During the meeting, my interlocutor showed a small exposition that she had prepared the day before. On several tables, the most iconic books and diplomas of the last two decades were presented in a scattering, even gift copies – in velvet, with a gold edge. She carefully picked them up and literally admired them as works of art. These rare editions are the subject of a separate material.
We talk with Irina Yurievna Buchko, the director of the publishing house, about the combative character of the hero of the day, about the beloved work that saves from any adversity, about almost half a century of life in the publishing business of SSU.
– Irina Yuryevna, how did it happen that you started publishing? How and where did you learn this?
– Everything happened by accident. Although, they say, there are no accidents in life. I graduated from the 19th school, where the now legendary Lydia Markovna Yavchunovskaya worked as a teacher of Russian language and literature. Her merit is that I fell in love with these subjects. For example, writing dictation to my classmates was boring, but I liked it! She dreamed that after graduating from the Faculty of Philology, I would come to school to replace her when she went on vacation. And at the university, I got into a seminar with her husband, Yakov Isaakovich Yavchunovsky, the only doctor of art history in Saratov, and in the 3rd year I began working on a diploma in drama by Alexander Vampilov. At first, he "leaned" me against the theater as a reviewer, then I had a big review in the newspaper "Communist" of the play of our drama theater "Last summer in Chulimsk". The director invited me to rehearsals because I had reviewed A. Vampilov's plays in all Moscow theaters. And I will tell you that our production was no worse, and in some ways even better. Then Yakov Isaakovich took me to a group of journalists, which he led together with Stal Mikhailovich Kasovich. By the way, Oleg Shommer, who made a career as an international journalist on the federal channel in the future, was also involved in it.
And then fate turned out so that I began to wait for my son, who was about to be born. I was preparing to work for the regional newspaper Zarya Molodezhi and have already been on three business trips. But mom said: what kind of business trips if you have a small child? Find a quieter job for a year or two, and then go to the newspaper.
That's how, in 1975, I joined the Publishing House of SSU as a proofreader. I was received by the then director Vladimir Petrovich Tolstov. I came with the intention of working for a couple of years in a "quiet place", but I stayed for the rest of my life. I went through all the stages of editorial activity, and in 1993, Rector Anatoly Mikhailovich Bogomolov appointed me to the position of editor-in-chief. I got carried away with this work, although it was a difficult time. I was very interested, I often went home late at night. And one day I was preparing a booklet about the publishing house until two o'clock in the morning, and when I got ready to go home and went out into the university courtyard, it turned out that all the gates were closed. She did not wake the sleeping attendant and ... I climbed over the cast-iron university fence.
I was very lucky – at that time of crisis, the publishing house managed to join the federal target program for supporting socially significant literature and release about 12 books by university authors, which were already in the set (then it was metal) in various printing houses in Saratov without movement due to lack of funding. The university would have suffered heavy losses if the recruitment had been "dropped". And the second luck was that my gut told me to choose a two–volume "Mythology" edited by Nina Ivanovna Devyataykina, professor of the Historical Faculty of SSU, for the target publication. The book was born as a textbook for schools, and this edition had a deafening circulation even at that time – 30 thousand copies. It was completely sold out. This allowed us to stand and stay afloat in a situation when many other university publishing houses were simply closing down. So we remember well what historians have done for us, and we are grateful to them for it.
I owe my formation as an editor to Lyudmila Vladimirovna Abroskin, the head of the editorial office of Physical, Mathematical, Technical and Economic Sciences. A real mentor, she taught us things that you can't learn on your own. We talk on the phone with her, she is interested in the life of the university and the publishing house.
I am also lucky that I love my profession very much. I am attracted by her polyphony. The editor just edits the text, and I'm always interested in seeing the whole book in advance as a publisher, both in terms of design, layout quality, technical editing, and from the perspective of the artist who makes the cover. I know a lot about the field of printing, although I do not consider myself an expert. That's why my gut doesn't let me down when I send books to contests. As a rule, we win and get several awards.
– How did the history of the SSU Publishing House begin?
