The Mississippi Encyclopedia in Electronic Form: Education and Access

The University Press of Mississippi is pleased to be partnering with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi to produce a one-volume, 1,600-page, comprehensive state encyclopedia in 2011. The Mississippi Encyclopedia will be an engaging resource to the people, events, places, and heritage that have created a culture like no other in America. Thematic essays on arts and culture, civil rights, education, politics and government, food, folkways, religion, and agriculture, among others, will introduce readers to broad treatments of the forces that have shaped the Magnolia State. Then, through more than 1,500 shorter subject entries, authors will highlight the individuals and topics connected to the state's past and present. The Mississippi Encyclopedia is a book for Mississippians and those wishing to learn more about the state, offering multiple perspectives on the complex past and exploring the rich culture fostered in the state's fertile ground over hundreds of years.

The process of conceptualizing and creating the text for the encyclopedia has taken nearly a decade, and the manuscript is scheduled for completion in early 2010. However, The Mississippi Encyclopedia project faces one more great challenge: how to make this invaluable reference volume available electronically for increased access to the young people who will need information from this critical volume as part of their educational experience.

Today's students are a prime audience for ebooks; they can access sound scholarly materials using technologies with which they are already familiar. Ebooks are also a growing segment of library purchases, both for reasons of price and accessibility. In the fall of 2008, the director of the Press visited all the Mississippi state campuses, interviewing library directors about ebooks and their growing place in academic libraries. The Historically Black Colleges and Universities and smaller campuses were the most eager to embrace ebooks for their students. Several of the librarians said that for many of their students, if research material was not available electronically, students would rarely seek it. Many of the librarians pointed out that they could build their library collection quickly and less expensively with electronic content, and others said that ebooks were a vital way they could serve distance learning and other nontraditional students equitably.

For The Mississippi Encyclopedia to be of real value for students of all ages, teachers, and scholars, it is imperative that the book be available in electronic format and be made completely searchable. Many students in Mississippi, whether in the K-12 system or at one of the state's universities, come from underserved populations. Providing these students and their teachers with access to this invaluable research volume in electronic format will mean the difference between The Mississippi Encyclopedia being just another book on a dusty shelf and it serving as a primary, reliable source of information accessible through all Mississippi libraries (academic, including HBCUs, public, and K-12) and other study program settings, such as the state's Boys & Girls Clubs.

The University Press of Mississippi (UPM) is the country's only university press with institutional ties to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); among its eight institutional partners, UPM represents Jackson State University, Alcorn State University, and Mississippi Valley State University. Founded in 1970 as a not-for-profit publisher, the Press has a long history of publishing books about Mississippi and the region, with a particular focus on African American studies. UPM's mission is to publish the highest quality scholarly and general interest books and to promote and distribute them as widely as possible. The Press regards ebooks as a valuable new way of achieving this mission. As libraries build their electronic holdings and educators teach students to use the technologies that will help young men and women in Mississippi build strong and fulfilling futures, ebooks will soon be an essential component of any educational experience. And for decades to come, no ebook may be of more educational value than The Mississippi Encyclopedia.

Creating an ebook version of such a large and complicated volume will be expensive. Conversion of the text and graphics to multiple ebook formats (at present, there is no one standard) will need to be handled by an outside company specializing in such conversions, and the Press will need to acquire a digital asset management system able to organize and host the book's large number of electronic files. The electronic portion of the encyclopedia project will cost approximately $100,000. The Press simply cannot absorb this cost within its current operating funds, and it seeks outside donors who will make this electronic encyclopedia possible. UPM also seeks donors to make possible the free distribution of the ebook of The Mississippi Encyclopedia to schools and programs in Mississippi. With an additional $50,000 in funding, UPM would give copies of The Mississippi Encyclopedia to the state's approximately 400 public libraries, K-12 public school libraries, all state universities and community colleges, and the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Mississippi faces many challenges in the quest to bring quality education and materials to its students. An electronic version of The Mississippi Encyclopedia will provide access to an essential, easily searchable source of information about the state and its peoples to learners statewide. The print edition of the book will be a testament to the creativity, achievements, and determination of generations of Mississippians. The electronic version of The Mississippi Encyclopedia, however, will be the tool that successfully carries that vibrant story to the students who need it most. Please join us in this crucial endeavor.

For more information about The Mississippi Encyclopedia or to discuss funding of the project, please contact:

Leila W. Salisbury, Director
University Press of Mississippi
3825 Ridgewood Road
Jackson MS 39211
601-432-6205
lsalisbury@mississippi.edu