European Publishing Training Needs In The Information Society II Project (EPTNIS II)

The objectives of the European Publishing Training Needs in the Information Society II Project (EPTNIS II) conducted in March-September 1999 were the following:

• To identify the attitudes towards training of publishers in the East European EU accession countries
• To establish the extent to which electronic publishing is undertaken by publishers in the region
• To define the extent to which publishers feel publishing training is needed, and in which business sectors it is most required
• To define the extent to which electronic publishing training is a priority in the region
• To produce data on the publishing industry which is internationally comparable, and which will provide a benchmark of the state of the publishing sector in the region

The partners in the project were School of Art, Publishing and Music, Oxford Brookes University, Strategy, Research & Action (London), the Publishing Training House (London), Ausstallungs und Messe des Borsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels (the Frankfurt Book Fair) and the Center for Publishing Development (CPD). The project has been partially financed with a EU grant of 50,000 euros ($51,590) and partially by the project partners (17,000 euros - $17,540). CPD share in the grant is 13,200 euros ($13,600); its own contribution is 7,000 euros ($7,200).

CPD was responsible for conducting the research, which was done in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Partners for the research were local Soros foundation, which either conducted it themselves (Estonia, Latvia, Romania) or hired external experts (Slovakia, Slovenia) to do so. In some cases they recommended to CPD local institutions like publishers associations (Bulgaria, Czech Republic) or publishing studies centers (Lithuania, Poland), which was a particularly welcome development as the project additionally strengthened these organisations. In Hungary research was conducted by CPD.

The project was carried out in two stages. The first one included face-to-face interviews with a few publishers in four selected countries (4 publishers in Hungary and Latvia, and 10 in Poland and Romania). The purpose of this was to test the initial version of a project questionnaire. In the second stage amended questionnaires were translated into local languages and mailed to 2,306 active publishers in the region. As a result over 720 questionnaires were returned, which represents 31% of all mailed questionnaires and some 32% of all active publishers.

The results of the research can be found here:

Country reports

Executive summary

Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia