American Library Association President Molly Raphael and Neal-Schuman President Patricia Glass Schuman announced today that on December 23 Neal-Schuman Publishers will sign an agreement to become part of ALA Publishing.
Neal-Schuman Publishers, founded by John Vincent Neal and Patricia Glass Schuman in 1976, will continue to offer print and electronic publications under its well-known imprint, but will join ALA Editions, TechSource, and Huron Street Press under the ALA Publishing umbrella, which also includes ALA Digital Reference, Booklist Publications, American Libraries, and ALA Graphics.
“We are very excited about Neal-Schuman joining the ALA family,” said Raphael. “We look forward to continuing the tradition that Pat Schuman and Jack Neal have established—as the best in library and information science education.”
Pat Schuman, who has served as both ALA President (1991–1992) and Treasurer (1984–1988), said that she and Neal “are extremely proud of the company we have built over the last 36 years. We see ALA as a perfect home for Neal-Schuman, where the imprint can continue to grow and evolve, serving a new generation of librarians.”
Over the next three months, ALA plans on relocating Neal-Schuman operations from New York City to Chicago.
ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels told American Libraries that the acquisition of Neal-Schuman closely supports the Association’s strategic goals, which include making the highest-quality library service available to all library users and making high-quality, affordable continuing education (CE) available to libraries.
ALA Editions authors have played a growing role in online CE for the profession, Fiels added, and Neal-Schuman’s rich content and many author-experts will allow ALA to offer a much broader range of online and face-to-face learning and a growing list of ebooks. Neal-Schuman publishes hundreds of well-known titles, including the popular How-To-Do-It series, The Tech Set, and many textbooks used by LIS graduate programs.
“The Neal-Schuman imprint will enable the Association to expand its publishing program and bring in new revenue that will augment support for member programs and services,” said ALA Treasurer Jim Neal (no relation to Jack Neal). “We need to find new financial sources to grow our capacity in legislative advocacy, public awareness, intellectual freedom, diversity, and the full range of ALA priorities.” Neal also cited the rich potential for expanded international sales in Europe and Asia, and the capacity to extend ALA’s electronic publishing capacity.
“Like libraries across the U.S., ALA has been challenged by the economic downturn,” Neal added, “but thanks to careful stewardship of our resources over many decades, ALA remains fiscally strong. It is important for the Association to invest in its future, to develop new markets and products, and thus better serve libraries and ALA members.”
Neal-Schuman has more than 500 new, revised, and backlist titles in print, and the company markets or copublishes some 200 books from Chandos Publications, Facet Books (the official imprint of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), the Medical Library Association, and others.
