Baltimore, MD – June 18, 2013 – Eight distinguished scholarly presses, including the recently-revived University of Missouri Press and the Chinese University Press, are confirmed to join the University Press Content Consortium (UPCC) and make their books available digitally on the Project MUSE platform in 2014. Cornell University Press, Northern Illinois University Press, Ohio State University Press, School for Advanced Research (SAR) Press, Texas Tech University Press, and University of South Carolina Press constitute the remainder of the new participants in UPCC Books on MUSE.

The new participating publishers bring a variety of program strengths in MUSE’s core humanities and social science disciplines, including political science and policy studies, cultural studies, anthropology, literary theory and criticism, religion, Asian studies, United States regional studies, and Indigenous studies. Their books will join the more than 23,000 scholarly titles expected to be available on the MUSE platform by the end of 2013, and will bring the total number of UPCC presses to 91. A complete list of UPCC publishers is available at http://muse.jhu.edu/about/UPCC.html.

All of the new presses are expected to make their books available in both the UPCC Collections on MUSE and the recently launched Single Title Sales program, a partnership initiative with YPB Library Services facilitated through YBP’s GOBI3 acquisition interface. Details on 2014 collections and titles will be released in October.

Books on MUSE are now available for unlimited DRM-free usage, downloading and printing by scholars and students at over 150 institutions in nearly 20 countries. Acquisition of MUSE book collections has generated well over half a million in unit book sales for the participating not-for-profit publishers since the launch of UPCC on MUSE in January 2012.

About the new UPCC participating presses:

– Founded in 1977 as the publishing house of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Chinese University Press specializes in Chinese studies in literature, history, philosophy, languages, and the arts. The Press’ journal The China Review is also now available in Project MUSE.

– Established in 1869, Cornell University Press publishes 120 new titles a year across many disciplines, including anthropology, art history, Asian studies, classics, cultural studies, history, literary criticism and theory, medieval studies, New York City and State, philosophy, politics and international relations, security studies, Slavic and Eurasian studies, sociology, and urban studies.

– Northern Illinois University Press publishes major works in its series on Slavic and East European studies and its Orthodox Christian Studies series; the Press also has informal series in religion and philosophy, drugs and alcohol, and Southeast Asian studies. Additionally, it promotes understanding of the Midwest through books on regional history and culture, and publishes literary novels with Midwestern settings and themes under its Switchgrass Book imprint.

– The Ohio State University Press specializes in literary studies, including narrative theory, Victorian studies, medieval studies, and classics. It also offers books in linguistics, foreign language pedagogical material, and publishes the annual winners of its short fiction and poetry prizes. Its books will join its three journals currently available in MUSE: Journal of Higher Education, American Periodicals and Narrative.

– The publication arm of a non-profit organization established in 1907 as a center for the study of the archaeology and ethnology of the American Southwest, School for Advanced Research (SAR) Press produces books in anthropology and archaeology, the arts and aesthetics of Indigenous peoples, and the peoples and cultures of the American Southwest, past and present.

– Texas Tech University Press publishes approximately 30 titles per year across the areas of American liberty and justice; costume and textile studies; history and culture of Texas and the West, the Great Plains, and modern Southeast Asia during and after the Vietnam War; Jewish studies and literature; Latin American and Latino fiction; natural history and natural science; sport in the American West; and the annual winner of the Walt McDonald First-Book Competition in Poetry, and literary fiction of Texas and the West. The Press also has four journals in literary studies available in MUSE.

– The University of Missouri Press endeavors to share original scholarly research, outstanding writing, as well as uniquely focused studies by, for, and about Missourians. The specific areas in which the Press publishes include American and world history; military history; intellectual history; biography; African American studies; women’s studies; American, British, and Latin American literary criticism; journalism; political science; regional studies; and creative nonfiction.

– One of the oldest publishing houses in the South and the largest publisher in its state, the University of South Carolina Press publishes many internationally recognized scholarly book series, including Understanding Contemporary American Literature, Understanding Modern European and Latin American Literature, Studies in Personalities of the Old Testament, Studies in Personalities of the New Testament, Studies in Comparative Religion, Studies in Rhetoric/Communication, Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court, and Studies in Maritime History. The Press also produces titles in African American studies, social work, military history, and a number of Southern regional book series.

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The University Press Content Consortium (UPCC) grew from the partnership of Project MUSE and the University Press e-book Consortium (UPeC), formed in 2009 to explore the feasibility of a university press–based e-book initiative. With planning and development supported by grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, UPeC surveyed the needs of the library community and developed and tested a business model. In Spring 2011, Project MUSE was selected to implement UPeC’s plan for a transformative and sustainable product offering digital versions of book-length scholarship from many distinguished scholarly presses. UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE launched in January 2012.

Project MUSE is a trusted provider of authoritative humanities and social science books and journals from more than 200 of the world’s most distinguished university presses and scholarly societies. Since 1995, its electronic journal collections have supported a wide array of research needs at academic, public, special, and school libraries worldwide. UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE, launched in 2012, offer over 20,000 peer-reviewed digital books, in an integrated environment with content from more than 550 scholarly journals currently on MUSE.

For more information, contact muse@press.jhu.edu.