Panelists:
| Karen Chernyaev | Senior Editor, Hazelden Publishing & Educational Services |
| Kim Clarke | Assistant Librarian, Selector for Women’s Studies, University of Minnesota Libraries |
| Anne Czarniecki | Executive Editor, Graywolf Press |
| Renée Reed | Librarian, Section Head for Humanities, Art & Music, Social Sciences and the Popular Library, Minneapolis Public Library |
| Barb Wieser | Book Buyer, Amazon Bookstore Cooperative |
Project Coordinators:
Kimberly C. Kowal, Assistant Librarian. Borchert Map Library, University
of Minnesota Libraries, 624-5757 kkowal@umn.edu
Deborah Ultan, Assistant Librarian. Art/Art History Librarian, University
of Minnesota Libraries, 625-6438 ultan004@umn.edu
Event: BiblioFemina
Date: October 15, 2002
Location: Elmer L. Andersen Library Library,
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
9:30- 10:00 a.m. Refreshments served in the atrium
Welcome from Wendy Pradt Lougee, University Librarian, University of Minnesota Libraries
Introduction of the topic and panelists, Kimberly C. Kowal and Deborah Ultan
Panelists elaborate on their positions, organizations: describe the nature of their collection and mission/scope of the organization/business they work for, the role they play in achieving this mission, and a note about how their perspective is unique.
Questions from four broad subject categories will be asked – the questions will probe topics on a theoretical level and then applied.
Summary and closing statements
11:30 – noon Refreshments served in the atrium
• Historical Context: publishing and collecting women’s literature
• Cultural and Political Issues: the contemporary landscape
• Publishing: getting women’s literature published
• Collection Development: getting good books on the shelves:
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
• How have publishing and collection trends in women’s literature changed over the decades since the 1970s, with the inception of Women's Studies programs in Universities and the women's movement and Feminism in society?
• How has Feminism influenced and responded to the attitudes and demands
of the publishing industry / library collections? And
how has Feminism changed the attitudes of the writer’s market?
POLITICAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES:
• How do political renditions of Feminism affect or influence your work?
• What challenges or criteria do you consider in your attempt to publish or collect material with a political and cultural focus, particular to women’s literature and even gender issues?
• Is maintaining a balance or equal representation of various viewpoints
a goal? What are the challenges associated with this? What techniques might
be used to assess this balance?
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT: (budget, access, and community)
• When considering selecting/purchasing items for your collection or selecting items to publish, can you explain the criteria you use and offer some thoughts on how much you consider the collection users or book buyers?
• How does collection development for Women’s Lit potentially differ
from other subject areas? Do you have to purchase alternative press
material directly from the presses or can you get these titles from a vendor?
PUBLISHING: criteria for selection, marketing trends
• Please explain the criteria you use to determine what you will publish or not? Do you intentionally select literature by women authors, literature about women or literature for women? If so, why? If not, why?
• How much does the buyer’s market influence your selecting literature to publish? How much do market trends inspire or challenge the goals of your publishing house?
• From your perspective as special interest publishers, please discuss
the trends of mainstream publishing houses that you challenge or complement?
Are there social/political issues, for instance, that they wouldn’t touch
that you can?
Back to 
front page
