A press can be one way for a smaller University to have an outsized impact. For example I read books about Spaceflight and the University of Nebraska Press has a great series called "Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight" which I have read many of:<p><a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/series/outward-odyssey-a-peoples-history-of-spaceflight/?amount=100" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/series/outward-odyssey-a-p...</a><p>If you look here they have many other series on all sorts of topics:<p><a href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/series/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/series/</a><p>I also often end up read books by other University presses.
Do I understand this correctly? Since universities pay through their nose for journal and publisher subscriptions, they don't have money to actually publish books themselves. Is that right?
As a point of calibration, a hot melt perfect binding machine for books up to 500 pages, up to 180 books/hour, is around $7000. You know the print cost for laser copies. The “print” aspect, incremental cost and logistics, for a book is pretty modest for any niche interest publications. Speaking here of functional performance of the published content, and not the fetish/status side of the physical book.<p>My local university press is a hit-and-miss affair. Some books have been real classics, some books have been laughably bad. The university press probably ranks low in institutional power pecking order and so have evolved to operate as little more than a vanity press for certain academic departments. The writing and editing of content proves to be only as good as the academic department pushing its publication. And that is often wanting. In my interest area of local history, my local university press, which should by rights be the top quality publisher, is all over the map in quality, while out-of-state university press books on our local history are uniformly excellent.
TIL the difference between "divest" and "disinvest". When seeing the title I didn't think "disinvest" was a "real word" and ironically it is red squiggly underlined on my screen after typing (maybe "dis-invest" is more proper?).<p>Had only ever heard of universities divesting from {x}<p>Regardless:<p>> The difference between disinvestment and divestment is nominal and appears to be one of scale. Disinvestment, meaning the sale of shares, can happen in small lots at any time to raise funds without losing control of the asset. Divestment or divestiture, on the other hand, usually refers to the sale of controlling shares. [1]<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.ansarada.com/mergers-acquisitions/divestiture" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ansarada.com/mergers-acquisitions/divestiture</a>
I just went through my bookshelf. While there were many authors that were professors, there were few books published by a university press. Are university presses a professors' first choice when it comes to publishing?
I'm a PhD Candidate and was very disappointed to find out that my university no longer does printed copies of dissertations. I really wish they did.
It is so strange that donors and alumni can put pressure on schools to fire coaching staff in athletics programs to make schools perform better. Yet when it comes to the administrative bloat and waste alumni don’t hold their schools to the same standard. Like academic degradation is something no one cares about.
I don't think it's fair to say they've disinvested from libraries.<p>Most of the information is digitized, which has better reach. Books that cannot be digitized yet due to copyright are held in storage until they enter public domain, and you can request chapter scans in the meantime or even check out the physical book. Separate special collections are kept for items whose physical existence is significant. Libraries are being repurposed as study spaces, which campuses otherwise tend to lack. Reference librarians are available online with extended hours.<p>The overall trend seems positive.<p>Similar arguments about presses. Mixed media is the future. Some schools invest in various learning platforms and knowledge hubs, sometimes collaboratively. A building doesn't facilitate such variety very well.
They need to disinvest from new buildings, "lifestyle" dorms, expensive gyms and amenities, and sports programs (except for schools well-regarded for this).<p>Tuition inflation is absurd. The goal is to grow learners, not set
them back.
Libraries need to change. most people go to the library to use the computers. what if we expanded the role of libraries to be places for autodidacts to learn and practice new skills? imagine a library full of maker equipment. 3d printers, sewing supplies, wood/metal working equipment. the modest government investment would be paid back 10 fold in the amount of innovation an individual would be able to accoplish.