[On behalf of the University of Michigan Press E-Book Accessibility Task Force] Recently the University of Michigan Press publicly endorsed the accessible publishing guidelines outlined by the Society for Disability Studies. These guidelines encourage publishers to ensure that accessibility is “built in” to new titles—that accessible file formats, text descriptions of multimedia, and available alternate versions are standard products of the publishing process. The Press strongly believes in this universal design approach, and since June…
Posts Categorized: University of Michigan Press
The University of Michigan’s recent involvement in a study into the implications of moving to a producer-pays model of open access monograph publication highlighted the importance of never making publishing decisions based on an author’s ability to pay. Insulating the publication decision from the financial requirements of open access book publishing is the connecting theme between two different and complementary initiatives that Michigan Publishing will be supporting in 2016; Knowledge Unlatched and the Lever Press….
In 2014, University of Michigan Press (UMP) was a proud supporter of the pilot round of Knowledge Unlatched, contributing three books to a total collection of 28 titles offered to libraries worldwide. Starting in October 2015 we are pleased to be expanding our participation in the larger second round, as one of only two publishers offering a branded package of 10 titles (Duke University Press is the other one). “At KU we’re delighted to offer…
As of today, University of Michigan Press is distributed by the Chicago Distribution Center. We are very excited by the opportunities this new relationship will make possible, but of course in these early days there are likely to be some logistical challenges. And this morning when we reactivated the “Buy” buttons on our website, we ran headlong into some big obstacles. In short, because of some complications with our data transfer to the new system,…
As of June 1, the University of Michigan Press will be distributed by Chicago Distribution Center, a division of the University of Chicago Press. CDC’s warehouse will fulfill all orders for U-M Press titles, including the English Language Teaching (ELT) division and distributed titles published by our campus partners. Charles Watkinson, University of Michigan Press director, commented: “The Chicago Distribution Center is an efficient distribution partner serving a number of publishers with whom the University…
The University of Michigan Press has received a three-year $899,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the development of a new platform that will enable the publication and preservation of digitally enriched humanities monographs. Charles Watkinson, director of the U-M Press, said the project takes on a key challenge to the publication of long-form scholarship in the digital age. “These days faculty are working with and producing digital resources of various kinds,…
The Tobin Siebers Prize for Disability Studies in the Humanities The work of the late Tobin Siebers has influenced Disability Studies in field-shifting ways since the publication of his prize-winning essay “My Withered Limb” in 1998. His subsequent scholarly publications including the books Disability Theory (2008) and Disability Aesthetics (2010) as well as essays such as “A Sexual Culture for Disabled People” (2012) quickly became pivotal works in the field. Siebers’s work has galvanized new…
Philip Levine passed away over the weekend, on Saturday the 14th. His poetry was recognized with two National Book Awards, a Pulitzer, and with an appointment as a U.S. poet laureate. Levine was one of the first and most prominent poets to really put his hometown of Detroit into verse, and found a plainspoken language to join rafters of small yet hallowed places, to give pause, to tell the stories of the people getting off the graveyard shift, to mourn with,…
Renowned scholar and disability studies theorist Tobin Siebers passed away January 29 in Ann Arbor. His long and distinguished publishing record included the field-defining books Disability Theory (2008) and Disability Aesthetics (2010), six other monographs, four edited collections, and a memoir, Among Men. MLive reports that Siebers, Professor of English and Art and Design at the University of Michigan, will be honored at a memorial service on February 6 at 2 p.m. in the ballroom…
The publishing community celebrates University Press Week November 9-16, 2014. University presses provide access to ideas, playing a unique role in fostering scholarship. Each university press has a diverse list of titles, shaped by their history, directors, acquisitions editors, location, and parent institutions. With titles ranging from maritime studies to folklore and field guides, the unique history and culture of the Mitten State and its Great Lakes are traced in print via the publishing activity of our three…