Provost Brian Foster explained that the university is hoping to find new ways to invest in scholarly communication: "Technological changes have turned media up on their head, and that's turning scholarly communication on its head," he said. "It's more than publishing a book; it's a much broader change. Communication," he said, is "central to successful research, but given how the system is in such fundamental change, we just don't know where it's going." Wouldn't it be better to wait and consider ways adapt the press to these technological changes than to do away with it?

My immediate concern was who would have possession of UMP books after the closure, who will help with the marketing of recently published books, and who will write royalties checks for my fellow UMP authors and me. But the more I sit with this news, the more troubled I am about the wider implications. Here are just a few of the titles in the fall 2012 catalogue: From Missouri: An American Farmer Looks Back a memoir by Thad Snow; Play Me Something Quick and Devilish: Old-Time Fiddlers in Missouri by Howard-Wight Marshall (I'm ordering this one!); and Strong Advocate: The Life of a Trail Lawyer, by Thomas Strong, one of the most successful trial lawyers in Missouri's history. Where will those doing scholarship on such topics go to publish their work? Will the loss of this venue discourage folks from researching Missouri history and culture? 

Please write to Tim Wolfe and let him know he needs to rescind his order to close the press:

Office of the President
321 University Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
Telephone: (573) 882-2011

Email: umpresident@umsystem.edu

*the dictionary defines an intentional community as "a community designed and planned around a social ideal or collective values and interests, often involving shared resources and responsibilities." 

The Countryside Village Art Fair will also be held that day, so please arrive early enough to find a parking space and to browse the exhibits. 

See you there!

"At Fort Snelling, Lewis set out to construct a floating studio. Since he couldn’t find any carpenters or laborers at the fort, he did the work himself. Lewis secured two of the largest Indian canoes he could find, each fifty feet in length. He attached the two canoes with short beams, forming an eight- by eleven-foot platform on which he built a cabin. Within the cabin he built bunks, where he stored books, weapons, a tent, and food for the long voyage. Lewis christened what he described as this “most odd looking but complete craft” the Mene-ha-hah, the Dakota name for the waterfall at St. Anthony, which means “rapid water.” Lewis noted that the Mene-ha-hah was “admirably adapted to my purpose as it was quite steady and from the top of the cabin, I could sketch with care and see over the country on both sides of the river.” Lewis called the Mene-ha-hah his “floating curiosity shop,” because when he stopped along the river, people gathered to look it over and ask questions."

The time: Saturday, March 31st from 9 to 10:20 a.m.

The place: nuVibe Juice and Java, 126 N. 14th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska

To register for the workshop, contact Mary Ellen Ducey at 402.472.5076 or at archives@unl.edu

To order, please go to:

http://press.umsystem.edu/product/What-the-River-Carries,2094.aspx

or call

(800) 621-2736