The role of university publishing companies in the socio-cultural environment of the region
The humanitarian society has long been concerned with the crisis of Russian spirituality. Political scientists and sociologists speak about the problem. President of Russia Vladimir Putin stressed its importance in the speech at the meeting of the Council for Culture and the Arts on September 25, 2012. The issue is complicated by the fact that the regions, which were the traditional space of the spiritual life of the society, experienced segmentation of the socio-cultural and spiritual space, and disintegration of social ties in the post-reform Russia in the late 20th century. The revival of spirituality of the Russian society largely depends on upbringing and education, for which the study book is essential. We sees its value in the following: 1. The book is a kind of a written (printed) person's memory. It is from the book the whole society can absorb all the accumulated spiritual wealth. 2. The book is a means of communicating information. 3. The book is a means of propaganda and popularization of knowledge. 4. The book is a means of upbringing and education. University publishing located in educational institutions should play a significant role in the process of "spiritualization" of the society. However, the analysis of the situation in the Russian book market in 2011, made by B.V. Lensky, A.N. Voropaev, A.A. Stolyarov in the industry report of the Department of Periodical Press, Book Publishing and Printing of the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications, states that the publishing industry has not yet been able to overcome the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis. The crisis in book publishing shows in the following indicators: the number of published books, circulation, share of market. In the field of book distribution the indicators are: the global decline of interest in reading, falling numbers of specialised bookshops, high prices for books, piracy on the Internet. Publishers also suffer considerable losses from the activities of regional book selling companies, according to industry reports. In addition, government support for publishing both on the federal and regional levels is insufficient. The efforts of the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications, RFBR and RFH publishing grants are not enough. Despite the general crisis in book publishing, among the positive factors in the regional book publishing are contests of social publishing projects, programs of regional funding of priority projects for the region. This allowed publishers to implement a number of prestigious publications. But regional university publishing houses should not count on the support of the region alone; it must succeed on their own. In terms of higher education reform and the transition to a two-tier system of education there are new approaches to the formation of the repertory strategy of the publishers. Under the circumstances of the three leading repertory strategies - academic, innovative, and trade - regional university publishers prefer the first two, responding to the challenge of education in the competence-based approach. Still, regional university publishers should develop their cultural and educational projects, which will create a certain brand of the publisher, university, and region. An example would be the Ural Federal University Publishing House.