The Evolution(s) of Wilfrid Laurier University Press: Toward Library–University Press Integration

Abstract

In March 2015, Wilfrid Laurier University administration announced that Wilfrid Laurier University Press (WLU Press) would be integrating with the Laurier Library. Media coverage of this announcement has been mixed and is an indication of the ambivalent response to library–press collaborations or integrations, in both the university press and library communities. This article considers the case of WLU Press at its current early stage of integration, discussing this transformation not necessarily as ‘progress' but as one response to a rapidly shifting scholarly environment. By examining the pressure points of the negotiations to merge the press and the library at Wilfrid Laurier University, this article considers the question of how to maximize opportunities and minimize the potential negative impacts of such integration. For such a partnership to be successful, both partners must be willing to evaluate their business models, their core missions within the scholarly ecosystem and the market-place, and their ways of measuring professionalization and success.