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Illinois project to fund monographs| CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Illinois, September 30, 2002 -- The new Humanities Lab at the University of Illinois will subsidize the university press to publish monographs by first-time scholar-authors, said Sander Gilman, the lab's director. He called the project an experiment to assist young scholars, who are having difficulty getting their works accepted by budget-strapped university presses. The series is due to begin next year with works from the university's Chicago campus, where Gilman earlier was a faculty member. Titles will go through a strenuous peer-review process, he Gilman said. The Humanities Lab will contribute $3,000 to $4,000 to offset printing costs at the University of Illinois Press. | |
Vivendi chief downplays Lagardere rumor| PARIS, September 29, 2002 -- Anti-trust regulators are unlikely to approve a ballyhooed proposal that French media giant Lagardere buy the French publishing properties of competitor Vivendi, said Vivendi chief executive Jean-René Fourtou. In an interview, Fourtou noted that Lagardere's Hachette subsidiary would have 90 percent of the French school books market if it buys the for-sale Vivendi units. "I don't think the relevant minister or Brussels could accept that easily," Fourtou said. |
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|  VIVENDI
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| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
 | Sandra E. Andersen (computer science),
Concordia College, wrote Data Structures in Java: A Laboratory Course
(Jones and Bartlett). |
 | John C. Kotz (chemistry), State University of New York, Oneonta, and Paul M. Treichel (chemistry), University of Wisconsin, Madison, wrote the fifth edition of Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity (Brooks/Cole). |
 | Joseph Turow (mass communication), University of Pennsylvania, wrote the second edition of Media Today (Houghton Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
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Agency notes journal price disparities| LONDON, September 27, 2002 -- International pressure may be needed to bring down the costs of scientific, medical and technical journals, the British Office of Fair Trade said in a report on the academic publishing journal. John Vickers, the agency's director, noted excessive profits. Also, Vickers said, journals from university presses and learned societies operate with less profit. The report's timing came within a year of the merger of STM publisher Reed Elsevier and Harcourt, which had raised anti-trust questions but which was approved anyway. Said Vickers: "The market has a number of features that suggest that competition may not br working effectively.:" The Office of Fair Trade suggested a full investigation may be in order if pricing disparities don't self-correct. | |
Harvard creates el-hi book series| CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, September 26, 2002 -- Journal publisher Harvard Educational Publishing plans a book imprint with collections of original articles for school administrators and teachers. Earlier Harvard Educational books have been derived from its journals. The first titles in the new imprint include Teaching as a Profession, Social Inequity of Special Education and The 21st Century Principal. | |
Nelson chief pays back $139,000| NEW YORK, September 25, 2002 -- According to a federally required disclosure statement, the chief executive at $200 million-a-year religious publisher Thomas Nelson, Sam Moore, reimbursed the company $139,000 for personal expenses and services from employees. The company declined to elaborate. Thomas Nelson has been in a cost-cutting mode, trimming its list and selling its gift business. | |
Wiley reports Asia gains| HOBOKEN, New Jersey, September 24, 2002 -- Publisher John Wiley & Sons issued an upbeat report on its Asia business for the latest quarter. The company's translation rights business in China included signing 85 new titles, double the same period a year earlier. Wiley said the Australia launch of its high-school French program Voila was successful. The company reported "a substantial subscription order" from China. | |
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
 | Gregory Bassham (philosophy), King's College, William Irwin (philosophy), King's College, Henry Nardone (philosophy), King's College, and James M. Wallace (philosophy), King's College, wrote Critical Thinking: A Student's Introduction (McGraw-Hill). |
 | Eric G. Bolen (wildlife), University of North Carolina-Wilmington, and William Robinson, Northern Michigan University, wrote the fifth edition of Wildlife Ecology and Management (Prentice Hall). |
 | John B. Penson Jr (economics), Texas A&M University, Oral Capps (economics), Texas A&M University, and C. Parr Rosson III (economics), Texas A&M University wrote the third edition of Introduction to Agricultural Economics (Prentice Hall). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
|
Book people mark Banned Book WeekSPOKANE, Washington, September 23, 2002 -- Typical of many activities for National Banned Books Week, faculty at Spokane Community College sorted through books for a reading of solidarity against small-mindedness and self-righteousness. Organizer Gloria Liebowitz, a librarian, said: "Freedom to read is freedom of speech." It's a First Amendment right, she said. The American Library Association, which promotes Banned Book Week, screened more than 6,000 challenges to books on library shelves in the past 10 years. This is the breakdown of reasons for the challenges:Sexually explicit
