Introducing Book Research Quarterly

Among their many functions in society, books serve to disseminate research. Paradoxically in the past, the book itself has been one of the least researched of all commodities. To help redress this imbalance, the Center for Book Re- search at the University of Scranton, in conjunction with Transaction Peri- odicals Consortium at Rutgers University, is launching Book Research Quarterly.

The journal's subject is the creation, publication, and distribution of books, past, present, and future. Its objective is to serve the public interest. The book is a vital tool of civilization, and in contributing to a better understanding of its role the Quarterly hopes to enhance the book's cultural contribution.

The intended audience of BRQ is professionals and scholars--writers, pub- fishers, printers, binders, librarians, booksellers, critics, and observers whose lives are devoted to books. They more than anyone have been handicapped by a dearth of vital information. Editor Ann Orlov has described this condition eloquently:

There is an offensive lack of hard data about virtually every area of publishing. On the other hand, there is no shortage of seductive myths and random impressions. This is not a correlation, but a simple matter of cause and effect, in the absence of facts--which would have to be rigorously collected and rigorously analyzed--we are as much at the mercy of assorted fancies about why certain things take place and others do not as are all authors and publishers, booksellers and book buyers, reviewers and other interested parties. ("Demythologizing Scholarly Pub- lishing," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sep- tember 1975, vol. 421)

Publishing a research journal in an under-researched field calls for extraor- dinary measures. We cannot simply hang out our shingle and wait for con- tributions. Not only might we wait forever, but what articles may be submitted to us might not address the topics most urgently in need of attention. To deat with this difficulty the bulk of our issues will be given over to thematic sections the topics and contributors of which will be selected by the editors or will grow out of the conference program of the Center for Book Research.

We realize that we are attempting more than the launching of a new journal--- we are helping to create a discipline. When we approach promising research scholars in academe or the book professions, our hope is not merely to obtain an occasional study from them but to groom steady contributors who wilt

4 Book Research Quarterly~Spring 1985

devote much of their time to book research. Our pages will always be open to meritorious work, solicited as well as unsolicited, within the special the- matic sections as well as outside them. We urge researchers working on or planning projects to apprise our associate editor for acquisitions, Leigh Es- tabrook, of their interests and activities.

In addition to articles, we are publishing several regular features. Our Sta- tistical Series will be compiled by William S. Lofquist of the International Trade Administration.Lofquist was formerly editor of the Commerce Depart- ment journal Printing and Publishing, which was eliminated recently through budget cuts. Many of the data in our program continue series from that journal and we are pleased to give them a new lease on life. A column on book pricing and sources of price data is conducted by Frederick C. Lynden of Brown University Library. Author and former New York Times Book Review columnist Judith Appelbaum writes our book reviews. We also plan to publish letters from readers in future issues.

We shall need the encouragement and support of everyone who shares our vision.

John P. Dessauer