Professional assistance to legislators: The research branch of Canada's library of parliament

The extent of government involvement in public activity and the highly technical aspects of the issues arising in our legislatures, points to the need for expert assistance for lawmakers. In Canada, this need was addressed at the federal level by the establishment of a research service as a unit of the Parliamentary Library in 1965. This article gives an insight into the structure and variety of services provided by the 50 professionals of the research unit and the new directions it is taking in addressing the challenges in its work for Canada's two Houses of Parliament.     

Perspectives on publishing in Africa

An indigenous publishing industry is essential to African development. The author places the African situation in a Third World context and discusses such issues as the nature of the African reading public, the politics of language, the role of multinationals, problems of distribution, and technology. He describes the challenges faced in developing an African book industry and suggests some possible approaches to providing assistance. He is the author or editor of numerous books and articles on education and publishing in the Third World, including most recently Publishing and Development in the Third World.     

The impact of technology on publishing

Technology today more than ever has a disruptive impact on publishing. The Internet, printing-on-demand and the e-book are the main drivers of change, impacting all aspects of the publishing value chain—from the way books are published (authors can go direct to the reader), distributed (electronic marketplaces), sold (e-tailers) and read (electronic books). The author examines the context of the publishing industry in which these changes are occurring, describes the main drivers and impacts of these changes and illustrates them with an example from the information publishing industry. This paper is based on a presentation made during the conference ‘Blinded by the E-Light’ sponsored by Vista Computer Services (www.vistacomp.com) on June 15, 2000 in New York, NY.     

出版学学科属性之辨

出版学拥有自己特定的研究领域,是一门独立的学科,但是在国家有关学科目录和一些传统学科的视野中,出版学作为专门之学的不可替代的独立学科地位还经常面临质疑。在各类学科分类体系中,出版学也依然处于新闻学、传播学等学科的外向延伸。对于出版学学科属性     

On-demand publishing in the Humanities: project

This article describes the ‘On-Demand Publishing in the Humanities’ project, funded by JISC as part of the eLib programme, at Liverpool John Moores University. The principal aims of the project were to develop a ‘cheap and cheerful’ model for networking electronic texts, to develop a model agreement for the networking of copyright texts for use with publishers, and to shed light on the problems and benefits of on-demand publishing for all the stakeholders involved. The article sets out the project methods, describes the extent to which the aims of the project have been fulfilled, analyses the reactions of end-users to the materials, and attempts an assessment of the current viability of on-demand publishing as a means of supplying copyright texts to students.     

Electronic publishing: trends and responsive strategies

Corporate publishing organizations face a major practical task in deploying electronic publishing systems (EPS), with little strategic guidance. In response, this discussion focuses on large-scale trends at work in electronic publishing, their impact in a corporate environment, and strategies to address those trends. Specifically, the discussion begins by defining electronic publishing; continues with trends affecting document workflow, components of a situation analysis, and three potential organizational responses to the situation; and ends with a responsive strategy to compete for business in five dimensions: cost, convenience, timeliness, quality, and capability. Jay E. Gillette has worked as a senior technical planner at Bellcore since 1987. Previously he was a consultant in documentation and technical planning and served on the technical communication and humanities faculty of the Colorado School of Mines. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley.     

Successful journal publishing on the Internet: hit or myth?

If publishers of learned journals are going to make a success of their web publishing, they should not forget all the skills they have developed in publishing in print. This paper reviews the application of familiar journal publishing skills in the context of electronic journals or electronic editions of printed journals, and pinpoints areas where these skills apply in web publishing and where new skills are necessary.     

The Research Assessment Exercise: its effect on scholarly journal publishing

The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) plays a major part in academic life in the UK. One of its chief measures of ‘research performance’ relates to the publication of articles in refereed scholarly journals. This paper examines the effect of the RAE on the journal publishing system, looking at the communities of authors, editors, and publishers.     

出版集团公司治理现状分析及对策研究

按照文化体制改制的时间表与路线图,我国很多出版集团公司相继成立,建立公司制企业。现代企业制度的完善是一个长期摸索的过程,并不是公司制工商登记完成就意味着建立了现代企业制度。本文从公司治理的一个侧面,对我国部分出版集团公司治理问题现状进行了分析,并据此提出相应对策与建议。     

我国出版上市公司绩效综合评价

本研究选择15家传媒业A股上市公司和1家香港H股上市公司作为样本,借助Wind资讯及市场公开数据,以2006～2010年为研究期间,重点对其中5家出版企业(包括4家A股及1家H股企业)的市场表现及经营绩效进行实证研究和评价.研究表明:出版业中长期发展前景看好,但挑战仍然严峻;上市促使出版企业转换经营机制,实现战略转型,市场化进程加速;出版上市公司利用资本市场的融投资功能,推进业态创新和商业模式创新,实现较快发展.