Offensive language
Unsuited to age group
Occult / Satanism
Violence
Homosexuality
Religious viewpoint
Nudity
Racism
Sex education
Anti-family
Drugs
Political viewpoint
Insensitivity
Sexism
Suicide
Anti-ethnic
Abortion
Inaccurate
Other | 1,607
1,427
1,256
842
737
515
419
317
267
224
202
165
125
108
75
56
55
30
25
470 |
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2001 MOST CHALLENGED BOOKS
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
Robert Cormier, The Chocolate War
Maya Angelou, Why the Caged Bird Sings
Bette Greene, Summer of My German Soldier
J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Alice series
Anonymous, Go Ask Alice |
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Film directors raise Moral Rights issueDENVER, Colorado, September 22, 2002 -- The Directors Guild of America asked a federal judge to bar video-rental companies from expurgating scenes with violence, sex and profanity from movies. Among plaintiffs are directors Robert Altman, Robert Redford, Martin Scorese, and Steven Spielberg. They use the Moral Rights argument that many nations recognize in their copyright law -- that ownership of a work of art does not give the owner a right to distort the work. U.S. copyright law does not recognize moral rights. Even so, said Martha Coolidge, president of the Directors Guild: "It is wrong to cut scenes from a film, just as it is to rip pages from a book, simply because we don't like the way something was portrayed."
What this means for authors: The issue raised by movie directors is important to many authors. The issue has parallels to a publisher running roughshod over an author's preferences, including severe editing, cover choices, and misleading marketing. |
AMONG DEFENDANTS
CleanFlicks, ClearPlay, Clean Cut Cinemas, Family Mix, Play It Clean Video, Family Safe Media, MovieShield |
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Authors endorse
SA2 news siteWINONA ,
Minnesota, September 22, 2002 -- Academic authors endorse SA2 news service. Here are excerpts from the latest messages:"Great job with SA2. I like everything I see."
"Thanks as well for the wonderful job you are doing."
"Thanks for your good works."
"Let me tell you how much I appreciate your SA2 newsletter. No question, I look forward to each and every issue with great anticipation because I find the articles so informative and helpful."
"Your newsletters are very helpful. Thanks."
"Your news alerts are great, as usual."
"I was particularly interested in the Schedule C vs. Schedule E info. I have a new CPA who just redid three years of tax forms and saved me over $15,000." |
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| ABOUT
sa2
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| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
 | David B. Dollenmayer (German), Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Thomas S. Hansen (German), Wellesley College, wrote the sixth edition of Neue Horizonte: A First Course in German Language and Culture (Houghton Mifflin). |
 | Robert S. Feldman (education), University of Massachusetts-Amherst, wrote the second edition of Power Learning: Strategies for Success in College and Life (McGraw-Hill). |
 | Jane Slaughter (history), University of New Mexico, and Melissa K. Bokovoy (history), University of New Mexico, wrote Sharing the Stage: Biography and Gender in Western Civilization (Houghton Mifflin). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
|
Publishers rest easier: No federal list| WASHINGTON, September 21, 2002 -- The president of the Association of American Publishers, Pat Schroeder, expressed appreciation for an "unambiguous statement" from the U.S. secretary of education that a study in reading assessments tests will not used to create a list of federally endorsed instructional materials. Schroeder had asked for clarification about a study 29 assessment tools that test publishers feared might be used to create an endorsed list. Responding, Education Secretary Rod Paige said: "There is no approved list of instructional materials for use in connection with the Reading First Program, and I assure you that this includes instructional assessments." Schroeder said the statement "will lay to rest any confusion on the issue of federally endorsed instructional materials." Said Schroeder: "There simply are none." | SCHROEDER
Publishers
president
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Scholastic issues new Hispanic materials| NEW YORK, September 22, 2002 -- Educational publisher Scholastic released new curriculum materials, including interactive content, to highlight Hispanic culture and history during Hispanic Heritage Month. The activities and materials were developed by various company divisions, including Lectorum, which distributes Spanish-language books. |
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 SCHOLASTIC |
