Bulletin Spring 1989

The First General Book Rolls off the Press -By T.L. Tsim, Director, The Chinese University Press If the primary functions of a university are the creation and dissemination of knowledge, and I for one can think of no more noble goals for a university, the primary function of a university press is to assist in the latter, that is to say, to assist in the dissemination of knowledge, to make sure that knowing is not confined to a select few but is shared among the world community, not just in academia but also outside it. However, the creation of knowledge - I am using that term loosely to mean knowing that which is not previously known —must precede its dissemination. And the responsibility for that rests with the teachers and researchers — the academics in a university. It is only natural, therefore, that when a university reaches maturity, when a lot of research has been undertaken, there will be a need for the creation of a university press to assist in knowledge dissemination. As far as our University is concerned, such a point was reached in 1977 when, fourteen years after the University first came into being, the then Vice- Chancellor, Dr. Choh-ming Li, found it opportune to start The Chinese University Press (CUP). With the establishment of its own press, the University is able to share the research findings or academic treatises of its teaching and research staff with other interested parties. The creative function of the University is now complemented by the distributive function, so that the transmission of knowledge is no longer confined to teaching within our own campus but extends beyond it. The academic community thrives on intellectual exchange, debate and discussion. The really good theories in the sciences and social sciences, like the most illuminating works in the humanities, should be able to stand up to the closest scrutiny. This is why, like other university presses, the CUP operates a referee system whereby all academic manuscripts are subjected to external assessment, and the reader is asked to comment, among other things, on the manuscript's originality, academic content and contribution to the sum of human knowledge. The system has worked quite well for a number of years but i t does restrict the CUP to publishing only the following kinds of publications: (a) academic works of originality and (b) dictionaries. Then in 1981, the University established the Committee on the Development Programme for Teaching Material in Chinese and since then a number of textbooks in the Chinese language has been added to our list. Increasingly, however, it is felt b y members of staff in the University that there may be room for publications which while not being academic works of originality, nevertheless help in the dissemination or popularization of knowledge and experience. The books which immediately spring to mind under this category are those which attempt to explain sophisticated and difficult theories or academic treatises in the kind of everyday language which most people can understand. But we need not be restricted to these alone. To accommodate such a niche in the publishing industry, therefore, we at the CUP have conceived the General Books Publication Programme. The first publication under this series rolled off the press in May 1989. This is the book entitled Students' Activities Handbook (學生活動手册） edite d by Mrs. Grace Chow, Deputy Director of Student Affairs. Other books will follow as we have now eleven publications 7