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Ideas for Events and Exhibits to Celebrate
the Year of the University Press

The centerpiece of 2004: The Year of the University Press will be the activities of libraries and presses on an institutional and local level, supported by promotion from the ARL and AAUP national offices. Following are suggestions for events and exhibits that could be organized throughout 2004.

As an aid to brainstorming, the University of Illinois has provided us with their preliminary schedule and planning document for Year of the University Press events. See what one campus is planning for 2004!

Exhibit Ideas
Event Ideas

Ideas for Exhibits

• AAUP Book, Jacket, and Journal Show—The AAUP holds an annual book design competition. An exhibit of the selected entries travels around the country from the early fall through late spring. Applications to host the 2004 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show will be available in July 2004.
  
  
• University press books and journals on the theme of another current exhibit
  
  
• Local/regional books published by university presses
  
  
• Books by faculty members published by university presses
  
  
• New books published by your institution’s press
  
  
• Translations published by university presses
  
  
• AAUP Books for Understanding—Books for Understanding is an ongoing project to identify university press books on topics in the news. Bibliographies on a number of current event topics, including Iraq, Civil Liberties, Space Flight, Water Rights, and many others, are available online at http://aaupnet.org/booksforunderstanding.html.
  
  
• Poetry—A good choice for April, National Poetry Month. University presses have long been committed publishers of poetry. There are many different ways to organize an exhibit of UP poetry books: the poetry list of the press at your institution, first books published recently, local poets, award-winners, or using the list of books by US Poets Laureate published by university presses available at http://aaupnet.org/news/bfu/poets.html.
  
  
• University press books and journals on an area of strength for your university, home press, or special collections
  
  
• Electronic publishing projects—Electronic publishing is an area of much interest and innovation for both presses and libraries. University presses are experimenting with a number of e-publishing models and products. Some of these projects are described at http://www.aaupnet.org/resources/electronic.html. The publishers may be able to help create an exhibit of materials about these projects.
  
  
• Journals published by university presses
  
  
• University press books, journals, or e-publications that are the product of press/library collaborations—See list of examples.

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Ideas for Events and Programs

• Co-sponsor broader campus discussions on (the future of) scholarly communication in the humanities and social sciences and the role of the press.
  
  
• Talks/readings by university press authors, particularly a faculty member who has published a recent book with a university press. The publisher or the campus bookstore should be able to help set up a signing.
  
  
• Talks by university press staff relating to current exhibit (e.g., a designer if the Design Show is on display, subject editor if a particular topic is on display, and so on.)
  
  
• Co-host seminars for junior faculty and graduate students on publishing with a scholarly press.
  
  
• Choose university press books as "Friends" gifts: either institutional or regional titles from a local press, or a book on a topic important to your mission.
  
  
• Develop a book club featuring your home press’s book (see Wayne State University example.)
  
  
• Co-host a series of brown-bag lunches between press and library staff and/or a more formal symposium to share information and views on issues of concern to both libraries and presses (see the University of North Carolina examples.)
  
  
• "Take Your Publisher/Librarian to Work Day"—have press and library staff shadow each other for a day or two. Perhaps collections development and marketing staff, or other appropriate pairings.
  
  
• Sponsor a joint career day, demonstrating complementary fields of work in the scholarly community. This could be taken further with a joint internship.

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We're happy to post new ideas for events and exhibits. Email ideas to bmclaughlin@aaupnet.org.

If you have a current library/press collaborative project to report, please let us know.