Science is the backbone of the Madrid Book Fair

Among the stalls, books and colorful trees is great A giant replica of the human brain Attracts the attention of locals and strangers at the Madrid Book Fair Center. Another unexpected attraction that surprises passersby who these days walk up and down Paseo de Coches the retirement And to stop along the way to browse these brains. The goal was achieved among many interesting offers.

It was created on the occasion of Kajal year And the Supreme Council for Scientific Research waived it (CSIC), this massive structure houses an experiment Multisensory Where the neural functioning of the human brain is deconstructed in the form of multimedia. An original rarity that attracts the attention of visitors who, once trapped, realize that they are no longer in the cape, but in the heart For an exhibition whose main theme this year is, in fact, Sciences.

Once at this point, in fact, visitors find themselves in a space called university publishers and research centers Plaza de la Ciencia and Universities. Agora of knowledge where a giant brain surrounds a total 118 publishers from Spain, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru distributed in seven kiosks: Union of Spanish University Presses (UNE), CEU Ediciones – Editorial UFV, UNED, Ediciones Universidad de Navarra EUNSA, Publicacions Universitat de València, Publications Universidad Pontificia Comillas – University of Deusto and CSIC Editorial.

“It’s very satisfying that they dedicated the fair to science this year,” he notes. freeinfo Director of the Publishing House of the University of Granada and President of UNE, María Isabel Cabrera, who explains that the union, founded in 1987, brings together 73 printers from university publishing houses and public research centers. “We have been here for 35 years and one of our pivots is to be present at book fairs to make ourselves visible and legitimate. disclosure And spread Sciences. It is very important to invest in science and for the results of this research to reach society and contribute to its improvement. What better way to do that than to be here at the fair, where we always tend to be, with Latin American countries also invited”, he adds.

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Far from the avant-garde image someone might have for university presses, the show includes “a very diverse work for all audiences,” in the words of Cabrera, which talks about scholarly publishing for all ages, even for children, or literature for illustrated youth. We have a book that talks about it Divine Comedy With a hundred illustrations of Gabriel Del Ottochief draftsman marveltercia Isaac Caselles, Director of the Publishing House at Francisco de Vitoria University and Head of Innovation and Training and Treasurer at UNE, who stresses that this is just one example of the “number of different works” they offer.

Aside from posting things around Anticoagulants And investigations about tangible things, we also like things literature Attention-grabbing shapes AttractiveContinues Caselles, who appreciates the wide variety of subjects and genres that have a place in university presses and that include poems, stories, or analyzes of literary works, among many others. It’s about letting people see what they universities are doing and what they can discover with us.” freeinfo.

UNED Managing Editor Carmen Cecilia details on her part freeinfo That they have in their catalog, for example, a collection of literature and women called From story to story, women and stories far away, as well as others in archaeology, history, legal sciences, and even atlases of geography and history. “We also have a collection from the Instituto Gutiérrez Mellado on military and counterterrorism topics,” he notes, explaining that these works always have content, or at least part of it. investigationalthough the “post method is more than Informative“.

In addition to monographs or academic bibliographies, all university presses have our own collections of various subjects. There is always something that escapes Threads. Not surprisingly, most universities are generalistsSo what feeds us is very Opens. This is why UNED Publishing is not specific to a particular subject or field of science or engineering, because our domain as a university is a public domain.”

Therefore, one of the most important tasks of university publishers is to impart knowledge and promote scholarly publishing. Thus, they seek to open their titles to the general public and combat stand-by attitudes that prevent these books from crossing the boundaries of research, faculty, or the university environment and reaching other readers. “he the public Always close to books on history or literature, he wants to get to know his region, city, natural parks or many other subjects better, ”defends Cabrera, who for this reason claims the university” as a place study meticulously, From science made by specialists.” You have to post with a lot of DangerYou can’t say anything.”

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In this vein, Caselles ensures that the work of university presses shows that science is “open to researchers from around the world and to the general public.” “We always wanted to know if the people who come to see us in the booths are part of the general public, and this year we were able to verify that because in the Plaza de la Ciencia y las Universities there is a part where Research general, professors or university students, and then another where the general public attends. We have there this double vision and approach to the readers, because it is very important for us to know who is reading us and why,” he notes, while Sicily acknowledges that the exhibition is “a presentation of the content and also Brand“To introduce themselves.” We have an audience that walks by and suddenly sees something they like and buys it at any other kiosk, and we also have an audience that comes directly to buy from us. For example, students who benefit from the fair because they want to see the books or because they are in Madrid and want to buy them”, adds the director of the UNED Publishing House.

And that all these publishers are responsible for doing the third task Ortega y Gasset Dedicated to the university in the 1930s, which requires a commitment to society and its time, it displays a curated list of books from the stalls of the Plaza de la Ciencia and universities to Catch One of the most exciting issues in today’s society and one of the most diverse horizonsMajors: gender studies, general history, literature, popular science, anthropology and cultural studies.

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Moreover, in many cases, they are researchers Those responsible for presenting the results of their work to the public, as many (about fifty) exhibited following the tradition of the exhibition and Signboard Written by communication vehicle It is a scientific fact that the Union of Spanish Universities Presses wants to defend these days its efficiency in spreading knowledge since the emergence of the universities themselves in the thirteenth century.

“And also, in Spanish“, highlights Cabrera, who points out that the Anglo-Saxon world has a very strong position in the popularization of science than in the publishing world, something we can also aspire to from our own.” flag in spanish It has advanced a lot, and has international projection and recognition. We have great researchers in international teams and you should also read Science in Spanish, not only for the general public but also for the scientists themselves.”

In addition to being present in the kiosks, the Spanish Universities Publishers Association has prepared for this occasion an extensive program, headed by conferences. Without books there is no science, which will be held on June 1 and 2, at the CaixaBank Pavilion for the exhibition. during offers And Round tablesThere will be a discussion about the problems, challenges and opportunities that scholarly publishing currently faces, such as the impact of metadata and algorithms in social networks or the methodologies that university presses can follow to increase the positioning of scholarly production on the Internet. In addition to presenting a project Scientific exchange (IC) of Spanish University Publishers, whose collection consists of more than 14,000 digital books offered through the catalogs of university libraries.

Eva Urchi: “The ideal fair visitor walks through the first booth, gets to the last booth, and buys them all”

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Aileen Morales

"Beer nerd. Food fanatic. Alcohol scholar. Tv practitioner. Writer. Troublemaker. Falls down a lot."

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