College and Research Libraries JO-ANN DAVIS, ROBERTA BOONE, and IRENE BRADEN HOADLEY Of Making Many Books: A Library Publication Program The papet· discusses the need for and development of a library pub- lication program. Details of organization, procedures, and personnel are discussed, the principles of which have broad application to other academic and research libraries. THERE rs MUCH to indicate that the current tendencies of libraries, especial- ly research and special libraries, are to place a new importance on the mission of information storage and dissemination. Of course, information transfer has al- ways been what libraries are about, but with the advent of automation more at- tention than ever before is being given to methods of getting the "warehouse" to the public in meaningful and digesti- ble segments. Discussions of SDI, on- line and other automated services have blanketed the literature until it appears that not to be automated is to join forces with the library of Assurbanipal. Yet conventional publishing is far from obsolete. The research library has an even greater responsibility not only to provide access to its wealth of book- form data but, indeed, to assume an ac- tive role in purveying its unique re- sources to the research community and the reading public at large. With this intent, in 1964 the Ohio State Jo-Ann Davis is MEDLARS Searcher; Roberta Boone is Reference Librarian (Health Center Library); and Irene Bra- den Hoadley is Librarian for General Ad- ministration and Research at the Ohio State University Libraries. University Libraries established a per- manent Publications Committee, little realizing to what extent, and in what ways, this mission would be fulfilled. The first meeting of the committee of five members (one ex-officio), appoint- ed by the Director of Libraries, con- vened in October 1964. The functions and goals of the committee at that time were quite modest: 1. To assist and advise in matters per- taining to the Ohio State Universi- ty Libraries' publications; 2. to promote wider distribution of in- formation; 3. to establish the criteria of selection for the Ohio State University col- lection (a special collection of pub- lications about the Ohio State Uni- versity or by its faculty members). Although the potential scope of these goals was clearly implied, little if any attention seems to have been paid to possible interpretations or implementa- tions of the information dissemination aspect as such. The committee w.as, at this point, the classic house committee assigned to deal with the few house or- gans standard to a library's operations. Practically, the Libraries' publications, at that time, consisted of the usual exhib- it catalogs, library guides, and annual re- I 31 32 I College & Research Libraries • January 1971 port of the Director. However, with the ·:, Hated (consisting of .four· :numbers to advent of faculty status for librarians at · date); and, most recently, :the :committee Ohio State University and the concom- now acts as publisher and distributor itant interest of librarians in research, the for . a quarterly literary newsletter of responsibilities of the Publications Com- : \ .which a member of the Libraries' facul- mittee began to expand. ty is co-editor. The committee is also In 1967, the ex-officio member posi- involved, in cooperation with the Inter- tion was · dropped from the committee ; library Loan Departrltent and the Dean and the remaining four members- of ·the Graduate School, in a project drawn from the Libraries' faculty-were geared to the inexpensive publication of appointed for renewable two-year terms. highly requested master's theses and The mission, of the committee was . als~ ~octoral dissertations: ~·~mpleted before extended, in .1968, to include a research ·1954. This activ:i_ty OCCUl~l:~d largely as .a component. The committee is now .. result of reports from .Inter-library Loan charged with fostering and encouraging that, in some cases, a ' 'cheaper, more pertinent research by the Libraries' fac- readily available copy of certain items, ulty or staff. To do this, the committee unavailable elsewhere and hence in con- was given a . small "seed" allocation and stant demand, would be of tremendous an independent account with the und~r- value to the researcher .who otherwise standing that, through the sale of its would be forced to pay · ~xorbitant. pho- products, it would become self-sustain- tocopy charges to gain ,access to neces- ing and able to sponsor additional proj- sary information. When such an iten1 is ects of a scholarly nature worthy of pub- brought to the attention of the commit- lication. tee, the author is approached regarding In one year's time, the committee . has his desire to have his , thesis published become virtually self-sustaining. It has in a ~nore permanent form .. If he assents, been allotted office space in the Librar- the department in which the thesis was ies, keeps its own accounts and sales submitted and the Dean of the Graduate records, employs part-time clerical as- School are informed and, with their ap- sistants and, in other words,. has proval, the thesis is edited, printed, and achieved that measure of autonomy so made available to the .user at a . £rae- essential to the publishing arm of any tion of the cost of photocopying. organization. It even has its own colo- Presently, the committee handles phon. three types of publications.:, ( 1 ) conven- The committee, though working close- tional materials, such .as exhibit cata- ly with the Director of Libraries, reports logs and guides which are available on to the Libraries' faculty-at-large. In prac- a gift and exchange b~sis; ( 2) the Li- tical terms, this means that the chairman