KU Publishing House publishes monographs, scientific journals, collections of conference papers, textbooks, teaching aids for students, collections of sheet music, and informational and occasional publications for Klaipėda University and its divisions. The first book in the archives of the Publishing House is a modest collection of scientific papers with green soft covers Lithuania and its Neighbours at the Time of Grunwald.
Lolita Zemlienė remembers that the first year output of the Publishing House was very modest, merely 12 publications. “Presently we are the largest publishing house in Klaipėda in terms of the number of publications. Just our publications are different – not romance novels or popular literature. Our authors are researchers, and the findings of their research appear in monographs or articles,” says Director of the KU Publishing House Zemlienė.
The staff of the Publishing House is currently 7 people, all of them professionals in their fields boasting extensive experience. The editors Roma Nikžentaitienė and Vilma Urbonavičiūtė and Deputy Director Alfonsas Jankantas have been working here for more than 20 years. What the book will look like depends on the layout designer Karolis Saukantas, who has been with the Publishing House for over 15 years, and the artist Eglė Dučinskienė. Zemlienė is proud of the professionalism of English editor Joseph Everatt. “The editors are the smartest people in our Publishing House, because they attentively read all the texts provided by researchers and, if necessary, edit them to make the message clear and in compliance with the rules of the Lithuanian language,” jokes Zemlienė. The Publishing House has a bookstore, where one can buy scientific literature published both in Klaipėda and elsewhere. The publications of KU Publishing House are also sold online.
Klaipėda University Publishing House is a member of the Lithuanian Academic Publishers Association. Its team participated at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2002, and at the Göteborg Book Fair in 2005; moreover, every year, they participate at Vilnius Book Fair. Almost the entire output of 2021 – 60 titles – will travel to Vilnius on February 24-27. “We have a traditional place at the Vilnius Book Fair and also traditional buyers – the people who come every year to find out what we have published and to acquire the scientific literature they need,” says Lolita Zemlienė.
KU Publishing House is a regular participant at Klaipėda Book Fairs and submits its publications to the Klaipėda Book elections. In 2010, at the National Book Art Competition, the Publishing House won a diploma for Kristina Jokubavičienė’s design for the book Between Coming and Going. Algis Kliševičius. In the competition of the most beautiful and most popular book of Klaipėda, in 2007, it was the scientific journal Archaeologia Baltica that became the most beautiful book of the city; in 2013, it was A. Vimina’s book A History of the Polish Civil Wars, while the most popular book of that year was The Barracks that Became Klaipėda University edited by Vasilijus Safronovas. Power of “Small Armies” and Paramilitarism: the Case of Interwar Lithuania by Vytautas Jokubauskas was recognised as the most popular book in the competition Klaipėda Book 2014.