– When the need for a university publishing house arose in the 1950s, the situation was such that our authors had to be published at the Publishing House of Kharkiv University. Other universities in Saratov were deprived of even such an opportunity. In 1957, by order of the Minister of Higher Education of the USSR, two new statutory publishing houses were created – ours and at Rostov University. We were on self-accounting, with our own accounting, with planning that took into account the paper limit and all other production features. The first director of the publishing house, Mikhail Fedorovich Klyuev, was a political worker who had previously served in the navy.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the director was Vladimir Petrovich Tolstov, an experienced military journalist, a participant in the Great Patriotic War. A talented leader, he managed to assemble a wonderful professional team. Publishing primarily books by university scientists, the publishing house also served the vast Volga region. We have two branches – in Samara and Saransk. Nonresident authors came to us, and sometimes Muscovites. The publishing house successfully fulfilled a solid thematic plan – two thousand printed sheets per year – and was one of the five leading university publishers in the country, where MSU and LSU were the leaders.
The most popular book published by the SSU Publishing House at that time was "Medicinal plants in scientific and folk medicine" (the author's team is scientists from the Saratov Medical Institute). It went through several reprints and was widely known outside the Saratov region. We jokingly called it a "feeding" book – it brought profit to the publishing house, and bonuses to employees.
In 1993, V.P. Tolstov was replaced by a graduate of our university, who had previously worked as his deputy, physicist Vladimir Grigoryevich Klimenko. And I became the editor-in-chief. In those perestroika times, there were practically no orders, the university had, to put it mildly, modest funding, and employees began to quit. That's where, as I said, the book of historians helped us out.
In 2003, Rector Leonid Kossovich appointed me director.
This year, on November 18, our publishing house will turn 65 years old. Anyone who wants to get to know its history in more detail can open the two-volume anniversary edition of the History of Saratov University. 1909-2009.
– How has the publishing business changed during the time that you have been working here?
– I'll start with modern, but, alas, negative trends. Some authors think: why go to an editor, proofreader, or layout designer if you can do it all yourself? It is difficult to condemn people, often due to lack of funds. As for printing, the authors make a minimum circulation, forgetting that according to federal law it is necessary to make a mandatory mailing of each book. And many people do not know that they also need an electronic newsletter. As a result, there are a lot of mistakes, terrible layout, completely wild layouts. The quality of the books and magazines produced has noticeably decreased, sometimes they come across that it is unpleasant to take into your hands. Well, the design is often just shocking, we call such specialists "designers" among ourselves.
Traditionally, the university approves our thematic plan every year. It includes scientific and educational publications. All monographs on templan are published on good material, and the covers are necessarily in full bloom. The university printing house makes high-quality bindings.
I already said at the beginning of our conversation that in the 1980s the publishing house fulfilled an annual plan of 2,000 printed sheets. Now we are doing just over 1000. In the early years, several collections were published at the university at each faculty – about 50 in total. Now 5 collections are being published, one of them is a student one. But the collections have been replaced by magazines – there are 15 of them, almost all of them with 4 issues per year. Izvestia of Saratov University is the leader among them. The journal was founded in 1909, had several long breaks in its life, and was resumed in 2001 by Rector Dmitry Ivanovich Trubetskoy. Later, series began to appear – there are 10 of them today.
More than fifty magazines a year is a very big job, considering the specifics of the editorial process. In addition, the journal must be published strictly according to the schedule approved by the rector's order. Violation of deadlines is fraught with a fine from Roskomnadzor for the university.
The circulations have changed, they are tiny – a hundred copies have become the norm. But thanks to digital printing, and this is a plus, you can print at least one or two copies "on demand". But if you are serious about publishing, you need to take into account the additional number of copies for mandatory mailing.
A large circulation is now a rarity. If a book is printed in 1000 copies, then this is equivalent to the same "Mythology" that once appeared in 30,000 thousand copies. Therefore, we are happy to meet in the publishing house such authors as, for example, the historian Viktor Petrovich Totfalushin, whose books are in great demand. Almost all of them are diploma winners of competitions, they quickly disperse in our university store and applications are received for them. One of his books will be reprinted right now.
Everything is moving towards the fact that the book in its traditional form becomes a luxury. God grant that lovers and connoisseurs of such a book will not be translated. And also those who can do it.
Unfortunately, work in a publishing house is not paid in the way that modern youth would like it to be. There is no influx of young personnel. So publishing professions, although not extinct, are becoming exotic.
– What quality do you consider decisive for an editor of a scientific publishing house?
