University presses in the recession

University presses fill a special niche in publishing. And they're threatened, like most everyone else, in today's scary economy.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Al Greco, vice president of the Institute for Publishing Research in Bergenfield, N. J., said university presses face many of the same problems as commercial publishers, primarily that adults spend fewer hours reading and more time with television and the Internet. Complicating the problem for university presses, he said, are higher costs and a shrinking customer base. For instance, public and school libraries are buying fewer copies of university press publications because of declining readership and tax revenue. More...