Greenwood Launches Praeger Security International

Imprint to feature both books and online material on terrorism, security, and military studies

By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 2/15/2006

In the incendiary political climate facing our nation and much of the world, with the rise of global terrorism, you can't have too much information on security if you're a library or other intel provider. Greenwood Publishing is launching a new imprint dubbed Praeger Security International (PSI), which combines a healthy book publishing series with an active web component. The publisher said that PSI builds upon Praeger's “extensive backlist of defense affairs and military history titles and Greenwood's reference works on terrorism and international relations.” Greenwood's Laura Mullen told LJ that the two key areas “will support each other. The books will come out and become part of the online product, which we're launching in March with 500 backlist titles, including titles released within the past several months.” The company plans to release 50 new titles a year.

Heather Ruland Staines, PSI's editorial director, asserts that the new outing is a natural evolution. “[Praeger] had always been strong in publishing on security studies, and Greenwood separately had developed quite a few high-profile, award-wining reference materials on similar topics, so we pondered how we could put them together by topic rather than marketing them separately by product line,” she told LJ. At the same time, she said the company is making a big push on the digital side. “The two ideas came together,” she said, “that we would not only develop electronic products in isolation but that we would have a program to make materials available in all formats.”

Hand in hand

Every title published becomes part of the subscription product. PSI will make titles available online in the month of the print release. “They'll go hand in hand,” Staines said. “When commissioning projects with authors, we're telling them to be mindful of the multiple ways users will be accessing them, so, for example, chapters can stand alone. We're looking at linking author notes with the primary documents that they used and having OpenURLs with other notes to link to [various] online materials that libraries may have already purchased. We want researchers to be able to go as deep as possible.”

Along with the electronic editions of books, the web component boasts unique features. “We have numerous value adds for the homepage,” said Staines. “At the beginning, we're going to make the homepage accessible to the general public, and we have a monthly commentary on a topic of international security in the news written by both our authors and experts we're in contact with.” There also will be a regional focus that changes monthly, either one country within a region, or one region within a global context. PSI also has commissioned bibliographic essays under subtopics that give users information on materials that are not Greenwood/Praeger content. “Additionally we have a number of primary documents we're making available,” said Staines. “Those are public domain materials, but we are commissioning head notes for them to give users more info.”

International advisors

In the year leading up to its birth, PSI netted an eclectic cadre of experts to serve as its advisory board. “We wanted it to be international in scope and appeal and interdisciplinary as well as represent a diverse political perspective,” said Staines. PSI seeks to create an intellectual environment for serious debate on security studies that is unbiased and offers multiple perspectives. “So we chose an international selection of advisors with experience in the military and policymaking arenas, ranging into journalism and even the corporate world,” Staines told LJ. “I wanted to make sure we had women's voices and people of color on the board.” Board members include Paul Wilkinson (cochair), professor of international relations and chair of the Advisory Board for the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland; Lt. Gen. Claudia J. Kennedy, former U.S. Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence; and Thérèse Delpech, director of strategic studies for the Atomic Energy Commission. Only a few are Greenwood/Praeger authors.

Although there are no librarians on the advisory board, Staines said, “many librarians were involved in building the site,” including a team who put together the site's subject browse index using a modified Library of Congress scheme, filling in where they thought it was lacking or biased.

Monthly updates

The site initially will be updated monthly, but PSI hopes to increase frequency in the future. Already looking ahead, Staines said that planned upgrades include a toolbox allowing users to save searches, notes, and such and professors will be able to post additional information.

Pricing starts at $2500 based on FTE, with the lowest prices reserved for high schools and small military libraries.