and university presses.
Author and University of Hawaii Press editorial board member Barbara Watson Andaya will be sharing how university presses extend the global boundary of knowledge.
Wilfrid Laurier University Press includes a post from author R. Bruce Elder, who highlights the importance of scholarly monographs, particularly as they relate to thinking more critically about the big questions in our society.
University of Florida Press interns Alia Almeida, Claire Eder, and Samantha Pryor share their experiences at the University of Florida Press.

In addition to the blog tour, two local publications have also publicized UGA Press's participation in University Press Week. The University of Georgia newspaper, Columns, offers suggestions for how students, faculty, staff, and members of the community can learn more about UGA Press and University Press Week.

Our director, Lisa Bayer, also has a letter to the editor in a recent edition of the Athens Banner-Herald.

The UGA Press provides a vital service to citizens and students of Georgia by publishing books of the highest quality about our state. By telling and preserving the story of Georgia, the Press enables a better understanding of our past and informs the conversation about our future.

We are the leading publisher of books on Georgia’s rich history, culture and natural environment. You will recognize many names in our catalog, from Erskine Caldwell and Jimmy Carter to Flannery O’Connor and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey. We are also the publisher of many of the faculty of Georgia’s public universities. In 2013, the Press will celebrate 75 years of publishing on and for Georgia.

Small is Better: Why University Presses Are Sustainable Presses

Photo credit: Olivia Drake

As part of the blog tour celebrating University Press Week, today's post is by guest blogger Claire Bond Potter. Potter is the co-editor of DOING RECENT HISTORY and the Professor of History at The New School for Public Engagement. Her blog, Tenured Radical, is featured on the Chronicle Blog Network.

Small is Better: Why University Presses Are Sustainable Presses

My recent stroll through the Brooklyn Book Festival reminded me that, despite dire predictions about the future of reading, small publishing houses are where innovative books grow. In a media world where big is not always better, a small press offers sustainability and quality, reaching out to wonderful writers who can't guarantee mass sales. Furthermore, small presses are conserving publishing's original economic model. They produce beautiful books in small runs. They have the occasional best seller that allows them to lose money on other worthy books. They assemble and retain staffs that are committed to the author, to the reader and to ideas.

That's a model that university presses never abandoned. It works. And we love making it work.

I say "we" because Renee Romano and I became members of the university press publishing community three years ago. Editing our series, "Since 1970: Histories of Contemporary America" at the University of Georgia Press, and our own edited collection, DOING RECENT HISTORY: ON PRIVACY, COPYRIGHT, VIDEO GAMES, INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARDS, ACTIVIST SCHOLARSHIP, AND HISTORY THAT TALKS BACK (2012), has been a great reminder of why publishing with a university press might be your first choice, not a default position.

Small is personal. At a university press, your book is being taken through the process by an editor who may have even solicited it, has helped you craft the proposal and is committed to the success of each book. your book will be in print over the long term. You might even get your fifteen minutes of fame from marketing departments that are increasingly sophisticated about testing larger markets for your work: go here to see NYU Press author Amy Farrell kickin' it about FAT SHAME (2011) on the Colbert Report!

To put it bluntly, as large publishing houses have consolidated under the ownership of a few large media empires, making money on everything they publish is a far greater priority than helping you through the difficult process of crafting good scholarship that will only sell to a select audience. This doesn't mean commercial editors are bad or unintelligent people: many of them are intellectuals with the same degrees you have. But they need books that will sell, even if it means an endless stream of relatively interchangeable memoirs about addiction, mental illness, sex scandals, parents who go off the rails, the triumph of overcoming (fill in the blank) and the truly terrible things that bad people do to children.

But I want to argue that this is ok: for a thoughtful book about complex ideas, I think smaller may be better. And it's a good thing too. Chances are, although you aspire to be Jill Lepore (or at least I do — I won't speak for you), your first book, and probably all the rest of them, will be published by a university press. People who encourage young authors to "get an agent," or who wax about the potential that manuscript has for a mass audience, are expressing great confidence in you, and you should feel honored by that. But here's what usually happens when you take their advice: you send your proposal to a friend of a friend who knows an agent who either reads it (or doesn't) and says,

"I'm sorry, I can't sell this."

