From Gutenberg to Gateway: Electronic Publishing at University Presses

Abstract

Using the results from a publishers&apos survey conducted in June 1999 of the Association of American University Presses, Jennifer Siler creates a baseline record of university presses' current involvement in electronic publishing. Scholarly publishers launch electronic publishing projects for a variety of purposes, such as marketing and discussion tools for clothbound books, teaching and research tools for specialized markets, the timeliness of the electronic form (including the ability to update the material with relative ease), and the capability of on-demand printing. Other scholarly publishers prefer not to participate in forms of electronic publishing because of the need for specially trained staff, the additional cost of the technology and labour, a perceived limited market, and, in some cases, a lack of appropriate product for the electronic form. Siler argues that, given the rapid changes in technology and the developing trend towards electronic dissemination of research, publishers will have to be prepared to provide their markets with the markets' format of choice. Siler concludes that the book will nevertheless survive the new technology as it has in the past.