This year the Association of American University Presses gather online and on campuses around the world for University Press Week from November 8-14, 2015. The AAUP is celebrating scholarly publishing concurrent with the first annual Academic Book Week (Nov. 9-16, 2015), a program of the UK-based Academic Book of the Future project.

University presses continue to publish the best scholarship from the foremost thinkers working today and Press Week offers a chance to turn the spotlight on what we do.

A number of university presses are participating in a blog tour this week. Each day a group of presses will blog about big issues in publishing or major accomplishments they’ve seen over the last year. Today you can check out entries from our colleagues at eight other presses who will blog about the surprises that have come out of academic publishing.

University Press Week 2015 Blog Tour: Monday – Surprising!

The inaugural University Press Week was held in November 2012 and was part of AAUP’s 75th anniversary festivities. On the eve of that inaugural event President Jimmy Carter said, “When as president I proclaimed a ‘University Press Week’ in 1978, I did so to honor the important role of university presses in advancing and preserving knowledge. Since then my personal appreciation and understanding of university presses has deepened. I am glad that University Press Week will again be celebrated. The special character and contribution of university presses should be better known and better supported.”