Suggestions for customizing this ARL/AAUP Wire story

Presses and Libraries Work Together
to Support Humanities Scholarship

"The humanities are the basis for reasoned civic discourse and make possible the shared reflection, communication, and participation upon which a democratic society depends." So states the National Humanities Alliance (NHA) in support of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Both the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) are longstanding members of the NHA and sponsors of Humanities Advocacy Day. The associations recognize that advocacy of the humanities in every arena—federal, state, and local government, schools, the media—is a responsibility shared by these two partners in the scholarly communications system.

"Humanities scholarship is at the heart of the missions of libraries and presses," according to Duane Webster, Executive Director of ARL. "As a result of the funding provided by the NEH, libraries and presses can more effectively support humanities scholars in their work. Participating actively in the National Humanities Alliance allows us to remind Congress of the important role the NEH plays in building a strong and creative foundation for the humanities in this country."

Founded 23 years ago, the NHA brings together libraries, presses, scholars, historical societies, universities, and research centers in a coalition to help shape and promote national humanities policy. Providing a common link between its disparate and widely-flung members, the NHA is an essential information resource on humanities policy and legislative action, and has been an effective advocate for not only the NEH but also the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Department of Education humanities programs, and Library of Congress funding.

Humanities Advocacy Day is one of the flagship programs of the NHA. Over the past five years, this annual Washington, DC, event has brought together individuals from around the country to represent the wide spread public support and need for humanities programs to federal policymakers. Including a briefing on issues of interest to the NHA community as well as advocacy training, Humanities Advocacy Day is creating a network of committed individuals and organizations who can serve as effective voices for humanities interests the year round.

The 2004 Humanities Advocacy Day is scheduled for March 15-16. The event will open with an introduction to the issues to be discussed with Congress members and staffers on the following day. These issues include the funding requests of the NEH, IMLS, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and the Department of Education "Teaching Traditional American History" grants. Advocates will also address the Higher Education Act Reauthorization, the PATRIOT Act, access to government information, and the intellectual property concerns of the many humanities interest groups.

AAUP and ARL are natural partners in the advocacy of humanities programs and funding. Many of the collaborations between libraries and presses are humanities-based projects, such as state encyclopedias and print and electronic publications of important archival collections. (For a description of several collaborative projects, see www.aaupnet.org/arlaaup) Significant funding for many of these projects has come from the NEH and state and local humanities councils. "University presses are deeply committed to publishing scholarship in the humanities," states AAUP executive Director Peter Givler. "Their ability to carry out this mission would be impossible without an active and vigorous humanities funding policy, and without imaginative collaboration between presses and libraries."

One example of the importance of the Humanities Endowment to scholarly communications is a landmark of current American scholarship and scholarly publishing. The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton and published by the University of Nebraska Press, is a centerpiece of an NEH special initiative for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. The NEH is continuing to support this project, as the press works with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries to make this astounding cultural and historical record available to all Americans online.

NEH funding has risen incrementally but steadily for the past several years, making it all the more essential that the groups represented by the NHA build on this success. In the FY 2005 budget proposal issued by the current administration in February 2004, NEH is seeking $162 million, a $25 million increase. This is a promising indication of the Endowment’s recovery from the partisan budget cuts of the mid-nineties when the appropriation reached a low of $110 million, down from a late 1970s peak of $360 million (adjusted for inflation). The proposed increase is mostly for the Endowment’s We the People initiative, launched in 2002 to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history, culture, and ideas.

We the People was designed in response to studies that indicated an alarming lack of knowledge about the nation’s history and founding principles among younger Americans. Civic literacy is the foundation of a strong democracy, and the humanities are the bedrock on which civic literacy is built. ARL and AAUP members serve our greater mission of fostering and preserving knowledge through public advocacy of the humanities.

Web Links

National Humanities Alliance
www.nhalliance.org

Humanities Advocacy Day
www.nhalliance.org/had/

National Endowment for the Humanities
www.neh.gov

We the People Grant Initiative
www.neh.gov/grants/wethepeople.html

The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition Online
http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu

Press and Library Collaborative Projects
www.aaupnet.org/arlaaup/projects/list.html

Customize this wire story by:

*Including a description of a project at your institution that received funding from the NEH or a state/local humanities council.

*Add a quote from a spokesperson for your institution.

*Add a Web Link to a humanities-based project, center, or special collection at your institution.

Return to top of story

Return to ARL/AAUP Wire home