New Book Published by Library
IUB Libraries Publishing publishes Professor Heather Akou's book, Afterthought
Indiana University Bloomington Libraries Publishing—the Libraries’ open-access publishing service for IU-authored books, edited collections, and related genres—is delighted to announce its second publication: Afterthought: A Family Story, a book by Heather Akou, Associate Professor of Fashion Design and Program Director of Fashion Design at IU Bloomington. Heather’s deeply researched work of historical fiction recovers the life of her grandmother, Lila Slaback, who lived hard and died young in La Crosse, Wisconsin in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s., leaving behind seven children with at least four different fathers.
Afterthought is for academics and non-academics alike. It explores such issues as poverty, body image, pregnancy, parenting, drug abuse, and dysfunctional relationships, so it is relevant to courses on fashion history, American history, gender roles, family, healthcare, and generational trauma. But this work of historical fiction can also be read like a memoir, one that represents Lila as a whole and real person—a fierce lover who enjoyed good food and good jokes. Likewise, many of its “characters” are vividly illustrated with photographs and accurate descriptions of historic dress. It therefore gives readers deeper insight into the lives of women who lack access to birth control and child support as well as the history of fashion.
As a publication of IUBL Publishing, Afterthought draws upon the affordances of open access. This digital book integrates Hypothes.is, social annotation software so readers anywhere can come together to comment on and discuss it in its margins. Likewise, Heather chose to publish with the Libraries so that her grandmother’s story is not hidden behind a paywall or made into a means for profit but is a means for learning, and to facilitate access to knowledge by people with low income, vision impairments, and/or learning disabilities.
These affordances are made possible by Indiana University Bloomington Libraries Publishing, a free, high-quality, open-access publishing service created and managed by Adam Mazel, Digital Publishing Librarian, Scholarly Communication Department. This service complements the Libraries’ Journals and Open Educational Resources programs by publishing texts by the IU community that are not publishable by scholarly or commercial presses but that are nonetheless worthy of the affordances of a publisher. Forthcoming publications of IUBL Publishing include:
- Making Indiana University: History, Landscape, and a Sense of Place, a history of IU by Jim Capshew, the University Historian and Professor of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine
- The Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference on Global Indigenous Studies from Multiple Perspectives, edited by Serafín Coronel-Molina, Associate Professor of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education in the School of Education
- Volume two of Through the Looking Glass, by Curt Lively, Distinguished Professor of Biology
Please consider publishing with IUBL Publishing. As Heather mentioned upon the publication of her book, “I could not have asked for a better publishing experience.” Those interested in the service or with questions about it should email Adam Mazel.
Contributors