braries' numbered ser~es which consists of the committee presents an annual re- of substantive reference and bibliograph- port at the spring meeting of the Li- ic . works; and ( 3) individual works for braries' faculty, and any questions re:- which there has been . a demonstrated garding the functioning of the commit- information need. tee or its operations may be answered The committee is also charged gen- at that time. erally with advising and assisting in the Thus far, several monographs, chiefly publication of manuscripts~ Therefore, bibliographic, have been published projects undertaken on the . Libraries' either by the committee or under its time or with financial or other direct auspices; an Ohio State University Li~ Libraries' support milsf ·be brought to braries monographic series has been ini- the attention of the ·committee. Items which are published as official Libraries' publications .. must be submitted to the committee for consideration and ap- proval. When a manuscript is submitted, the committee determines the value of the item for publication. If an additional opinion is necessary for this determina- tion, the committee will obtain the ser- vices of a subject specialist to assist in making the decision. If the item is to be published, the committee then decides whether to pub- lish it in house or to attempt to secure a commercial publisher. If the latter course is elected, the committee then seeks such a publisher and makes the. necessary arrangements. The commit- tee .also determines whether the item will become part of the Libraries' num- bered series. If the manuscript is to be published in house, the committee provides cler- ical, editorial, or other assistance as nec- essary to prepare the final copy for pub- lication. The committee also arranges for and subsidizes the cost for printing, advertising, sales, and distribution. All monies derived fron1 sales are placed in the committee's account to de- fray the costs of each publication. Ex- cess funds are then used to finance new projects. Each manuscript that is accepted by the committee is assigned to a commit- tee member who acts as editor. This per- son edits and serves as a liaison between the author and the committee as a whole. Final action is always taken in consulta- tion with the entire committee. In order to handle the increased vol- ume and variety of responsibility placed upon it, the committee has had to refine and streamline its structure and in house publication processes. Currently, each member is responsible for one function- al aspect of committee operation. The first of these is printing and reproduc- tion. The member responsible negotiates . Of Making Many Books I 33 with the printer and advises on the method of printing and other technical considerations for each manuscript. All ~ontact with the printer and university purchasing operations is done through this individual. The second aspect is publicity. This includes preparing mail- ing lists, press releases, displays, and ad- vertisements for all committee activities. The mem her responsible for . the third aspect (accounting and finance) main- tains sales, inventory, and income rec- ords, the general files and records of the committee, and supervises the · filling of all orders. The responsibilities of the chairman include coordinating the ac- tivities of the other members of the com- mittee, keeping the minutes of meet- ings, interviewing and hiring personnel, drafting policy, procedures, and con- tracts for the committee, preparing state- ments and reports as needed, and ar- ranging meetings and special activities. The committee hands out to each prospective author a proof and manu- script guide (ours happens to be that published for The Association of Amer- ican University Presses but there are other guides available) and a statement of the committee's manuscript require- ments including such considerations as bibliographic style, type requirements, and author responsibilities, such as edit- ing, proofing, and correction. The au- thor I researcher is then assigned his com- mittee liaison. When the manuscript is accepted for publication, an agreement is drawn up according to terms (sales, royalty, etc.) agreed upon by both the author and the committee. A Library of Congress number and copyright are then sought when appropriate, the cover de- sign and book format are composed, and the manuscript is put out for bids and subsequently printed. At the same time, the nature and volume of publicity is de- termined, and decisions are made re- garding review and other promotional aspects. 34 I College & Research Libraries • January 1971 Since the committee's formation, thir- ty-one publications have been done in house; fifteen of these within the last two years. Numerous items have been submitted to the committee for which a commercial publisher was subsequent- ly found. These items currently assume such diversified forms as subject bibli- ographies, research monographs, and a poetry collection ( for which an illustra- tor was also commissioned) . It should be obvious that one of the most valuable by-products of this activ- ity is the wealth of experience gained by the professionals involved. A clearer understanding of what is involved in book production and of some of the basic criteria of book evaluation are substan- tial assets to the professional librarian. Twelve professional librarians have had the opportunity of serving and profiting from the experience. But aside from the benefits accruing to the committee participants, is there good reason for the library to embark on an endeavor which only contributes to the proliferation of materials (and their equally proliferating storage and manage- ment problems) which are already