– Literacy comes first. It is also necessary to have a sense of language and a sense of style of the author of the book, which makes it possible to work productively with him, to understand each other – and this will only improve the book. Otherwise, you can get into conflict with the author and even ruin the whole thing. I always tell my colleagues: remember, the Author is at the head of the publishing process. If he didn't exist, our profession wouldn't exist. With this in mind, build your relationship. The book will come out as it should ideally be, when it is born in a harmonious creative relationship between the editor and the author.
– The classical University includes a huge number of scientific disciplines and educational directions. Our publishing house works with the staff of many thousands of SSU. How does a small staff manage to master and publish such a mass of specialized literature? Is there any specialization?
– When I joined the publishing house almost half a century ago, it was just huge – four editorial offices, 20 editors! Everyone on their own literature – not a step left or right. Then other times came, there were no more so many orders requiring so many employees. In recent years, I have made a decision – some keep books, others keep magazines. For example, one of our editors, Elena Anatolyevna Miteneva (Bogomolova), a graduate of the biology faculty of the SSU, who has been working at the publishing house since 1990, always keeps books on biological and chemical topics. But now in the publishing house, every editor is a universal, must be able to make any book.
In journals, articles are often published in English and there is a large block in English in each article. If you want to get into an international database, the language must be impeccable. Therefore, the journals are "assigned" to the teachers of the Department of English and its teaching methods.
How do you manage to understand this diversity? Of course, the accumulated experience helps. We are also lucky that although we have a women's team, it is not problematic and really friendly. We discuss everything, share publishing novelties with each other, replace each other, help out.
– What criteria determine the quality of publishing activity today? And what place does the SSU Publishing House occupy in its professional environment?
– Publishing is a production, at least one stage falls out – and the result can be deplorable. The content component should be combined with the clear and high-quality work of the entire team. And also – increased attentiveness, painstaking, even meticulousness. There are no small things in our work, you need to be able to see everything down to every dot, to every comma. Unfortunately, there are mistakes, alas, they cannot be avoided, we are very worried. Fortunately, they can be corrected in electronic versions of publications. We try our best to "match", and we succeed.
Since 2002, the Saratov Region has been hosting the "Best Book of the Year" competition. Almost all the books that were tested by this competition were subsequently sent to regional, All-Russian, and international University Book competitions and became nominees. Over the years, the publishing house has received more than 100 diplomas, including in the most prestigious nominations. Not every publishing house has such awards. For example, one of the rare diplomas – the diploma of the All–Russian competition on the subject of media education - in 2019 received a monograph by Alexander Alexandrovich Kazakov.
The book by Irina Vladimirovna Lebedeva, the successor of the legendary Vera Alexandrovna Artisevich as director of the Scientific Library of SSU, telling about the contribution of university librarians to the victory during the war, received a diploma of the first degree in 2021. We rarely publish literary and artistic publications, mainly scientific and educational literature, which is why we are so glad to receive this award in the nomination "The best literary and artistic publication".
When we submit a publication to the competition, we determine in advance the nomination in which we are going to win. Publishing standards must be observed in the design of the book, there must be good printing. The book should have some kind of zest, some kind of message, especially if we are talking about a very prestigious nomination "Publishing project". We have 7 awards in this nomination! And in this series, the first was the famous "Khlestakov collection" of philologists edited by Valery Vladimirovich Prozorov. The cover alone, which the philologists came up with and made themselves, is a real work of design art.
But sometimes there were pleasant surprises. So, in 2021, following the results of the interregional competition "University Book", the textbook by Arthur Veniaminovich Khokhlov with co–authors "Analog circuit Engineering" received a diploma in a very rare nomination - "New types of educational publications".
We usually receive the most awards in the nominations "The best publication in the physical and mathematical sciences", "Earth Sciences", "Humanities", "Natural Sciences", etc.
We were lucky enough to participate in the Frankfurt Book Fair, where we exhibited six books. Following the results of the exhibition, a magazine was published, where our books and the Publishing House of SSU were mentioned.
– In the competitive evaluation of published books, there is such a nomination "High culture of publication" – what is behind these words?
