News: Academic Publishing Weekly, 8/10/26 - 8/14/26

U.S. Publishing revenue was up last year, OverDrive buys Divibib, PALCI releases interoperability guide

Posted on August 13, 2026 in News

U.S. Publishing Revenue Inched up in 2025

U.S. publishing industry revenue rose 2.5% in 2025 to an estimated $33.4 billion, up from $32.5 billion in 2024, according to the Association of American Publishers’ annual StatShot report. Among the categories most relevant to academic and scholarly publishing, Higher Education Course Materials posted the strongest growth, increasing 8.5% to $4.7 billion, compared with $4.3 billion in 2024. University Press revenue increased 4.9% to $368 million, following a 3.1% increase to $350 million the previous year. Professional & Scholarly publishing, excluding journals, moved in the opposite direction, declining 1.2% to $1.3 billion after Professional Books had increased 2.5% to $1.4 billion in 2024. Within the Trade category, Adult Non-Fiction revenue increased 1.3% to $6.0 billion. Overall Trade publishing revenue increased 2.7% to $21.7 billion.

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OverDrive Expands European Presence with Divibib Deal

Digital library provider OverDrive is expanding its European presence with the acquisition of Divibib, the German company behind Onleihe, a digital lending platform serving public libraries in German speaking  regions. Onleihe’s e-book, audiobook, and newspaper services will transition to OverDrive’s platform, giving participating libraries access to its Libby, Sora, and Kanopy apps. Divibib will remain headquartered in Reutlingen during the transition. The deal builds on OverDrive’s decade-plus presence in the region and follows the establishment of Germany-based OverDrive Europe as its European headquarters earlier this year.

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PALCI Releases New Library Systems Interoperability Guide

The Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation (PALCI) has released a new guide aimed at helping academic and research libraries make interoperability a consideration when selecting technology systems. The PALCI Guide to Interoperability and System Selection explains how open standards can affect costs, flexibility, long-term access, and libraries’ ability to collaborate across different systems. Designed for both library staff and the broader market, the guide also provides a common vocabulary and questions libraries can use during procurement to identify potential interoperability issues before contracts are signed.

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Johns Hopkins University Press Executive Director Barbara Kline Pope to Retire in 2027

Barbara Kline Pope, executive director of Johns Hopkins University Press since 2017, will retire in February 2027, concluding a tenure marked by a significant expansion of the press’s journal publishing program. Under Pope, Hopkins Press grew its journal program by about 30 percent and launched Project MUSE’s OA subscribe-to-open model. Before joining the press, Pope spent more than three decades at the National Academies Press, including 20 years as executive director. She also served as president of AUPresses. Johns Hopkins will conduct a national search for her successor.

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Independent Press Top 5 Bestsellers: Nonfiction
The American Booksellers Association and the Independent Publishers Caucus recently collaborated on an independent bestsellers list, which includes books from independent presses and sold in indie bookshops. Below are the top five nonfiction titles this week. Find this week’s full list of fiction and nonfiction independent bestsellers.

1. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, (Milkweed Editions)
2. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon (Liveright)
3. This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy by Ben Wikler (W. W. Norton & Company)
4. The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane, Jackie Morris (W. W. Norton & Company)
5. Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (W. W. Norton & Company)

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