Open Society Publishing Forum

9 July 1997, Issue 3

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Regional Publishing Center, OSI-Budapest, 9 July 1997, Issue 3
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================================================================

In this issue
-From the editor
-Regional Publishing Center - Program Descriptions
-Translation Project - Update
-Translation Project List - Correction
-Glossary of Publishing Terms in Bulgaria
-ISBN Seminar for the South Caucasian Countries
-Frankfurt Book Fair - Update
-Publishing Coordinator in Armenia
-Internet Sites: Currency Converter

================================================================

Dear Colleagues,

In this issue we present what RPC has on offer for the national
foundations in 1998. This description of our programs should help you
develop your publishing strategy as well as prepare the 1998 budget.

I am also very pleased to inform you that the first CEU Translation
Project has been published in Albania. Albania is the tenth country
where this project has got to the stage of books already published.

And finally, we have changed the name, from " Soros Publishing Forum"
to "Open Society Publishing Forum". The new name reflects better our
identity.

With best wishes,

Jerzy Celichowski

=================================================================
Foundation Publishing
=================================================================

*** Regional Publishing Center - Program Descriptions ***

As summer is the time for developing publishing program strategies and
budgets for next year, the following description of RPC programs
available in 1998 could be helpful to all involved in this process.
Not all the programs require national foundations' financial
commitment; all of them, however, benefit from cooperation from them.
A separate message has been sent to all Publishing Coordinators
requesting draft budget allocations for selected programs.

* CEU Translation Project *

This project supports translations of basic works in the social
sciences. Grants are allocated through an open competition among
publishers. RPC offers matching funds for this program as well as
technical assistance (copyright acquisition in certain countries,
reading copies, etc.)

So far about 650 translations have been started in 21 countries. Of
these 66 have been already published.

* East Translates East *

This program supports translations among languages of the
post-communist countries. The basis of the program is a list compiled
of foundations' recommendations (to be circulated within a few weeks).
The structure of the program is similar to that of the CEU Translation
Project. RPC offers matching funds and technical coordination.

* Electronic Publishing Development Program *

The Electronic Publishing Development Program was established in July
1996 to assist the publishing sector in Central and Eastern Europe and
the former Soviet Union with the transition to digital media. In
particular it promotes the development of local-language content for
Internet and CD-ROM publishing. Electronic publishing offers
attractive benefits to both publishers and readers including a
low-cost alternative to print publishing, instant and international
distribution of Internet publications and full multi-media
capabilities.

The program supports a wide variety of electronic publishing
initiatives relating to open society, such as scholarly, cultural,
artistic and media projects and is currently involved in 30 projects
in over 9 countries in the region. It aims to build a sustainable
electronic publishing sector and for this reason encourages publishers
to form additional business and strategic alliances with other funding
bodies. Where possible, the program will encourage publishers to take
out special low interest loans for commercial products. Grants will
be made available for products that may have less of a commercial
value and, in most cases, these are matched by the national
foundation.

For more information please contact:

Michael Kay, Director <kaym@osi.hu>
Viktoria Levai, Programs co-ordinator <vlevai@osi.hu>
Laszlo Szeibert, Regional Web Publishing Manager <szeibert@osi.hu>

* Book Publishers and Distributors Loan Fund *

This programs offers assistance for the development of loan programs
targeting publishers or booksellers. Technically this means anything
from actual providing loans with preferential interest rates to bank
guarantees or grants for interest payments. RPC offers not only
matching funds but also consultancy by Erzsebet Timar, the loan
program expert, on how to develop and implement loan schemes.

This program was first implemented in Hungary in 1996. Loans were
provided to 13 publishers. Since then a second round of the program
has been run there. Loans were also provided in Romania. Erzsebet
Timar has already paid consultancy visits to the Macedonian, Ukrainian
and Romanian foundations, and is planning to also visit Georgia and
Kyrgyzstan.

For more information please contact: Erzsebet Timar <etimar@osi.hu>

* Network Advisory Service for the Soros Foundations Network *

RPC provides professional advice on publishing issues to foundations
and regional programs. When requested, RPC staff go on advisory trips
to national foundations or offer consultancy in Budapest. Meetings of
Publishing Staff of the Soros Foundations are organized annually.
External consultants are used when appropriate. This program is
financed by RPC.

This year representatives of RPC visited foundations in Latvia,
Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan as well as
met several foundations' representatives in Budapest. A Meeting of
Publishing Staff was organized in March.

* Training *

RPC, together with national foundations, organizes tailor-made courses
to meet country-specific needs. Trainers come from the countries of
the region as well as the West. Practical handbooks are developed and
translated. RPC offers matching funds.

RPC organized a colloquium, which took place in Budapest, on subsidy
models for university-level publishing in small countries. It also ran
two seminars on ISBN, one (together with the Kazak foundation) for
Central Asian countries in Alatau, Kazakstan, and one (together with
the Georgian foundation) for the Caucasian countries in Gudauri,
Georgia. Handbooks on copyright as well glossaries of publishing terms
are being published.

* Popper Grants *

RPC administers a special program to support translations and
publications of the works of Sir Karl Popper. Although applications
are sent to Budapest and grants are given from the RPC budget,
national foundations are always consulted before a decision is made.
This program does not require allocations in national foundations
budget.

About 30 translations from countries ranging from the Czech Republic
to Mongolia are in various stages of production, 7 have been already
published.