– Every publisher dreams of having a diploma in this nomination. It means that the publication has reached the height when all its components are in absolute harmony – content, design, printing. And for the Publishing House of SSU, such a dream came true due to the fact that the "Educational Atlas of the Saratov region" was conceived at the Faculty of Geography. The authors did a tremendous job, and specialists from other universities in Saratov were invited. The atlas was published in 2013 and received many diplomas, including in another prestigious nomination – "Textbook of the XXI century". We were pleased to share the award for this book with our Geography department. It was at the faculty that the most complex layout of a full-color edition was prepared, richly illustrated, as befits an atlas, taking into account all the printing subtleties. The layout was prepared in the laboratory of geoinformatics and thematic mapping – its head Alexey Vasilyevich Fedorov and employee Tatyana Valeryevna Pyatnitsyna.
I would like to note that another unique encyclopedic publication has been "registered" for the Faculty of Geography, which has received more than one diploma – "Specially Protected Natural Territories of the Saratov region", or "Green Book" (scientific editor Vladimir Zinovievich Makarov, the authors of the essays are employees of the geographical, biological and geological faculties of SSU). This publication became the winner of the national ecological award "Ecomir", awarded a diploma of the II degree in the nomination "Conservation of biodiversity and improvement of landscapes" (2008). The print run was printed in Moscow, in the printing house of Vneshtorgizdat – it was the only printing company in our country that could make gift copies in velvet and with a gold edge.
– Can you name the most high-profile publications of the university publishing house in its entire history?
– I have already told you about some of them in sufficient detail. The jubilee year 2009, the year of the 100th anniversary of our university, was rich in magnificent publications. The main book was a two-volume book "The History of Saratov University. 1909-2009" (authors of the first volume A.I. Avrus, A.A. Gaponenkov, V.N. Danilov; author of the second volume A.P. Myakshev). We've been doing it for a year and a half, and it was very hard for us. They printed at the Polygraph Plant, the university did not skimp – they got expensive and very beautiful Finnish paper, imported binding material. I signed every sheet in the printing shop, even went on night shifts to make sure that they "got into color." I found a defect on the spine in a timely manner – it was fixed. There was even a joke among colleagues that the color of the cover of this book is the color of my blood, which I spilled on the altar of the anniversary. We did not even have time to submit it to the competition, as we received a telegram from the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, which, having received copies by mandatory mailing list, on its behalf nominated it for the competition of regional local history literature "Malaya Rodina". A telegram came with congratulations and an invitation from the director of the publishing house to the award procedure. That's how we became laureates of the competition. There were only 12 such diplomas in the whole country, a very unusual diploma, elegant. It was a confession!
I would like to note another multi–volume anniversary edition - a series of memoirs by university authors "About time and about myself". 8 books have been published: memoirs of Olga Borisovna Sirotinina (who will celebrate her centenary this year), Leonard Adamovich Derbov, Vsevolod Alexandrovich Ermolaev, Vera Alexandrovna Artisevich, Anatoly Ilyich Avrus, Solomon Moiseevich Stam, the book "Vladimir Grigoryevich Borukhovich in memoirs and letters" (compiled by V.N. Parfenov) and an interesting book about sports at the Bronislav Ivanovich Borisov SSU. The print runs were printed by the SSU printing house – a binding, a dust jacket, and a block of illustrations in each book. They did their job very well.
Another unique book published by philologists for the 100th anniversary of SSU is "S. L. Frank. Saratov text" (compiled by A.A. Gaponenkov, E.P. Nikitina). The manuscripts of the outstanding philosopher S.L. Frank, the first dean of the Faculty of History and Philology of Saratov University, were published for the first time. For the first time, his personal documents from the archives of Columbia University (USA) and the State Archive of the Saratov region are also reproduced. Peter Scorer, grandson of S.L. Frank, addressed a parting message to the compilers of the publication and congratulated them on the centenary of the founding of Saratov University. The book has become a rarity.
There are a whole scattering of resonant and iconic books, you can't list them all. The famous publication "Eternal Youth Club" (the director of the SSU student club M.A. Pinkhasik became the center of a large team of authors) received 3 diplomas, including twice in the nomination "Best Publishing project". In the same nomination, Svetlana Mikulina's book "The Element of Infinity" received a diploma. Both editions are richly illustrated.
