Last modified: Friday, June 29, 2012
IU to establish new Office of Scholarly Publishing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 29, 2012
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Beginning July 1, Indiana University will establish a new Office of Scholarly Publishing, newly appointed IU executive vice president and provost of the Bloomington campus Lauren Robel announced.
Lauren Robel
The new office will assume operational responsibilities for IU Press, the university's long-running academic publishing house, and several related university initiatives, as it aims to strengthen IU's central missions of scholarship and teaching and create a model of effective, sustainable 21st-century academic publishing.
"The landscape of academic publishing is rapidly changing, and traditional presses, including university presses, continue to be impacted by new technologies and financial challenges," Robel said. "Within this environment, it has become increasingly vital that we continue to build upon the considerable capabilities of our press while aggressively seeking new efficiencies, maximizing our use of new technologies and increasing collaborations among presses, libraries and other potential partners.
"IU is engaged in a number of electronic publishing and other initiatives that the new Office of Scholarly Publishing will leverage as it works to support and significantly strengthen the core scholarly academic mission of the press," Robel added.
Founded in 1950 by former IU President Herman B Wells, IU Press is recognized internationally as a leading academic publisher specializing in the humanities and social sciences and is one of the largest public university presses. The press publishes about 140 new books annually, in addition to 29 journals, and maintains a backlist of about 2,000 titles.
In addition to IU Press, the Office of Scholarly Publishing will include elements of the IU Libraries' digital publishing program, including IUScholarworks, and the eTexts@IU initiative, the university's effort to partner with textbook publishers and other vendors to establish new models of electronic textbook delivery that will substantially reduce costs for students. The office will be chartered as a partnership between the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and the dean of the IU Libraries.
Carolyn Walters, executive associate dean of the IU Libraries, has been appointed the first executive director of the office. Under her leadership, the office will seek to support and strengthen the acquisitions and editorial excellence of the press through IU's revenue-generating initiatives.
Walters will work with a faculty advisory board, whose inaugural members will include:
- Ruth Stone (chair), associate vice provost for the arts, Office of the Vice Provost for Research
- Julie Bobay (ex officio member), associate dean for collection development and scholarly communications, IU Libraries
- Jason Jackson, associate professor of folklore, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology
- John Lucaites, associate dean for arts and humanities, College of Arts and Sciences
- Janet Rabinowitch (ex officio member), director, IU Press
- Ted Striphas, associate professor and director of graduate studies, Department of Communication and Culture