* Central European University Press *

This English-language university press, which operates by
international standards and procedures of peer review and editorial
committee approval, seeks worthy manuscripts and books that can be
translated from the languages of the region on topics ranging from
medieval studies and economic transitions to economics and economics
and history and other aspects of the culture of the region.

Publishing coordinators from many countries have been very helpful in
suggesting several dozen very promising possible
translation-to-English projects either already published books or
manuscripts ready to be evaluated. The CEU Press welcomes and
encourages this input and looks forward to having many more
suggestions for the future. Please send ideas or proposals to Walda
Metcalf, Director and Editor, CEU Press <metcalfw@osi.hu>

*** Translation Project - Update ***

Below are listed new titles published within the project. The Albanian
title is the first one published there within the project!

Albania

1. Descartes: Discours de la methode

Lithuania

1. Wandycz, Piotr: The Price of Freedom

Russia

1. Canetti, Elias: Masse und Macht
2. Deleuze, G.: Nietzsche
3. Heidegger, Martin: Sein und Zeit
4. Heidegger, Martin: Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik
5. Heller, Michel: L'histoire de l'Empire Russe, 3 Volumes
6. Horney, Karen: New Ways in Psychoanalysis
7. Todaro, Michael P.: Economic Development, 5th ed.

*** Translation Project List - Correction ***

A small correction should be made to the updated CEU Translation List
which was sent to publishing coordinators recently. The title of the
new book by Isaiah Berlin added to the "political science, political
theory" section of the list should be "The Proper Study of Mankind: An
Anthology of Essays" (instead of "The Sense of Reality", which is the
title of another new volume of Berlin's essays). This collection of
Berlin's best essays is 696 pages or 50 author's sheets in length.
[DC]

*** Glossary of Publishing Terms in Bulgaria ***

Thanks to the joint efforts of International Book Development - London
and Soros Center for the Arts - Sofia a
Bulgarian-English/English-Bulgarian "Glossary of Publishing Terms" has
just been published. The Glossary is an unique reference tool for
professionals in the sector and it will be distributed free of charge
to publishers, printers, professional schools, libraries, etc.

All expenses for professional editing and pre-press preparation
incurred by IBD were covered by Know-How Fund. Soros Center for the
Arts covered all expenses connected with printing, paper and
distribution (mail), which amounted to $700. It also coordinated all
production stages. [Yana Genova, Bulgaria <ygenova@sca.osf.acad.bg>]

Such glossaries are being published also in other countries, e.g.
Russia or Hungary. If it has already been published somewhere, could
anybody share their experience?

*** ISBN Seminar for the South Caucasian Countries ***

An ISBN seminar for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia organized jointly
by the RPC and Open Society Georgia Foundation as well as the Soros
offices in Yerevan and Baku was conducted in Gudauri, Georgia (2003m
above sea level!) on 23-25 June. The agenda was similar to that of the
earlier Alatau seminar (see FORUM 1), and so was the seminar.
Representatives of the Georgian Publishers' Association gave an
impromptu training to their Azeri colleagues who consider establishing
a Publishers' Association in their country.

Because of war situation in all three countries there are not too many
contacts between them; for the participants from Armenia and
Azerbaijan Georgia (and ISBN) proved to be neutral ground on which
they could meet.

The outcome of the seminar was a decision by participants from all
three countries to start ISBN agencies. In Armenia it will be done by
their Book Chamber, in Azerbaijan by the Publishers' Association as
soon as it is established, and in Georgia by the existing Publishers'
Association. A will to establish a PA was also expressed by the
participants from Armenia. The Georgian PA decided to invite
publishers from Armenia and Azerbaijan to the first Tbilisi Book Fair,
which will be organized in September.

Elene Gabedava, the publishing coordinator from Georgia, contributed
to the success of the seminar by passing her final university
examination and thus graduating on the last day of the seminar.
Congratulations! [JC]

The address of the International ISBN Agency:

Dr.Hartmut Walravens
Director of the International ISBN Agency
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Preussischer Kulturbesitz
D-10772 Berlin
tel: (49 30) 266 2498
fax: (49 30) 266 2378

*** Frankfurt Book Fair - Update ***

So far we received a confirmation of participation from following
countries: Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, and
Uzbekistan. If there is anybody else who would like to stay with us in
a hotel in Bad Soden and who would like our help to get an invitation,
please contact us as soon as possible. [JC]

Some other book fairs important for our region and due this year:

Moscow 3-8 September
Tbilisi September (for the first time)
Belgrade 21-27 October

*** Publishing Coordinator in Armenia ***

We welcome Mariam Gevorgyan who recently joined the Soros office in
Armenia as Regional Programs' Coordinator. Publishing will belong to
her duties. [JC]

================================================================
Internet sites
================================================================

*** Currency Converter ***

This site can enormously simplify your work if you have to do a lot of
money converting in your work. Its URL is
<http://www.oanda.com/cgi-bin/ncc>. What it does is converting any
amount of any one of 164 currencies. The site stores daily exchange
rates back to 1 January 1990. Good news for those who prefer German or
French to English: there are versions of this site in these languages.
Unfortunately not all East European currencies are listed. [JC]     

 

See also: [ #16'98 ] [ #15'98 ] [ #14'98 ] [ #13'98 ] [ #12'98 ] [ #11'97 ] [ #10'97 ] [ #9'97 ] [ #8'97 ] [ #7'97 ] [ #6'97 ] [ #5'97 ] [ #4'97 ] [ #3'97 ] [ #2'97 ] [ #1'97 ]