a woe to the conscientious librarian? Librarians have always been faced with the task of publishing their own in house necessities-material too ephem- eral or too limited in appeal to attract a commercial publisher and nlaterial which must be disseminated quickly. From this type of publishing, it is but a small mental jump to publishing bibli- · ographies, guides to the literature of various disciplines, or state-of-the-art re- ports. Nor is it difficult to envision li- braries publishing material in the field of library science. What may be some- \vhat more incomprehensible is a library publishing materials completely unrelat- ed to the library milieu (as unrelated as a book could be) such as a book on finance , a book of poetry, or a paper on computer- assisted instruction. The rationale for library publishing is in part related to that for libraries them- selves-to collect, organize, and dissem- inate information. Information dissemi- nation has been defined as the spread- ing of ideas, but it has been suggested that libraries have taken too narrow an interpretation of this definition. Even now, with the many widespread at- tempts to instill new vigor into the word, most libraries still think of ideas as en- tities already existing in some physical, storable form-the forms with which a library deals. The ideas for which a pa- tron searches however may not always be . available in these cohesive perma- nent units. The library then is often the first agency to become aware of both the existence of a patron's need and the lack of availability of materials to fill that need. The demand for this data may be quite s1nall or geographically limited or both. Most commercial pub- lishers .are often hesitant to take on small projects, and too often they already have a full publishing schedule so that it may take a considerable time to produce the finished product. A library faculty may produce re- search which is worthwhile but which is also commercially unpublishable be- cause of its small market. Thus, a library publication committee, while by no means a vanity press, serves as an out- let for the professional or creative work of library personnel and thereby stimu- lates professional research. The com- mittee further encourages this research by publicizing current projects, by so- liciting manuscripts to fill a specific need .as perceived through library use, and by providing partial financial sup- port. The encouragement, support, and publication of research, based mainly upon a library's collections should be considered a forward-looking and im- portant professional activity for a library. It is also a partial answer to the teaching faculty who often accuse librarians of not deserving faculty rank and status because they neither teach nor engage in research. Production of well-written professional and creative materials adds considerably to the prestige of a li- brary. This prestige reflects upon the university .as a whole and improves the library's position within the university community. It also reflects upon the pro- fession as a whole, strengthens the li- brary's power to attract new employees, and contributes to internal morale. The above considerations are based on the premise that the library is pub- lishing well-written, well-researched, and well-produced material. The li- brary must build its reputation as pub- lisher carefully, aiming at a small but specialized market whose needs it hopes to meet, while maintaining standards of excellence pertinent to its limited range of service. To conclude, it should be pointed out that the establishment of a library pub- lication program is not attained through a succession of sparkling accomplish- ments. The committee has waged many wars in pursuit of this goal. It should be one of Murphy's laws that bureaucracy and human nature ab- hor change and individual accomplish- ment, especially in a large institution. There are .always toes on which to tread or some legal conundrum designed to bring the cleverest notions to nothing. There is the embarrassing situation of being able to get coverage in the na- tional literature but being unable to pro- cure adequate display facilities in one's Of Making Many Boo~ I 35 own library lobby. There is also the frus- tration of having to clear press releases through so many administrative offices that the book has been out for two weeks before the notices leave the campus. This is not to mention the ulcerations of overestimates and underbids and the whole question of infringement and ownership when dealing with a Inanu- script produced as part of a university project (or when the author dies ·while his manuscript is still in the library's hands awaiting publication) and it is discovered that a division of a state in- stitution cannot retain legal counsel. The "insolence of office and the law's delay" begins to appear the best-turned phrase in the English language. And through it all seep the insidious emanations from the .academic departments who hate the program because it is "library," and from the administrative departments who hate it for raising new problems and more paperwork, and from the uni- versity press who hates it because it is competitive and anyhow, it is only "li- brary." But it is worth it precisely because of these pitfalls. If libraries have informa- tion to promote and are constantly searching for ways to accomplish this, why should they back away from a full- scale assault on the publishing n1edium as a means to that end? A whole no- man's land of information resources-too small for the commercial press, too large for mimeograph or photocopy-is packed within the library's bulging walls. Dispense it! You have nothing to lose but the fetters on your image!