Two collective monographs by biologists are unique: "Birds of the north of the Lower Volga region" (in 5 volumes), and "Fish of the north of the Lower Volga Region" (in 2 volumes). The initiator and inspirer of these projects was Yevgeny Vladimirovich Zavyalov, who passed away early in life, who had an impeccable taste for publishing, a recognizable author's style and fantastic efficiency. "Russian Associative Dictionary" (in three books) Valentin Yevseevich Goldin and Alevtina Petrovna Sdobnova have been cooking for 10 years.
We publish a lot of books on local history, almost all of them have awards. Since 1993, historians have prepared 4 books of the fundamental edition "Essays on the History of the Saratov Volga region". The first volume was edited by Igor Vasilyevich Porokha, the last (ends in 1941) – edited by Yuri Grigoryevich Golub. We are waiting for the historians to continue and, accordingly, new awards.
I cannot fail to mention books devoted to the history of the university: "Rectors of Saratov University", "Professors of Saratov University", "Literary Critics of Saratov University" (two editions), books for the anniversaries of faculties, a series of separate prints of the journal "Izvestia SSU" about outstanding professors of the university – R.V. Mertslin, V.V. Wagner, A.M. Bogomolov, Y.F. Askin, V.B. Ostrovsky, V.I. Kalinin, Yu.A. Sklyarov, V.G. Lebedev, Z.I. Kiryashkina, V.M. Guryanov and many others.
I will say separately about two special "military" books – "We Remember" (2010) and "In our memory their names: in memoriam" (2020) – B.I. Borisov and A.K. Filippov became the soul of the author's teams. These publications tell about the creation on the campus of a memorial complex in memory of the participants of the Great Patriotic War from two of the oldest universities in Saratov – Saratov State University and Saratov State Medical Institute. Information is provided on all participants of the war known on the day of the publication of the books, including participants from the Balashov Institute, Saratov Pedagogical Institute, Geological College and College of Radio Electronics named after P.N. Yablochkov. The austere, richly illustrated books are beautifully decorated. The SSU printing house has done its job flawlessly.
It is impossible not to mention the books that are under the patronage of Elena Genrikhovna Elina. As a rule, these are "iconic" books, memorable dates, very difficult to compile, voluminous, and besides, they should always be printed "yesterday". Elena Genrikhovna, as an experienced publisher, conducts the author's team, and the manuscript gets to the publisher well prepared. The design of these books is usually carried out by Ruslan Savkin and does it very professionally. As a result, there are awards at competitions. Among such books is a colorful anniversary edition dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the Saratov State University: the twenty-first century", the book "In our memory their names: in memoriam" (to the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory) and the album book dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the outstanding architect K.L. Mufke. I can't help but say more about this unique book-album. The album "The architectural complex of Saratov University: from conception to implementation. Stages of construction in photographic documents (1910-1926)" (compiled by Alexander Konstantinovich Filippov, layout and design by Ruslan Gennadyevich Savkin) received two diplomas of the first degree in the most prestigious nominations – "The Best publishing project" (2018) and "The best design and printing of the publication" (2019). The album was printed in Tver.
A great and very humble man, K.L. Mufke presented Saratov and the university, which means that each of us who either studied or worked there, or, like me, lived in it all his life, a unique architectural ensemble of university buildings – the pearl of the architectural appearance of our city. He lived alone, died of exhaustion in 1933. 3 people followed the coffin – the chairman of the local committee, the accountant and the director of the scientific library V.A. Artisevich.
– Irina Yuryevna, do you have any unrealized professional dream?
– There is, but it is unlikely that I will implement it, so I will not voice it. It is related to the writing of the book. I hope so, of course, but I'm not sure I can do it.
– And what do you read in your free time, when you have the opportunity to take a break from proofreading and signal copies of books?
– Since I sign all the book layouts "for printing", I check them very carefully, and this is a lot of work. If the books of our authors have gone to work, then we have neither days off nor vacations, we adjust our lives to the publishing process. But sometimes you manage to find time. I have a good library at home, collected by my mother and me. I will name only some of my favorite authors: Gilyarovsky, Kuprin, Bulgakov, Maugham, O. Henry, Turgenev. I can reread them endlessly, in this sense I am a conservative person. Well, I'm not drawn to modern writers.… Although maybe I'm wrong. I get real pleasure from the classics. Sometimes I read and already know in advance what the next sentence will be. I am ready for this and I am glad that we have met again.
Tamara Korneva, photographer Dmitrii Kovshov
Translated by Lyudmila Yefremova
