Transcripts For CSPAN2 The University Of Illinois Press At 100 20180224

Being here today as part of the remarkable event as you know press is turning 100 this year and this month we have partnered with u of i library in order to kick off a year filled with workshops, panel, exhibits and more. Todays panel is a particularly important one. Lorrie mathison current director is joined by her two predecessors in this position willis to add Historical Context to this event ill share with you that the university of Illinois Press had six directors. In its 100 years and only four of those served in the fulltime capacity. So the reflections that we hear today encompass nearly 50 years of the presses history. It is my pleasure to introduce our moderator for todays panel dr. James d. Anderson. Ill stand on this. Dr. Anderson currently serving as dean of the school of education. Hes held other key leadership roles during his nearly 50year tenure at the university of illinois including head of the department of education policy organization, and leadership. Dr. Angder son selected selecte6 as a fellow and known internal internationally as groundbreaking scholar of africanamerican education and School Achievement in the u. S. Hes a member of the National Academy of education, and is a good School Professor of history of american education. And endowed bestowed among senior faculty members on this campus dr. Anderson served on the faculty board of the university of Illinois Press during each of the tenure of our panelists today and we thank him for being here to lead us through these reelections of the university of Illinois Press at 100. Thank you. How many years did you . Ai [laughter] node to clarify that ive been on campus during the whole time period. Except i wases a students when Dick Wentworth became in 1970 and i have to clarify that because i have colleagues who think that i was actually on the faculty. [laughter] but i was a student then and i wasnt faculty when he became the director of the u of i press and fact for me that was the year of my first publication when was published by u of i press. And a book chapter in the volume at that time. And so i was very grateful for that. I wont give you the rest because as always incase you look back on that and you say i wouldnt have accepted that for publication. [applause] but im grateful to Dick Wentworth for doing something. Thatanyway richard was born in w hampshire but graduated from University Oklahoma so how it you get to oklahoma im assuming that i was a air force had something to do with it he served in air force for four years. And then after one year internship at the university of Oklahoma Press he spent one year at the university of wisconsin press. And then spent ten years as Louisiana State press and i believe him then because as a student that was my favorite press to order because of his work in africanamerican history. And then came the u of i in late 1970s as associate director and then became drecialght of director of the press in 78 served under the that capacity in 2000 followed by four year of parttime editor. Willis received ph. D. In american lit and english american from university of nebraska. And then joined the university of nebraska press. And i was thinking they were both the big eight today people actually think that alabama were the gail of the year back then it was nebraska and oklahoma. Yeah. Hands down. No comparison. But anyway he went on to become director of John Hopkins University press from 1995 until 1998 before becoming director at illinois in november of 1998. He retired as director in 2015. Hes author of three books, book of thinks, and praise and published in 2004, 2007 and 2010. And now teachers in the university olli these acronym whats that . Olli Lifelong Learning institute okay. Program and pursue research on renaissance humanism. And i should point out also nxz with Dick Wentworth become on the fact that a his spouse marlene she did her work on ellewood and it was a really wonderful dissertation to be a part of so we have connections, and half of the doctorate except me. [laughter] mathison is the director and music acquisition editor of the university of Illinois Press so at the press in 1996 serve as editor this chief acquisition editor and market and copy writers and award manager among other roles. Shes acquiredward winning books a rifed in fields including labor history, womens history, folklore and Appalachian Studies as well as music. Mathison holds of music from illinois of university and active as a choir director, organist and singer and composer with recent appearances at the library, Illinois State youth, and the library of congress in washington, d. C. And so well proceed with each of the editors starting with dick to talk about their ten years after the press and after that we will have questions and yeah, weve got talking points i think. Talking points so floor is yours. Okay. I moved from louisiana to this frozen north land in january of 1970, and the weather was a shock but so was the condition of the first list. [laughter] the previous editor Donald Jackson had been gone for almost two years and the director mia had had a hard attack and on Doctors Orders was working short days. He had his hands full at any rate supervising the Printing Division which was then urd the University Press director. And dealing with illinois test of cycle linguistic ability which brought half of the press income when i came here that was critical thing is 100 dollar package with a lot of pieces to be purchased over and over and that brought in a lot of money to the press. [laughter] the Faculty Community the University Press board noted that problem about manuscripts not coming in. And took it on themselves to find an editor. I got a call from George Hendrick a member of the committee inquiring whether my assistant director at lsu charles east might be interested in applying for the job. And i told them charles was a southern who was going to stay in the south but that i might be interested. [laughter] i had a growing family and was a bit concerned about my kids growing up in the south but the main reason i wases interested in making a change was that we were housed in Old Library Building that was not airconditioned. [laughter] and i had a perennially grossing staff. I interviewed with Faculty Committee and was offered the job. On arrival i started contacting some of my lsu walkers and told them if they had colleagues or grad students with