RE: ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITY PRESSES

["Christopher Palma" <palma@ebrary.com>]

Anthony,

The concept of a purely digital university press is still quite a ways off
in my opinion.  There are still far too many issues to be worked out
regarding the tenure process, out-dated author contracts, lack of
resources to "back-clear" electronic rights for backlist titles, and
converting content from print or film.  Add to this a lack of any kind of
business development role inside the presses, combined with a culture that
generally fears change, and you do not have a strong recipe for digital
adoption.

Having said that, it is clear that organizations such as Andrew Mellon are
attempting to "grease the wheels" a bit by funding various digital
initiatives related to university presses.  Two that spring to mind
immediately are the "Biblio-Vault" initiative at University of Chicago
Press (contact Mary Summerfield at mcs@press.uchicago.edu), and the ACLS
History E-Book ) Project (Eileen Gardiner, egardiner@acls.org).

Best Regards,

Christopher Palma
Vice President, Content & Business Development
Ebrary Inc., www.ebrary.com
61 Horseshoe Road, Guilford, CT  06437
Phone: (650) 475-8757    Cell: (203) 623-7761