But so what? Ideas weren't put on this earth to be sold, only hustled along to the next person who can make good use of them. As Anis Shivani of the Huffington Post wrote in 2010, small is innovative, small is thoughtful. Small means publishing what is important not something whose profits can be maximized through a vertical integration scheme. Too often ignored, "university presses are often the ones that provide the most thoughtful analyses of civil liberties, constitutional law, foreign and domestic policy, trade and finance, globalization, immigration and citizenship, and other areas where the rapidity of events in recent years has made it difficult to step back and put matters into perspective."

Although ongoing budget cutbacks in higher education mean that university presses have been pressed to not lose money, they don't have corporate bosses who answer to impatient shareholders. University presses have a far more realistic goal: not losing money and serving smaller, specialized audiences that they know intimately.

This is particularly important for history. While it seems that nearly every book about any aspect of the American Civil War has an audience, that's not true of, say, the Wars of Independence in 13th century Scotland. Myself, I have always aspired to write what I call an "airport book." This is an imaginary work of meticulous scholarship that will cause the historical profession to shower me with praise and prizes, but will catch fire and be sold in the bookstores at the Minneapolis airport. (Which are, by the way, some of the finest airport bookstores in the country.)

But for many reasons, few of us will write that book. More importantly, many of us won't want to — or can't — sacrifice the scholarly apparatus and theoretical framework that can make a book an excellent read for specialists but unattractive to even a well-educated reader. Scholars in the fields of art history, natural history, science studies and geography who require expensive illustrations may also find a mass market publisher unwilling to invest in the book they envision. Beautifully written memoirs, novels and poetry that would have been published by major houses thirty years ago, some by highly accomplished and successful authors who are now being passed over by pubshing houses that used to compete for them, are also finding a home at university presses.

Our bottom line is this: at a university press, publishing is what it used to be. Smaller, better. We can help you write the book you want to write, and we get it to your readers.

That's publishing.

Next stop on the blog tour: the University of Missouri Press. A complete blog tour schedule is available here.

University of Georgia Press Celebrates University Press Week, November 11-17, 2012

This November, the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) will celebrate University Press Week. This week originated in the summer of 1978 when President Jimmy Carter proclaimed a University Press Week “in recognition of the impact, both here and abroad, of American university presses on culture and scholarship.”

The mission of the University of Georgia Press, along with the other 132 members of the AAUP, is to support creative and reliable scholarly communications. In celebration of that mission, November 11-17, 2012 has been designated the first annual University Press Week. University Press Week will highlight the extraordinary work of university presses and their many contributions to culture, the academy, and an informed society.

“As the University of Georgia Press prepares to celebrate 75 years of publishing seriously good books in 2013, we enthusiastically join the AAUP in marking University Press Week and illuminating the immeasurable academic and cultural contributions of university presses everywhere,” said Lisa Bayer, director of the University of Georgia Press.

The University of Georgia Press will kick off University Press Week with a celebration at the Georgia Literary Festival, held November 9-11 on Jekyll Island, GA. University Press Week giveaways will be available at the Press’s booth.

Throughout the week, students, faculty, staff, and members of the community can learn more about the Press and University Press Week by visiting the University of Georgia’s Main Library. Materials about the Press and University Press Week will be on display in the newly renovated entryway to the library.

In the spirit of collaboration that pervades the university press community, the University of Georgia Press and 24 other presses will come together for a blog tour during University Press Week. This tour will highlight the value of university presses and the contributions they make to scholarship and our society.

Harvard University Press launches the tour on Monday, November 12, and it continues coast-to-coast with stops in Canada and Hawaii before ending on Friday, November 16, at Oregon State University Press. The tour comes to the University of Georgia Press’ blog (ugapress.blogspot.com) on Monday, November 12, with a post by Doing Recent History co-editor and Tenured Radical blogger Claire Bond Potter.

In addition to the blog tour, the AAUP and other member presses are planning several features and events for University Press Week. For more information, visit www.universitypressweek.org.

Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is the largest book publisher in the state. It has been a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1940. With a full-time staff of 24 publishing professionals, the Press currently publishes 80-85 new books a year and has more than 1,500 titles in print. It has well-established lists in Atlantic World and American history, American literature, African-American studies, southern studies and environmental studies, as well as a growing presence in the fields of geography, urban studies, international affairs and security studies.
For more information, see http://www.ugapress.org/.