Proclamation 4575—University Press Centennial Observance

America's colleges and universities have always met their responsibilities for preserving and enlarging the body of human knowledge. In our open society, they have an additional duty?that of making such knowledge available beyond the gates of the campus.

It was in recognition of that duty that the first university-affiliated press was established, in 1878, at Johns Hopkins University. In the century since, our country's university presses have established an admirable tradition of literary and graphic quality. Today the standard of excellence which they have established is being applied to an ever-increasing variety of subjects. As a result, one-sixth of all American books in print today are issued by American university presses.

In recognition of the impact, both here and abroad, of American university presses on culture and scholarship, the Ninetyfifth Congress, by joint resolution (S.J. Res. 140) has asked the President to issue a proclamation commemorating the American university press.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the seven-day period ending on June 17, 1978 as University Press Week and call upon the people of the United States, as well as all interested groups and organizations, to mark that period with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and second.

JIMMY CARTER