Features

The signage above the door at 2430 Bancroft Way boldly proclaims “Ten Thousand Minds on Fire,” an apt description of what University Press Books/Berkeley set out to do when it opened in November 1974. 

For the past 30 years this independent bookstore, wh ich is not affiliated with the University of California Press or the University, has offered rare, unique, and hard-to-find titles from university and academic presses from around the world. 

  “It will never work,” is what the friends, family and colleagues of Bill McClung said when he first expressed his idea of opening a bookstore devoted exclusively to the sale of books published by university presses; but McClung was determined to give it a try.  

  As an editor with the University of California Press, he traveled the country to acquire manuscripts and frequently visited local bookstores in hopes of finding the books he had published on the shelves. Not only were they not there, even in the campus stores, but neither were the books published at Harvard, Columbia, or Chicago—not to mention Alabama, Washington, or Northeastern.  

  He figured if all these scholarly books were amassed in one intellectual center, like Berkeley, they just might be able to sustain a bookstore. And this November, the store that ‘couldn’t work’ is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. This cultural institution carries more than 20,000 titles from over 100 American and Canadian university presses, plus Oxford and Cambridge. It has since added other presses such as Routledge, W.W.Norton, and Penguin, and sells books to individuals and libraries all over the world. 

Of course, like all independent bookstores, University Press Books faces its share of challenges. “We definitely struggle with competition from corporate on-line booksellers,” explained Karen McClung, co-founder and general partner. “But we sell a class and depth of books that other bookstores avoid and we have a knowledgeable, dedicated staff that offers a level of service that the chain stores simply cannot provide.”  

  To remain competitive, and to serve international as well as domestic customers, University Press Books has established a web site through which its entire inventory is available for purchase. It also has a book club that rewards frequent buyers, and has recently expanded to include selected current fiction and nonfiction, excellent children’s books, international newspapers and selected magazines and journals, and beautifully-designed blank journals, greeting cards and bookmarks. 

  The store itself is a wonderful refuge for the mind. Its two levels are filled with books from floor to ceiling, interspersed with Turkish and Persian rugs and masks from all over the world. There are various nooks and tables for perusing favorite finds, including a huge, welcoming table at the rear of the store, around which book parties and other events take place. In 1999, Wilt Idema, a visiting professor and columnist from Holland, described University Press Books as “not just a good academic bookstore, but a unique p lace with a praiseworthy intellectual climate. As long as it exists,” he continued, “Berkeley will easily stand…among the very best American universities.” 

  “Nobody got rich,” explained Grant Barnes, one of Bill’s colleagues at U.C. Press, now Director E meritus of Stanford University Press, and one of the bookstore’s early partners, “but the store has been self-sustaining. All concerned, which includes a significant number of Berkeley faculty and university administrators, had the great satisfaction of s eeing this community asset being born and staying alive for thirty years. And countless book buyers have found and purchased new and backlist books that were exactly what they needed.” 

  As part of its anniversary celebration, University Press Books/Berkeley will have an open house, a store-wide sale, and several raffles during the month of November. 

  “We would like to thank our customers, partners, and staff for making it possible for us to celebrate this anniversary,” said Karen McClung. “Without them we would never have made it; and with their continued support we look forward to many more years of scholarly bookselling.” 

University Press Books/Berkeley (www.universitypressbooks.com) is located at 2430 Bancroft Way, below Telegraph, and is open seve n days a week (Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun. noon-5 p.m.). (510) 548–0585. 

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