Written by Bonnie Samuel   

The demise of the books, newspapers and more mediums of the printed word has been a big topic in recent times. Just this week, great alarm has been sounded over the impact of Amazon.com on the purveyors of books around the nation. It is alarming, yes, but wait, what part do we the consumers play in the trend? It's not just about the easy shopping the web offers. It's more about the quality and content of what is available now ...and what is disappearing quickly. So it's about us...our culture...which is a reflection of us.

In a recent article in "Guernica Magazine", a journal of arts and politics, writer Leah Carroll gives us the alarming news that the University of Missouri announced in June that they will close their university press department. This has happened at many other universities around the USA. University Presses at universities were established to publish faculty work and topics of regional interest. These are scholarly works, important for the history they record, advancement of ideas, telling of societal change, movements and the people involved documenting our culture and history. This includes the arts in every medium. For example, the University of Missouri University Press published an outstanding work on Langston Hughes, considered a classic today, and more works on the civil rights movements.

The budget portion to sustain University Presses is small compared to the funds allotted to America's passion for university sports. And there's the rub-to bring in the money to fund the university budget, the school must give the people what they want. And they want football more than good books of scholarly work it seems. That's certainly a reflection of our culture. What do we really want to read, watch, do, see?

Perhaps a group of graduate students in sociology or a university professor has been working on a research study for decades on the demise of print publishing, even the content and quality of same. It probably speaks to the evolvement of hyper-consumerism, mindless and isolated electronic devices activities, even the craze for high violence level and extremely loud Hollywood movies - all the same plot...if there is one. This incredible piece of scholarship has no doubt documented the "dumbing-down" of public education, which of course would impact what is being read...or not. But alas, we probably won't see such a report, at least not from a University Press. Check Amazon.com -- maybe they have it...in a e-book edition maybe?