Publishing the Institutional Book: Brave New World or the Ultimate Vanity Press?

By:
Dr Robert Nichols
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Once upon a time only publishers published serious books. Those individuals who couldn’t find a publisher either gave up or, more or less shamefacedly, went in for “vanity publishing”. But now more and more institutions – such as the museum in which I work – are choosing to publish their own books, and the practice seems to be becoming more respectable.

There are obvious advantages for cultural institutions such as museums, libraries or research centres who become their own publishers. For one thing the institution has total control – it produces the edited manuscript and then hires a book designer, in a process not dissimilar to what a museum does with an exhibition. To draft the manuscripts the institution can call not only on specialist historians, curators, and archivists who enjoy profound knowledge of their material but also on its in-house editorial staff. Museums can also draw on their often extensive collections, many parts of which are not be readily accessible to the public (most museums only display about five per cent of their collection). And they can often even indulge non-commercial agendas. The downside is that these books may tend to become less scholarly, less independent, less individual, and more corporate. The book may turn out to be more a PR vehicle than a creative reflection of disinterested research.

In this paper, I will talk about some of the issues raised by institutional book publishing, drawing on my own experience as an editor in a large cultural institution. I will also briefly discuss website publishing.


Keywords: Publishing, Museum, Book, Editing
Stream: Books, Writing and Reading
Presentation Type: 30 minute Paper Presentation in English
Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Dr Robert Nichols

Senior Editor, Military History Section, Australian War Memorial, Canberra
ACT, AUSTRALIA

Dr Robert Nichols is the Senior Editor at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. He has worked at the Memorial since 1995, first as an education officer and then as an exhibition developer before taking up his current position.

Originally a history teacher in Sydney, he came to Canberra in 1990 to undertake a PhD in philosophy at the Australian National University (ANU), where he then lectured and tutored before joining the Memorial. He continues to teach a regular workshop in critical thinking skills at the ANU’s Centre for Continuing Education.

Robert currently edits the Memorial’s quarterly magazine, Wartime. He has also edited many exhibition catalogues as well as a number of books. He has worked on more than twenty major museum exhibitions.

When not correcting restaurant menus, he likes to read or play chess.

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