manuscripts coming along, they should submit them to illinois because the cupboard was bear so i thought areas to develop concentration in which the press might ultimately excel and it was obvious that i should fake first subject areas i knew best. One of these was africanamerican history. The major thrust of the lsu list was southern history which to a larger extent is africanamerican history. To get to get a start i brought with me from baton rouge what became a 14 volume papers of washington and a manuscript on Race Relations in mississippi. Both of which my successor charles east was willing to see go. He had the Jefferson Davis papers and two big paper projects would be too much. Then i started a series in black history with august myer one of the two leading scholars in this subject area. I had been talking to him about this at lsu and he was willing to switch to illinois along with just friends the editors of the book washington series. As the black history series developed, we published a book by herbert who was the author a of a major book be on the black family im sure you know it well it shall he had published a long critique of book on economics of slavery in an africanamerican journal. I suggested that we publish this as a book. And put a new yorker cartoon on the cover in which a slave was told not to be too concerned because historians would show his life was not all that rough afterall. This little book led to one of the presses most important areas of specialization. He asked if illinois, interested in starting a series on labor and working class history. Which he thought that two leading scholars in the field gave them montgomery and david would edit with him. I jumped at the chance. Within two years we added what were very successful series and womens history and immigration history. I think it is safe to say that in the 80s and 90s illinois was leading publisher of American Social history. Meanwhile, we continued to publish in clusters establishing series and areas of specialization, communication lincoln and illinois, American Music with judy, norman history and western history with liz delaney, short fiction with ann wear poetry with Larry Lieberman of the english dpght. Sports history with larry mally and practically everything focused on the u. S. By the end of the century when it was time for me to get out of the way, it was time, past time for someone to come in and broaden the horizon. [applause] dick and i actually disagree about when i came. But let me just say for fact or fiction that i think it was november of 1998 and from there through july 2015 it was clear to me that my First Priority was continuity preserving the strengths that dick had established. My last concern was also continuity loving leaving press solvent and well staffed happy for continue knewty dick continued to work as acquisition senator parttime until 2004 concentrating in particular on the sports history list. That athletic list is kept active and in shape by danny and im still grateful that dick stayed around those extra years. Because in 1998, when i think i began [laughter] the press had four fulltime and one parttime acquisitions editors plus dick. I converted one acquisitions position into an electronic publisher position. And hired paul arroyo into manage all things it lewis massacre. Paul in lewis to the presses they enable Digital Publishing to our capacity to step no elite and eventually for books also. One of the smartest things i ever did was to get Judy Mccollum the freedom to expand. Judy built into the best on the continent and lori now directs that series with us skill like armand the. I took it management of another retiree. An acquisitions powerhouse she took on the presses in the womens studies and African American studies list both began by dick. Both now thrive thanks to don duranty. Joan took on most of the history list also and added a foundational film study list now managed by danny nasser. My third challenge was to make our list more international. Dick had created an ensemble of american studies that where the envy of other University Presses with American Music and immigration. I wanted to keep all of that alive and do more i have the translations from french, german and spanish authors and expanded the music list. Edited by william kellerman. I have a series on food studies and Science Fiction a series that they now keep helping and imaginative. The fourth and most serious problem of my tenure was the rapid consolidation of the Publishing Industry. Consolidation affected every part of our work from acquisition of books and journals to production distribution and sales. We have to fend off rival presses and publishers of academic journals who are making big promises to journal editors promises that ended up doubling and tripling the prices for subscribers. Most of them libraries facing challenges of their own. Our journals manager when they fought off that competition successfully. Very successfully. And built the illinois Journals Program into one of the best in the country. In the 1990s barnes noble and borders drove the smaller books to the other business and soon those two had to fend off an even larger competitor amazon of the Worlds Largest bookstore. Amazon became our largest customer by a wide margin at amazon through its weight around like the giant it is. Making a demands about shipping, billing and discounts that demanded close attention in the gritting of teeth at the same time librarys consolidated small and midsize libraries seemed to buy copies of our books and instead we relied on interlibrary loan. In those years libraries centralized. And cut budgets for books. And in a few years i very few years the major libraries of this country like illinois utterly altered the structure and economy of scholarly publishing. And then came the recession of 2008. More bookstores closed. Borders went bankrupt the university suffered annual budget cuts. Sometimes semi annual budget cuts. As the press is technically an administrative unit and administration is always the first target to be cut when budgets are to be cut. It was expected that the press would accept the bigger cut than the colleges. I have to cut personnel into fend off even other cuts the ugly stuff the director must do. As the press and out of the recession i realized to watch the business end of things. The journals in the book series that we could no longer afford to support we lost that. But even so and got stronger and smart and