NMBC News:As a result of the administrative reorganization taking place at UNM Press, the New Mexico Book Co-op will be having a fact-finding lunch with the Interim Provost of UNM Dr. Craig White and Dean Dr. Richard Clement of UNM Libraries who is scheduled to take over as administrative contact for UNM Press this summer.
NM Book Co-op has requested that the new Director of UNM Press also be present since the last day for the current Director of UNM Press, John Byram, is July 25. It is unknown who the new Director of UNM Press will be. Dean Clement was involved with the decision to outsource the Utah State University Press to the University Press of Colorado in 2012.
The NM Book Co-op is interested in the future of UNM Press because it is the largest publisher in New Mexico and rumors about the future of UNM Press have been circulating for months. This is a chance to hear what the actual plan for UNM Press is. Already eight UNM Press staff members have been terminated/forced to retire/resigned or had their contracts not renewed. At least two other UNM Press staffers are slated to retire soon.
The lunch is a result of a letter sent to Interim President of UNM Abdallah. The letter raised many questions but to date none has been answered. Questions have included: the location of the UNM Press offices/staff; all UNM Press books will be sent out of New Mexico making them more costly for stores and authors; the UNM Press warehouse will be given to UNM Library and renovated as a climate controlled storage space costing thousand to millions of dollars; the future and projected costs for presses distributed by UNM Press; the name of the New Director of UNM Press; questionable attempted layoffs of UNM Press staffers; the status of contracted UNM Press books; consultant’s reports not followed; the cost to UNM for the consultant’s reports; the royalty reporting under existing contracts for UNM Press authors; and the new mission of UNM Press.
Interim Provost White was unable to meet with the NM Book Co-op in June because of his UNM trip to China to recruit potential students for UNM.
The New Mexico Book Co-op, the largest book cooperative in the Southwest, has over 1,600 members around the region. The membership includes UNM Press and many of the UNM Press authors. The lunch is open to the public. It will be held at Golden Corral on San Mateo near Cliff’s on Monday, July 24.
Because Golden Corral is a restaurant, all attendees are required to pay for lunch (about $10) and because the meeting will be well attended, it is suggested that everyone come well before noon to get a seat and eat. Due to anticipated attendance at this special meeting, there may be provision for standing room only.