New plan could keep Vivendi French| PARIS, September 22, 2002 -- The French company Lagardere that owns the country's largest publisher, Hachette may help keep parts of the Vivendi publishing empire in French hands. Earlier Lagardere expressed no interest in acquiring parts of Vivendi, but French concern has been growing about a foreign acquisitions possibly diluting French culture. Lagardere apparently is not interested in Vivendi Universal Publishing's Houghon Mifflin unit in the United States -- only the French components. In an article in the newspaper Le Monde, Lagardere chair Jean-Luc Lagardere wrote that he would work with French and European Union authorities to overcome obstacles to the "highly sensitive" deal, a reference to possible anti-trust objections. Together, Hachette and Vivendi Universal Publishing would control two-thirds of the countryıs publishing business. |
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| VIVENDI
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McGraw issues social science writing tool| NEW YORK, September 22, 2002 -- An online publishing tool for Grades 3-6 social studies, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, has been released by Macmillan / McGraw-Hill . The tool, called E-Journal, it is designed to improve writing skills by allowing students to write journal-style articles about social studies topics, current events or other subjects of interest, McGraw said. E-Journal will be free to schools that buy the new Macmillan social studies series. McGraw said that E-Journal will enhance pupil comfort level with writing. The tool was described as "fun and easy to use." Pupils can write journal-style articles and incorporate relevant photos and clipart. Pupils can post the material on their school intranet so fellow pupils can respond. |
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MCGRAW
EDUCATION
/ MACMILLAN |
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| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
 | Oscar G. Brockett (theater), University of Texas at Austin, and Franklin J. Hildy (theater), University of Maryland, wrote the ninth edition of History of the Theatre (Allyn & Bacon) |
 | Joe Cortina (education), Richland College, and Janet Elder (education), Richland College, wrote the third edition of Opening Doors(McGraw-Hill) |
 | Thomas W. Fermanian (agriculture), University of Illinois, Malcolm C. Shurtleff (agriculture), University of Illinois, Roscoe Randell (agriculture),University of Illinois, Henry T. Wilkinson (agriculture), University of Illinois, and Philip L. Nixon (agriculture), University of Illinois, wrote the third edition of Controlling Turfgrass Pests (Prentice Hall). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
|
School technology sales in decline| ROCKAWAY, New York, September 21, 2002 -- School spending on computers, software and other technology fell 5.9 percent in the United States last school year, according to a survey by Education Market Research. The decline was attributed in part to Congressional re-authorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act. During the act's approval process, schools put off purchases. Bob Resnick, director of Education Market Research, sees signs of a turnaround. Technology product dealers reported improvements in the final quarter of the school year, he said. | |
Agencies not endorsing reading tests| WASHINGTON, September 21, 2002 -- A recent study of reading assessments will not be used to create a federally endorsed list of reading tests, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said. Paige's statement eased concerns among test publishers that the study would become the basis for endorsing some tests and not others. In a letter to the Association of American Publishers, Paige said: "The findings of this study do not in any way represent an 'approved list' of assessments for use under the Reading First program." Over the summer, AAP inquired on behalf of its test-publisher members about how the U.S. Office of Education might use the study, entitled "Analysis of Reading Assessment Instruments for K-3." The study, sponsored by the National Institute for Literacy with partial federal funding, reviewed 29 reading assessment tools. AAP expressed concern that people visiting the web site of the Institute for the Development of Educational Achievement at the University of Oregon, where the study was first reported, might infer that federal agencies accepted the report as a guide on reading tests. | PAIGE
Education
secretary |
DIVERSIONS FROM YOUR KEYBOARD
1. ________ | 
2. ________ | 
3. ________ | To win a free 2004 SA2 membership, guess the celebrities in these "Caught Reading" literacy promotion ads from the Association of American Publishers and the American Magazine Association. Send your entry to: SA2 |
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Software coming for Saxon math| WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wisconsin, October 6, 2002 -- Math management software for classroom use has been develolped to accompany the Saxon series from Math5/4 to Algebra I. The software is a collaboration of Renaissance Learning, which develops school improvement programs, and Saxon Publishers, known mostly for results-focused math and phonics. The new Renaissance-Saxon packages will be available in June. Included are customized content libraries aligned to learning objectives in Saxon books. | RENAISSANCE
LEARNING |
| Courier: Sales fell 6 percent to $50.9 million for year ended July 31. Specialty publisher Dover sales grew 11 percent to $25.9 million. Book manufacturing was off 8 percent.
