OSU and Ginn Press to produce custom history texts

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY AND PARAMOUNT PUBLISHING'S GINN PRESS
INTRODUCE ELECTRONIC ARCHIVE TO PUBLISH CUSTOM-MADE HISTORY TEXTS

     COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ginn Press, a division of Paramount
Publishing, and The Ohio State University, this week announced
development of The Ohio State University American History
Electronic Bookshelf, an on-demand database written by the
university's nationally recognized Department of History.

     The collaboration, which allows professors to custom publish
texts for individual courses, marks the first time a major U.S.
university has sponsored a personalized on-demand electronic
database.

     "Universities exist primarily to disseminate knowledge.  On-
demand publishing programs like The Electronic Bookshelf make
knowledge much more accessible," said Professor Michael J. Hogan,
who chairs Ohio State's history department.

     "As our curriculum increases in scope and diversity, so does
the need to personalize instructional materials for each class.
Custom-published materials supplement traditional textbooks,
offering professors the flexibility to tailor reading materials
to individual needs."

     Carla Pestana, associate professor of history, is managing
editor of The Electronic Bookshelf and Mark Grimsley, assistant
professor of history, is associate editor.  Some 30 members of
the history department contributed to the database.

     "This is an important step in the development of publishing-
on-demand at the university level," said Richard Snyder, chairman
of Paramount Publishing.  "As we continue to digitize our
intellectual properties, production of limited-run texts will be
even faster and more efficient, further stimulating the demand
for custom materials."

     On-demand databases traditionally draw upon a vast body of
intellectual property owned by the publisher.  The collaboration
by Ohio State and Paramount supplements thousands of pre-cleared
Paramount and outside source copyrights with an original database
written by Ohio State professors.

     In editing a custom-made books for their classes, professors
can choose from a menu of essays, historical documents, and
journal articles for their specialized texts and add their own
notes, pedagogy, theory and other ancillary materials.  Ginn
Press employs special software and high speed printing technology
to produce bound custom textbooks within four weeks.  Press runs
can be as low as 50 texts.

     Targeting the rapidly growing market for limited-run, course
specific educational materials, Ohio State's Electronic Bookshelf
will be available to other college history departments beginning
in the winter of 1995 through Paramount Publishing's Prentice
Hall division.

     "With technology revolutionizing publishing, custom
publishing is one of the fastest growing niches in the textbook
business," says Donald Kilburn, president of Ginn Press.
"Progressive schools like Ohio State are embracing custom
publishing to satisfy their demand for educational tools that
provide maximum value, flexibility and convenience.  The
Electronic Bookshelf does just that and provides more control and
options, setting the standard for the widespread application of
on-demand technology."

     Ohio State's history department annually teaches about 8,000
undergraduate students in its two-quarter survey course in
American history for which the custom-published book, "Retrieving
the American Past," will be a reader.

     The database's first five on-line modules currently are
being used in the survey course's first part, American history
before 1877.  The modules include "Witchcraft at Salem," "The
Radicalism of the American Revolution," "Liberty on Trial: The
Sedition Act," "The Decision for Emancipation" and "The Common
Soldier in the Civil War."  The first complete series of modules,
30 in all, will be on-line for autumn 1994 classes, followed by
30 more modules for the second half of the American history
survey course for autumn 1995.

     The history department faculty has determined that royalties
earned on the electronic database will be earmarked to a special
university account to support instruction.  The contract with
Ginn included a grant of $7,000 and an advance against royalties
of $4,000, according to Hogan.

     The cost of each custom-published book will be about $20 to
$22 wholesale.  Hogan said faculty members don't want the books
to cost any more than a conventional reader and, if possible,
slightly less.

     In addition to Hogan, Pestana and Grimsley, contributors to
the database include Kenneth Andrien, Michael Les Benedict,
Mansel Blackford, Paul Bowers, John Burnham, Joan Cashin, William
Childs, Saul Cornell, Jennie Davis, Merton Dillon, Peter Hahn,
Susan Hartmann, Richard Hopkins, K. Austin Kerr, Allan Millett,
Margaret Newell, Michael Riley, Randolph Roth, John Rothney, John
Rule, Leila Rupp, Richard Shiels, David Stebenne, David
Steigerwald, Warren Van Tine, Eugene Watts and Richard Zuczek.

     For more than 20 years, Ginn Press has been the country's
leading publisher of custom textbooks, publishing the work of
more than 7,500 professors at 2,000 colleges and universities
nationwide.  Ginn Press currently publishes over 500 custom
titles annually and also offers "Source One" and "Just In Time,"
on-demand publishing in conjunction with Paramount divisions
Prentice Hall and Allyn & Bacon, respectively.

     Ginn Press, based in Needham, Mass., is a division of
Paramount Publishing, the nation's leading publisher of
educational materials.  Paramount Publishing is the publishing
operation of New York-based Paramount Communications Inc., a
global entertainment and publishing company.

                                #

Contact: Andrew Giangola, Paramount Publishing, (212) 698-7111;
Randy Harrison, Ginn Press, (617) 455-7032; and Professor Michael
Hogan, (614) 292-3001, or Steve Sterrett, Ohio State's director
of news services, (614) 292-8472.

Photographs are available of the faculty members and executives
of the publishing company.  Please contact Steve Sterrett at Ohio
State at (614) 292-8472.


[Submitted by: STERRETT  (sterrett@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 21 Jan 1994 13:15:49 -0500 (EST)]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.