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[CCBC-Net] Small Press Publishing
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:49:21 -0500
Leonard, thank you for the generous mention of the CCBC and your contact there with me. It's so gratifying for a librarian to find out many years later that what might have been an almost routine communication during a day in the library was useful to the person who posed the query. As you probably already know, my involvement with small press publishing originated with my concern during the late 1970s that very few reviews of small press books were published in the standard review media public and school librarians on which they then depended for book selection. If a review did appear, it was typical for the reviewer to point out what the small press book "wasn't" or what it "didn't do," as opposed to its unique information, story or design. We made a case for this being an access issue with an intellectual freedom dimension in our CCBC application for LSCA funding. We wanted to investigate small press publishing, develop a hands-on examination collection, publish a directory of such presses, and find ways to communicate what we learned with Wisconsin librarians.
The CCBC was fortunate to have the perfect staff to administer this project over the years, first Susan C. Griffith and then Kathleen T. Horning. Each collaborated with Michele A. Seipp. They were committed to the overall project and to the dissemination of small press information to an audience soon expanding beyond Wisconsin borders. Workshops, the directory, traveling exhibits, a new CCBC collection and a slide-tape program all were developed. Terminology became an issue. A distinction had to be made between independently owned small publishers without conglomerate affiliations and traditional limited edition literary presses called "small presses;" our newly chosen term "alternative press publishing" added complexity. All that happened before today's democratizing self-publishing technology emerged, causing a blurring of the lines between actual small presses and enterprising individuals, not to say that one is superior to the other, but only to point out the challenges of definition and scope.
Over the years valuable relationships developed with small publishers and their books often invisible or misrepresented to librarians and teachers looking for books excellent from a variety of perspectives. Grass roots regional and local "minders" of library book collections were consistently open to new sources of outstanding books from publishers large and small for the children & teens in their communities. And over the years I've appreciated your interest in small press publishing, Leonard. Like grass roots "minders" who make a difference, you have always underscored your stated interest by your actions such as the inclusion of small press books in the annual PARENTING magazine book awards process.
With appreciation, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse Director Emeritus, CCBC gmkruse at wisc.edu 608.238.9225 1708 Regent St., Madison, WI 53726-4118, USA
Received on Mon 28 Jul 2008 10:49:21 AM CDT
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:49:21 -0500
Leonard, thank you for the generous mention of the CCBC and your contact there with me. It's so gratifying for a librarian to find out many years later that what might have been an almost routine communication during a day in the library was useful to the person who posed the query. As you probably already know, my involvement with small press publishing originated with my concern during the late 1970s that very few reviews of small press books were published in the standard review media public and school librarians on which they then depended for book selection. If a review did appear, it was typical for the reviewer to point out what the small press book "wasn't" or what it "didn't do," as opposed to its unique information, story or design. We made a case for this being an access issue with an intellectual freedom dimension in our CCBC application for LSCA funding. We wanted to investigate small press publishing, develop a hands-on examination collection, publish a directory of such presses, and find ways to communicate what we learned with Wisconsin librarians.
The CCBC was fortunate to have the perfect staff to administer this project over the years, first Susan C. Griffith and then Kathleen T. Horning. Each collaborated with Michele A. Seipp. They were committed to the overall project and to the dissemination of small press information to an audience soon expanding beyond Wisconsin borders. Workshops, the directory, traveling exhibits, a new CCBC collection and a slide-tape program all were developed. Terminology became an issue. A distinction had to be made between independently owned small publishers without conglomerate affiliations and traditional limited edition literary presses called "small presses;" our newly chosen term "alternative press publishing" added complexity. All that happened before today's democratizing self-publishing technology emerged, causing a blurring of the lines between actual small presses and enterprising individuals, not to say that one is superior to the other, but only to point out the challenges of definition and scope.
Over the years valuable relationships developed with small publishers and their books often invisible or misrepresented to librarians and teachers looking for books excellent from a variety of perspectives. Grass roots regional and local "minders" of library book collections were consistently open to new sources of outstanding books from publishers large and small for the children & teens in their communities. And over the years I've appreciated your interest in small press publishing, Leonard. Like grass roots "minders" who make a difference, you have always underscored your stated interest by your actions such as the inclusion of small press books in the annual PARENTING magazine book awards process.
With appreciation, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse Director Emeritus, CCBC gmkruse at wisc.edu 608.238.9225 1708 Regent St., Madison, WI 53726-4118, USA
Received on Mon 28 Jul 2008 10:49:21 AM CDT
