West Virginia University Libraries welcomes WVU Press as a key partner in advancing our shared commitment to research empowerment and cultural engagement. Now administratively housed under WVU Libraries, WVU Press continues to be an extension of the University, serving the public good by publishing works of scholarly, intellectual, and creative merit and enhancing the reputation of the University as a major research institution around the world.
Expanding mutual reach and partnership, WVU Press supports the WVU Libraries mission to connect people with information and culture with an array of educational and cultural tools, services, and programming for students, faculty, and community. By stewarding research and scholarship, WVU Libraries supports access to works like those the Press finds, develops, and publishes. Both WVU Libraries and WVU Press play, and will continue to play, critical roles in fulfilling the University’s research and land-grant missions.
“I am thrilled to welcome WVU Press into the Libraries. We are discovering countless, great ways in which we mutually expand our reach and partnership, both on and off campus,” Dean of WVU Libraries Karen Diaz said. “Both the Press and the Libraries are committed to the University’s R1 status and land-grant mission. Both serve the public good via dissemination of and access to research and scholarship. This synergistic relationship is allowing us to discover how our roles both intertwine and diverge.”
As WVU Press continues to operate independently as it always has, the new structure will empower and strengthen the organization's acquisition process and present opportunities for furthering scholarly communication and community outreach.
“I grew up in a house filled with books, few of which were classified as ‘for children,’” WVU Press Director Than Saffel said. “I love books and I love libraries as places of discovery. I'm honored to be in this position at a time when there are so many open roads that lie before us, with so many opportunities. There's a lot to do, but it’s incredibly exciting.”
About WVU Libraries
West Virginia University Libraries connects people with information and culture, empowering their exploration, discovery, learning, and creativity. Stewarding 2.7M unique titles, nearly 700 research databases, 245K journals and newspapers, and more, WVU Libraries provides access to reliable information and cultural understanding. Engaging both campus and community, WVU Libraries provides specialized research guidance, a comprehensive instructional program fostering research, critical inquiry, and data skills, and a vibrant array of cultural and educational events. WVU Libraries is the dynamic and essential University partner trusted to empower learning and research.
About WVU Press
West Virginia University Press is considered an influential small publisher among its peer university presses and has achieved national recognition. The Press publishes between 12 and 16 books per year over two seasons. With books on West Virginia and Appalachia, energy and the environment, and celebrated works of original fiction, WVU Press appeals to a broad readership. Recent accolades of note include a nomination for the National Book Award with the short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (2020) by Deesha Philyaw; West Virginia native Neema Avashia’s Another Appalachia: Coming up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place (2022), which was a New York Public Library Best Book of 2022; and This Book is Free and Yours to Keep: Notes from the Appalachian Book Project (2024), which won the Appalachian Studies Association’s prestigious Weatherford Award for Best Nonfiction Book that celebrates “books that best illuminate the challenges, personalities, and unique qualities of the Appalachian South.”
WVU Press is the home of a number of book series including the newly created Connective Tissue, the first book series devoted to the medical humanities, and the environmental humanities-focused Energy and Society, whose publications study human relationships with energy. The Press also publishes a handful of scholarly journals, including West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies, which has been in continuous publication since 1939.