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| Plato: Sales gew 6 percent to $47.9 million for the nine-month period ending July 31. The company blamed uncertainty in federal and state school funding.
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Pearson inks IBM tech support deal| NEW YORK September 21, 2002 -- A single IBM computing platform will support both Pearson Education and corporate sibling Penguin in a new seven-year agreement with IBM, Pearson announced. IBM servers will replace smaller current servers. About 70 Pearson technical employees will move to IBM. | |
Chelsea adds K-6 imprint| NEW YORK, September 21, 2002 -- A new imprint edited for K-6 pupils has been introduced by Chelsea House. Among topics in the first 30 titles in the series are animals, dinosaurs, food and life cycles. The series is called Chelsea Clubhouse. | |
Book industry merger pace slowing| NEW YORK, September 20, 2002 -- The merger mania that has consolidated the book industry into fewer major players in recent years has slowed in 2002. Jim Milliot, who tracks consolidations for the trade journal Publishers Weekly noted that the only big deal for 2002 appears to be the pending deal with Houghton Mifflin. There has been a flurry of minor mergers an acquisitions, but nothing approaching the mega-deals of the recent past. | |
Wiley, Seybold launch software series| HOBOKEN, New Jersey, September 19, 2002 -- In a joint deal, John Wiley & Sons and Seybold Seminars will release three books in a new software design series. Three additional titles are under development. Wiley will market the series, called Seybold Seminars' Complete Courses, through its retail channels.Seybold will sell through its seminars and publications. | |
| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
 | Michele Hilmes (mass communication), University of Wisconsin, Madison, edited Connections: A Broadcast History Reader (Wadsworth). |
 | Brooke Noel Moore (philosophy), California State University-Chico, and Ken Bruder, (philosophy), California State University-Chico, wrote the fifth edition of Philosophy: The Power Of Ideas (McGraw-Hill). |
 | Samuel Enoch Stumpf (philosophy), and Donald Abel, (philosophy), St. Norbert College, wrote the fourth edition of Elements of Philosophy: An Introduction (McGraw-Hill). |
| Steve Van Thournout, president of McGraw-Hill Contemporary, was named president of the Wright Group at McGraw-Hill. |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
|
Houghton rumor: Darehshori may be back| BOSTON, Massachusetts, September 18, 2002 -- Among employees at book publisher Houghton Mifflin there is a report that the company's former long-term chief executive, Nader Darehshori, may return to the helm. The report, unconfirmed, is that Darehshori is part of one of the bidders for Houghton Mifflin. The company is on the auction block along with others parts of Vivendi Universal Publishing. Darehshori retired over the summer, a year after Vivendi bought Houghton. His successor, picked by Vivendi, has been Dutch-born Hans Gieskes. |
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|  HOUGHTON
MIFFLIN
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Survey: E-book market mostly techies| NEW YORK, September 17, 2002 -- So far e-books are selling mostly among tech-savvy consumers, according to a survey. Of 618 respondents surveyed online about their reading habits, 72 percent characterized themselves as advanced technology users. An additional 26 percent characterized themselves as computer-proficient. The survey was conducted by the e-book news sites ebookweb.org and Knowbetter.com. Kelly Ford, of knowbetter.com, said ebook users as a group were older than he expected. Seventy-four percent of the respondents were 30 to 59 and 14 percent under 30. |
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| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
 | Katherine L. Adams (communication), California State University Fresno, and Gloria J. Galanes (communication), Southwest Missouri State University, wrote the fifth edition ofCommunicating in Groups: Applications and Skills (McGraw-Hill). |
 | Howard D. Mehlinger (education), College of Charleston, and Susan M. Powers (education), Indiana State University, wrote Technology and Teacher Education: A Guide for Educators and Policy Makers (Houghton Mifflin). |
 | Randy M. Page (education), University of Idaho, and
Tana S. Page (education), University of Idaho, wrote the third edition of
Fostering Emotional Well-Being in the Classroom (Jones and
Bartlett). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
|
Publishers plan reading education meetingWASHINGTGON , September 16, 2002 -- The Association of American Publishers School Division plans a Reading Education Summit on Tuesday, September 24, for leading experts on reading education, including key policy-makers, publishers and researchers. Speakers include Susan Neuman, assistant U.S. secretary for elementary and secondary education. Topics include recent brain research on language and reading skills acquisition, reading curriculum assessment,public policy. The all-day meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Avenue N.W.