able young people in every department. Im looking at you. The fifth difficulty was administrative. Working with a sequence of six different chancellors reporting to five different ice president s some a good deal better than others and adapting to the universitys new operating system dealing with higher need for disease and budget cuts and accommodating new rules and frequent policy changes. The press managers helped me deal with all of that. It is no secret that hiring all of these people were some of the best decisions i ever made. When i left in 2015 i wanted to leave on a high note but the press in the back. And a reliable successor. Who could also acquire important new books. That is a vitally important for the press like illinois. I wish came true when lauren mattresses was appointed. And now its her turn. As you heard i came to the press in 1996. I was a graduate student then. I came to work on development. So both of these directors really have a great impact on my development as a publisher and really meant toward me. Its really very humbling to be on this panel with them. I had been at the press for quite a long time but im kind of a new flight as the director. I crept into it a little at a time in a way it was sort of a soft entry. Came up through the ranks and took on aggressively more responsibility over the course of 20 years and so when i moved into the director position i really felt not that i would come in with a brandnew agenda and establish myself as a. Two other Staff Members but really come in as a peer in equal and wanting to work sidebyside with the staff. I think that is really the most important aspect of my tenure so far and i hope it will continue. That is certainly my intention. I think the strength of the press in its experience in the variety of skills that the press staff bring to their tasks bill has done an amazing job of catalyzing and illinois right along with all other publishers. The moment i took the chair we encountered a new challenge was that the state was to be able to come up with a budget. The injured for two and half years basically for the entire time that i had been the director until just a few months ago. Obviously a very unnerving time and i felt the most important thing that we could do was to continue doing what we do. And moving forward as productively as we could. And really enabling people to have the support that they needed just to make sure that our priorities could continue in place and not be derailed by this legislative blockade or by administrative turnover which also occurs. And then we have a new Vice President in the chair. To be honest i think one of the benefits of the great turnover that we have seen is that it has provided a lot of opportunities for people within the university to take on new roles. I think that is very valuable. It is also valuable for our staff as well. As people are in their positions for quite a while which many of our staff have been that they have a chance to stretch and try out new skills into grow into new kinds of expertise and really mean fresh in their jobs. So that they can stay with us and not feel like they have to go somewhere else. To learn new skills or to expand their capacity. Having the flexibility of the staff and just cultivating creativity in a belief in what were doing as is a shared sense of mission. I think that kind of internal coherence is very important in feeling like we are having a unified front facing these many challenges. The other thing that has been very important i think in the last two years as has been has been to expand the connections within the university. In giving each other a leg up day by day. We have really made a priority of connecting with other units on the campus and within the community and trying to broaden our foundation of who our constituencies are. That has been greatly enhanced by judy. But 70 staff have really come on board with her and me and taking the energy that it takes to step out into the community or to step out and present to various University Constituencies to talk about publishing to talk about alternative careers just to share our knowledge of publishing and the possibilities that it offers for young talented people across the academy. I feel like the challenge that we have heard about his continuing. Even over the past six months we had continued to see Library Sales declining so certainly one of the challenges is to find books and journals that speak more broadly that speak to more constituency. So that we have some diversity in our portfolio as they say in finance. By diversifying our types of publications in continuing to grow the Journals Program and have it so closely integrated with the books i think is really such an important strategy for us in the staff has done such a wonderful job of identifying journals that have a crossover appeal to various strengths that we head on the book side. We have this diversity in terms of reaching constituencies into the university. Original list is very broadly to the midwest in the state. And we are trying to strengthen our connections on the other campuses and universities. I think all of these allowing for the strengthening and diversity of our staff and strengthening our connections and partnerships and alliances just making more friends thats what we need. People to understand what we do so that if there comes a time when there is question from the administration that there has been for some other presses about the value of what the University Press is supplying that we answer but were not the only one answering. There are many other voices that are speaking to that. I will go ahead and stop there. [applause]. Do you have any questions. Choose a Favorite Book that they acquire. And it gained popularity with your expectations. I got a letter from a person who said he have a manuscript of 800 pages which included 100 pages of a single foot notes. On the migration to the west. I told him that well had to be good to be published in that size. And gee angie it was really really good. It was the finalist for the pulitzer. And they got a frontpage review. By the western historian. And so that was a book that liz delaney made a tremendous contribution to because the author died on the operating table shortly after the book was accepted. And that was a very tragic thing. It listed a listed a great job of working on it editorially and being sure that it was already to go. That is probably my idea of the best book that would be published