Sad chapter for university presses

At Northeastern, some faculty members are dismayed that school officials never sought their views about closing the press, which publishes 35 titles a year. "There was no consultation with faculty," says William Kirtz, a journalism professor. "I think people feel it got shot out from under them."

Yet he and others acknowledge the challenge universities face in deciding how to allocate limited funds. "Where do you cut?" he asks. "I don't know."

That's also the question at the University of Idaho, which publishes between eight and 10 books a year. Spokeswoman Kathy Barnard notes that some people regard the closing of its press as a threat to the school's stature. Others are relieved that the school is shutting down the press rather than eliminating courses.

"In light of the overall budget situation of the university, we just can't afford to have any program that deficit-spends at this point and is not crucial to the core mission of educating students," Ms. Barnard says.

At the University of Georgia Press, which publishes 70 to 80 titles a year, staff members hope that some of the proposed subsidy cuts can be averted. The provost has expressed his appreciation to employees at the press, says Alison Reid, assistant director for marketing. "We've gotten assurance that they're going to do everything they can to support us."

Although small presses struggle the most, even large presses feel the effects of economic shifts. "Having a bigger list makes you a little more diverse, so you're able to absorb the shocks of the marketplace," says Carol Kasper, a marketing director at the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in the US. "But nobody is immune to all the funding issues that are plaguing universities right now."

Phil Pochoda, director of the University of Michigan Press, sees this as a "very perilous moment" for university presses. Library orders that once would have totaled a thousand copies for any given title have dropped to 200 to 300 because of library budget cuts, he says.

"I think there definitely will be a shakeout," he adds. "This is just the beginning." Calling university presses a cultural treasure that is seriously undervalued and ignored, he says, "They won't be appreciated until more and more have been eliminated."

Givler is more optimistic. Although this kind of publishing has always represented a financial struggle, he says, "It's a very exciting kind of publishing. People who are in it aren't in it for the money."

For now, Northeastern officials are considering the possibility of joining a press consortium to handle the school's backlists. When the University of Massachusetts Press lost $375,000 in state subsidies last year, it formed an alliance with Johns Hopkins University Press.

Emphasizing the value of Northeastern's press, which specializes in regional history, criminal justice, and music, Kirtz says, "They weren't just books read by 12 anthropologists in Borneo."

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