More information: Contact Julie Copty |
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|
NEUMAN
Ass't Education
secretary |
Students find plusses, minuses in e-books| MUNCIE, Indiana, September 15, 2002 -- A study at Ball State University confirmed the convention wisdom about how people rate e-books as learning vehicles, according to Richard Bellaver, study director. Students who were issued e-book devices liked the word search, bookmark and highlighting features, he said. The most frequent complaints were slow navigation, an unwieldy user manual, and hard-to-figure-out access paths to individual chapters and appendices. Also, pictures and graphics were lost in the digital conversion of a print text for the study. Bellaver, of Ball State's Center for Information and Communication Studies, conducted the study, the first in a series, under a $20 million Eli Lilly Foundation grant. |
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SA2 goes to grassroots against used books| WINONA, Minnesota, September 16, 2002 -- The Society of Academic Authors is testing a program to correct misinformation about textbooks, especially prices, that shows up perennially in campus newspapers at the start of fall semesters. "Letters will be sent to editors whose papers have run flawed information, with a focus on articles that tout false arguments in favor of used books," said John Vivian, SA2 founder. "Used books are a problem for authors, also publishers," he said. "It's a problem that won't go away, but SA2 will be introducing the case against used books into campus dialogue. There has been too much silence from our perspective as authors on this critical issue." The first SA2 letter appeared in the Loyola Maroon in New Orleans. "We will be relying on SA2 members to alert us to negative articles on textbooks, and we'll take it from there," Vivian said. An online file of these letters will be available to SA2 members to draw if they want to write individual letters, he said. |
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| ACADEMIC AUTHORING PEOPLE |
 | N. Amanda Branscombe, (education), College of Charleston, Kathryn Castle University of Cincinnati, Elaine Surbeck (education), Oklahoma State University, and Janet B. Taylor (education), Auburn University, wrote Early Childhood Curriculum: A Constructivist Perspective (Houghton Mifflin). |
 | Kent Kennan (music), University of Texas at Austin, Donald Grantham (music), University of Texas at Austin, wrote the sixth edition of The Technique of Orchestration and CD Recording (Prentice Hall). |
 | David M. Kennedy (history), Stanford University, Lizabeth Cohen, (history), Harvard University, and Thomas A. Bailey wrote the 12th edition of The American Pageant: A History of the Republic (Houghton Mifflin). |
 | Brooke Noel Moore (philosophy), California State University-Chico, and Ken Bruder (philosophy), California State University-Chico, wrote the fifth edition of Philosophy: The Power Of Ideas (McGraw-Hill). |
| Please
tell
us
about
your
latest
project:
EDITOR |
|
Texts lead U.S. book exportsWASHINGTON, September 16, 2002 -- The pace of U.S. textbook exports picked up in the first half of 2002, the Commerce Department reported. Textbook exports grew 16.5 percent to $175.9 million. The growth for all of 2001 was 4.5 percent. Overall, U.S. book industry exports were off 7.5 percent for the first half. These were the leading purchasers:Canada
Britain
Japan
Australia
Mexico
Singapore | -3.6 percent
-5.8 percent
-25.1 percent
2.0 percent
9.1 percent
1.2 percent |
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