in my day. The aia guidelines. Which i did not acquire by myself although some of the credit for it. And michael, and jennifer join me to talk to the committee about what we could offer and they would have questions which i wouldve fumbled with that these other people could answer very radically. And as a result we became the publisher for the chapter in chicago and i think that book is still doing well. That was fun. I will mention a book that i have just a small part in acquiring. One of the great joys of the tenure was that i was able to take on and one of the books that she acquired in really her fingerprints were on every page literally was stephen weights book. In one very High National media profile. He is really a model for the way that we need our authors to really connect with their audiences. Not to rely on us but really rely on themselves as a link between the book and the reader. And he is just a master at that. The reason that book is so important i think is he really tells the story of ordinary people and why they matter. He looks at particular performers with the recording equipment. These are children on playgrounds. And prisoners who knew work songs he went back into these places. They documented them. And then also documented the tunes. And talked about what happens when the tune goes from one person to another which is so much what our list is about music as a product of that community. It was really a privilege for me to work on that. I really just came in and carried the baton for the last lap. That is the case was so with so many books that we handle. By one editor and another editor takes them up. I differ editor brings it to completion. In the way that they make contacts. And help us as a press as a whole to bring them to publication. The question is what changes do we see for the future of the press and the communication. But certainly we are looking at technological changes that we cant really imagine a time when people will be consuming books in content in ways that we havent developed yet. All of them say the right to publish the work. Known or here or after developed. We leave the door open for whatever technologies informs present themselves. That will be a big challenge for us. To navigate those technological changes. Meaning that made available without cost. But available to access without cost. Where does the funding come from. How do we cover the cost of producing that. Socalled free open access material. Thats a big question to be addressed. Mostly this is her question. We could play poker. Im glad not to be dealing with the problems that she has now and the price that you have to put on books is ridiculous. In the number that you can put in print. Is just sad. And its so hard to get the libraries to buy the books in the Journals Department is so much more important now than it was in my day. It seems to me like libraries are more likely to pick up journals and continue them with requests from the staff than they are to publish particular books that may or may not be needed so that is important. If it is a tough time to be a University Press publisher i must say i can think of two other things that are perpetual. One is the change in academics. And as the press responsibility to be vigilant about what those changes are. And how this can occur. The second change that i expect will occur and that the press will find patrons and need to find patrons at the expenses of the publication we were starting to do this when i departed and we found this to be a very successful way to publish as long as we continued to use fear peerreviewed. The institutions who were willing to patronize wanted peer review thats why they would choose that press. All of the other Quality Controls that we have. All of that and that is something that illinois consists of. If you have a book project that deserves publishing there is an audience waiting for it. And we are willing to pay for as long as it is will done. If they can be first in line for that. Or at least get an audition. Readership i do think that illinois and the time that ive been there really prioritize and continue to make books affordable to individuals. That has always been very important to us. The press is raising the price on the books. All of the time that we had been involved. But i think illinois has kept a lid on that. And it remains a priority i think. We want our books to speak to individuals and have them be able to actually put the book in their hands. But one of the issues that has been there. It is to foster a stronger development program. With tony here today it was one was one of the contacts from the foundation. He is one of our friends in our and our donors. And we are developing partnerships with donors and societies and soon we will be rolling out to friends of the press program. All of these will help us bridge the gap between and the cost of a book. And hopefully continue to keep our books assessable to the individuals. Was there anything you wish you had accomplished that you were not able to a compass. I dont think i left with that. Maybe i just wasnt that ambitious. I was stunned when we lost the relationship we have. And now a different name. Cm getting old. But that journal. Let me mention because i had been planning to do this all along the press publishes important books that are very significant and in the scholarly area in which they are published they are really appreciated. Every once in a while we publish a fun book. This book was reviewed in the New York Times book review but they couldnt spell out the whole title for some reason. The title story a neighbor said to the farmer i dont want the boy hanging around. And the father said whats the problem. They get along fine. I just want to keep them away. He spelled his name. The neighbor says that is not that big a deal. And a lot of good stories in there. That is a good one. I recommend it. I would just like to say that i copy edited that. It took one whole day. I have another question some of our journals are sponsored by the lenox society. And society. And some of them had associations given that it is no longer populated largely and became permanent what do you see as the impact of the society in terms of how they can recruit people or even aspire to make their way. Is there anything about that that will affect the future of sales and are subject area. Or the journals that are sponsored by the french society. I think they are making efforts to recruit and make room for