University Presses Under Fire

back to blog
  • posted byAnne
  • dateMay 13, 2014
  • commentsComments Off on University Presses Under Fire

Having just read an excellent overview of the state of university presses in The Nation (please circulate it widely!) I’m reminded of the Hydra—the multi-headed monster that terrorized the people of Greece.

The Hydra had the body of a serpent and many heads which could never be harmed by any weapon, and if one head did manage to get severed, another would grow in its place.

The challenges in scholarly publishing are many. And no sooner do we adjust to one challenge than another arises in its place.

Head 1: Declining humanities monograph sales?

Weapon: Charge more for library monographs.

Head 2: Expensive commercial publishing subscription fees crowd out library budgets leaving little room for purchases from university presses.

Weapon: Publish more course books to offset the loss in revenue so scholarly publishing can continue.

Head 3: Declining course book sales.

Weapon: Ebooks and digital textbooks.

Head 4: Open access.

Weapon: Experiments in open access.

Heads 5, 6, and 7: Decreasing overall revenue, tighter budgets, and less funding from host universities.

Weapons: TBD.

While Heracles found a way to slay each head of the Hydra and prevent them from growing back, university presses face far more constraints. Caught in a battle for survival without any effective weapons, we persist but without any real signs of relief on the horizon. We believe that what we do is worthwhile. But is it? What do you value? What role should university presses play in the scholarly community? And how can we realize that role?

-Anne Brackenbury, Anthropology Editor

Comments are closed.