BY MARK SKERTIC
The Cincinnati Enquirer
After a quarter-century, the University of Cincinnati is back in the publishing business.
A new reference work produced by UC contains more than 1,800 photos and 1,200 pages of text on the works of a 19th century author and artist. But despite the monumental amount of information it contains, the work won't take up much room on a researcher's library shelf.
George Catlin: The Printed Works, a two-volume computer CD-ROM, is the inaugural piece published by the University of Cincinnati Digital Press. It was unveiled Tuesday at the university.
In addition to high-resolution images of Catlin's paintings, the disks include the text of his writings, supporting documents, a bibliography and searchable database.
UC Archivist Alice Cornell said it's the first in a planned series of multimedia research works that will be published on CDs. In about a year, the university hopes to release a book on 19th century North American Indian portraits in print.
The UC press released its last book in the early 1970s. While other universities continue to publish books and, sometimes, music on tapes and CDs, the creation of original, multimedia research works is unique.
The work cost $30,000 to $40,000 to prepare, about the cost of preserving a couple of rare books, said David Kohl, dean of university libraries. UC hopes to recoup that cost by selling copies of the CD set for $499; libraries and universities are expected to be the primary customers.
The Catlin collection draws on materials at UC, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and Yale University.
Information: http://www.ucdp.uc.edu
