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Wayne State University

"Contagious Enthusiasm" Greets Library and Press Partnerships
Aimed to Reach Extended University Community

In many ways, the story of this blossoming collaboration has its roots in Wayne State University’s own long history of academic alliances.

Michigan’s only urban research university, Wayne State had its beginnings in several unrelated Detroit colleges and schools (some with histories dating back to the late 19th century). The schools—including The Detroit Medical College, forerunner of today’s School of Medicine, and The Detroit Normal Training School, forerunner of the College of Education—were united into a single institution, which officially became Wayne State University in 1956. The university’s 13 schools and colleges now offer more than 350 major subject areas to 33,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Wayne State is committed to the highest standards in research and scholarship; its first priority is to "develop new knowledge and encourage its application."

That commitment is actively demonstrated in two initiatives forged by the university’s Press and its libraries. The Wayne State University Libraries’ Book Club launched in 2003; and in December, Wayne State University Press (WSUP) held its first-ever holiday book sale in the undergraduate library’s lobby. The new programs were received with "contagious enthusiasm," according to the Library’s assistant dean, and enhancements are in the works.

Each quarter, the Book Club recommends 4-to-6 Wayne State University Press titles, selected with an eye toward books of regional interest and by authors who have a connection with the university. Additionally, an author event is scheduled in connection with each book. Inspired by a similar program at the University of Pennsylvania, the Library’s Assistant Dean for Planning and Development Barton Lessin came up with the idea as a way to foster university-wide scholarly communication—as well as to accomplish two very concrete goals. "We wanted to create new potential for cultivating donors to the Library," he said. "And we wanted to help sell some UP books."

WSUP Director Jane Hoehner and Dean Lessin began discussions in February of 2003. "We were looking to work together in a more dynamic way," Dean Lessin said of the pairing. "We devised the Book Club to be a special opportunity for the members of the university community—and beyond—to meet with authors and the people who published books, to talk about the publishing process and the industry."

Renee Tambeau, the Press’s Marketing and Sales Manager, worked directly with Dean Lessin to select titles and authors to feature, and to explore ways to build audiences—an initial challenge for the nascent Book Club. The Library did not have an existing "Friends of the Library" group, so organizers built promotional lists, circulated flyers, notified individuals and departments with an interest in the subject area, and created a dedicated Web site at www.lib.wayne.edu/services/bookclub/.

The first three author events were intimate gatherings. Authors and editors of WSUP titles—Windjammers: Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors; Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry 2001; and Riding the Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler Corporation—talked about and read from their work, and engaged in question-and-answer sessions with the audience. The Book Club also sponsored an event with a WSUP-distributed title, Detroit’s Eastern Market: A Farmer’s Market Shopping and Cooking Guide.

Beginning with the first event, the enthusiasm and support has been very strong, and volunteers immediately stepped forward, asking how they could help. Last fall’s events were primarily held in the Library, but Dean Lessin says he’s open to other venues. "The next event may be in someone’s home. Our hope is that each session is a special, personal experience for both the author and the audience." The goal is 35-50 people at each program.

Planning is now underway for the spring and summer events, with an eye toward a "robust" series of events in the fall, Dean Lessin said.

In another successful initiative, on December 21, 2003, the lobby of Wayne State’s David Adamany Undergraduate Library was the scene of the first Wayne State University Press Holiday Book Sale.

A high-traffic area at any time of the year, the lobby was the ideal setting for featuring the Press’s titles. Several hundred faculty, staff, and students browsed books, promotional materials, postcards, pens, and catalogs. The Library also offered tours of the facility. Three authors whose books have strong regional interest—Marcy Heller Fisher,author of the illustrated children’s book Fired Magic: Detroit’s Pewabic Pottery Treasures; Dr. Charles K. Hyde, a Wayne State history professor who wrote the Chrysler history, Riding the Roller Coaster; and David Chardavoyne, a Wayne State law professor and author of A Hanging in Detroit: Stephen Gifford Simmons and the Last Execution Under Michigan Law—were on hand from noon to 1 p.m. to sign copies.

"Sales were a little lower than I would have liked," said Renee Tambeau, "but this was our first time out and we were up against the semester’s finals. We sold about 9 to 10 books per hour."

Tambeau says there will definitely be an encore of the holiday sale in 2004, and she’s looking into other "themed" sales around Black History Month, National Poetry Month, and perhaps even a "welcome back" book sale and other events in September.

While selling books and promoting the Press’s titles were the obvious outcomes, the event was also a great benefit to the Library. Like the Book Club, the holiday sale visually told the story of the important relationship between the two university entities. "People came into the building, immediately saw UP books and authors and all the activity," said Dean Lessin. Like the Book Club, the holiday sale visually told the story of the important relationship between the two university entities. "People came into the building, immediately saw UP books and authors and all the activity," said Dean Lessin—reminding them of integral, intertwined roles of the Library and the Press in the life in the university community.

Wayne State University Press has its own long legacy. Founded in 1941, it is the 39th oldest university press in the United States, and publishes approximately 40 new books each year as well as six journals.

The Wayne State University Libraries rank among the top 60 libraries in the Association for Research Libraries. The library system consists of five major libraries, an ALA-accredited Library and Information Science Program and an Office for University General Education.