Landmark investment of $800,000 will support future of scholarly books

BY PAUL JUNOR

In an age when there is an emphasis on digital media, the Scholarly Books Awards reminds us that books are still important and play an important role in people’s lives.

The Scholarly Publication Program (ASPP) has now been changed to the Scholarly Book Awards. These awards fund scholarly books in Canada that make important contributions to the humanities and social sciences. There is much expectation as the SSHRC will be involved with Congress 2023 that will bring together more than 8,000 participants at York University.

In order to be selected for the ASPP, a Publication Committee made up of specialists from diverse disciplines in the humanities and social sciences review grant applications, and present funding recommendations regularly throughout the year. It is primarily through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) that the awards are funded. The list of all the association books and research awards can be seen on the website.

It was 83 years ago that scholars came together in Canada to publicize original, Canadian research in the humanities and social sciences. The purpose of this meeting was to assist authors who were interested in publishing their scholarly work. The subsequent change of name to the “Aid to Scholarly Publications Program,” saw 33 scholarly books being promoted across Canada. Since the launch of ASSP there have been 33 scholarly books and 8,000 works promoted. They have enriched the: social, cultural and intellectual life of people across the country and the world.

On Tuesday, April 4^th, 2023, the Federation announced that it had launched an investment of $800,000 in Canadian scholarly books through its flagship Scholarly Book Awards. This new investment will be distributed over three years towards the publication and translation of scholarships. There have been over 8,000 books published for more than 80 years due to help from the Federation. The updating of the awards has been done to reflect clearly defined principles of: equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization (EDID).

There has been discussion about the importance of open access books. Open access refers to freely available, digital, online information.” In addition, it often carries less restrictive copyright and licensing barriers than traditionally published works, for both the users and the authors. There are two new aspects of  this work:

• Open access publishing targets offer a total of 108 supplemental grants (54 for books and 54 for chapters) over the next three years
• Funding for translation grants has increased from $12,000 to $30,000. One translation grant is exclusively reserved for Indigenous language translations

Mike DeGagne, President and CEO of Indspire and Chair of Federation’s Board of Directors states in the press release, “Scholarly books are crucial preservers and transmitters of knowledge. By expanding our awards, we can help secure the future of scholarly books so that they can enrich the social, cultural, and intellectual lives of people across Canada and the world.”

Gabriel Miller, President and CEO of the Federation notes, “We couldn’t be more grateful to the SSHRC for their continued support of this program. With this landmark achievement, we are creating more opportunities for all Canadians to read and write scholarly books.”

Anyone interested in learning about the Scholarly Books Awards can check  www.federatiohss.ca/scholarly-book-awards