morgans tangent faculty and what you can tribute faculty member is. It certainly is a concern. We do certainly rely on our partnerships. And we publish published a number of journals. And other organizations. With them promoting a very valuable network for us certainly. It was Something Like a third of it. That has certainly shriveled. I cant be entirely despondent about it. They have attended the smaller conferences. With the smaller ones i found stability in the great source of authors and ideas. In their loyalty. Because of the works with the books program. I expect that to be a great part. Looking into that wonderful thing in the hallway out there. I was struck by the development of the appearance of books over the time and then i sensed that my 40 or 50 years. That a book from 1960 doesnt look like the book from 1980. As i was looking at all of that. How does that come about. Was that driven by external factors. Are there internal decisions about design and presentations. I wonder if you could all speak to how you personally witness that evolution as it took place. Its always a matter of who is doing the designing and if it changed over the years im not sure that i got better. On staff and freelance work. One of them is here today. Sorry about that. I havent noticed a change over in 30 or 40 years. Certainly the revolution of the design. Its a big deal. And our designers made the most of it. Its clearly gotten better. Would you be willing to speak about that transition at all. Definitely the macintosh computer that did it. And one of the prizes there. Theres always been a tremendous Design Community because of the book. Designers have always taken that seriously and then their design is the kind of rubs revolution on its own. That really has been building across all of publishing but then the University Press University Press is really joined the marketing. And needed to mark as market as much as the trade publishers did in a way that they hadnt. And thats just been building and building. The University Press is here. With great skill and knowledge. And great partners. And you can put in a plug for those book shows that will be on campus. It has a show every year traveling competitive show and that travels around to our press every year. This year we will be partnering with them. To hold the show in the late gallery. And the art department. Its a very public and heavily trafficked phase. Very wonderful about connecting with the design and having to bring their students to the press. And were hoping that having the show in the centers in the central space well really foster that as well. I think we should mention a little bit about earlier directors the first one was a man named cunningham. He was secretary of the board of trustees as well. He was major in communications. Not so much director of the press. They have the publicity department. Who had books published. But he put out books that had lasted until this time and they had been reprinted about 20 times each for instance for thirds of the press and the mathematical theory of communication these books are still to this day used unprinted whenever they run out. A significant publish and probably in that time how long before and the german scientists they will go with the press and what was going to be happening about her future. I think that was a remarkable accomplishment to be able to publish that book. Some of you may remember was a politician the press dependent a great deal on the fact and anthropology and communications and psychology brought in significant books and those were published here before going on to the bestseller and another person with julian stewart. He was published with that university. They were able to deal very well with the people on campus and that is extremely important because you never know who is going to come in otherwise. They have the things that otherwise they wouldnt head. Does anybody want to comment about what was published over here in chicago. And the history of american slavery. About the Historical Association it came out as a time when it was asked bloating on the landscape. And everybody thought this book. Would not only redefine that. But the method of inquiry. And then he published the numbers game and someone put a reset button. That said nope. And it just shut it down. That book that came out in the press certainly shut the whole discussion down. A major impact. Im not sure how you got the acquisition to do that. In the academic journal. It was a long discussion and i just thought hey that would make a nice book. If they could find that. There is not all of the time that you had thought. Others who have read the book. They think that quantitative analysis they have received from childhood. And they have some evidence and they quantified it to the 0. 71. The use that. To pinpoint that kind of slavery. They will tell of the public. It was just the right one to summarize the meaning of the book. Thank you so much for joining us today. [applause]. Every year book tv sits down with Publishing Industry professionals to discuss the publishing process and highlight upcoming book of releases and more. You can watch any of these programs on our website just type Publishing Industry in the search bar at the top of the page in scroll through hundreds of results from interviews with publishers at book expo america in the industrys annual trade show conversations with organizations like the National Book foundation tours of publishing houses. Educated a memoir. She is interviewed by the author and journalist. A lot of people seem to have really taken to heart this idea that to learn something you have to have a degree in yet of a whole institution in place to teach it to you. Im grateful to my parents that i was not raised to think that way. It felt like something i could do that because i have any formal education but okay i need to learn algebra. I will buy a book and i will learn it. With that the university and i kept going with that. My parents took it too far i arrived way too early. They think i was denying it. I would not say this is the ideal education. Watch afterwards sunday night nine eastern book tv on cspan two. Book tv on cspan two. Jean theo harris. Argues that the history of the Civil Rights Movement has been sanitized. Let me introduce our truly amazing speakers this evening we have some fear of embarrassing jeremy who just discussed dirt as a neighbor. Im a bit of a groupie and so its kind of thrilling to head him here