IU Press employees outline anniversary celebration

IU Press employees are planning tentative events to mark the 50-year anniversary of the printing of the organization's first book. Former President Herman B Wells founded IU Press in 1950 to publish scholarly journals and literature, but its first literary work was not printed until 1951.\nMarketing Manager Marilyn Breiter said the IU Press has promoted this occasion in its spring 2001 sales catalogue as well as press releases, scholarly journals and various national publications, such as The Washington Post, New York Review Books and "The Nation." \nBreiter said the first planned event is an April 10 guest lecture. It will be followed April 11 by a book sale in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. She said she and her colleagues hope to plan additional activities outside Bloomington. \n"We would like to bring the IU Press not only to the attention of people in Bloomington, but also to people in Indiana and the Midwest," Breiter said. "The IU Press represents the best that Indiana University does as an institution of higher learning."\nEditorial Director Janet Rabinowitch said the organization wants to promote its development over the years.\n"It's a celebration of a press that has grown and flourished over the past 50 years," she said. "That's young as far as university presses go. It's a celebration of the things we have accomplished, and we want to make sure that the IU community knows about them."\n One of the feats Rabinowitch mentioned includes the printing of 165 new books each year. This statistic, she said, "has placed the IU Press among the top 10 university presses in the United States as far as producing new material."\nMarketing and Sales Director Sue Havlish said she is proud of IU's continued commitment to publishing.\n"In this time of uncertainty in the publishing industry and changes brought about by the electronic age," Havlish said, "it is good to know that scholarship is alive and well at the IU Press"