IGS launches new social science press
Revamped offerings include e-monographs online

By Cathy Cockrell, Public Affairs

06 September 2001 | The Institute for Governmental Studies recently announced the launch of an interdisciplinary multimedia publishing outlet for social science research across campus.

Berkeley Public Policy Press replaces IGS Press, which was begun along with the institute in 1919 to disseminate the work of public policy researchers there.

The new imprint publishes peer-reviewed monographs, working papers and books from campus departments, institutes, centers and programs in the social sciences, using both print and non-traditional technologies.

The launch of Berkeley Public Policy Press, or BP3, reflects formally a gradual change in “the kind of things we’re doing, who we are doing them with, and the way we are doing them,” says Jerry Lubenow, director of publications at the Institute of Governmental Studies.

BP3 publishes research on law, Latin American studies, military affairs and public policy, among many other fields. Some of its offerings will not come between covers, Lubenow says.

Work that is timely and fairly short lends itself to publication over the Internet, he notes. “Or we may publish just a chapter of a book online, to encourage people to buy it.”

BP3 is also exploring print-on-demand technology, which would allow it to respond to orders by generating from an electronic file the exact number of copies needed.

“We’re very excited,” says Lubenow. “There’s going to be a much larger role of electronic publishing, especially for shorter works.”

Upcoming publications include “Rethinking Social Inquiry” by Berkeley political scientists Henry Brady and David Collier. This new book aims to bridge the schism between qualitative and quantitative methodologies in the social sciences. Set for release by the end of the year, it is one of a four new books that BP3 is producing in partnership with the Colorado-based academic publisher Rowman & Littlefield.

“We prepare the manuscript and do all the editing; they print and distribute it,” says Lubenow.

Berkeley Public Policy Press is pursuing similar collaborations with University of California Press and other academic publishers, he says.

See www.igs.berkeley.edu for information on the press or to view BP3’s new catalog online.

E-mail pramirez@uclink4.berkeley.edu to order a hard copy of the catalog.