The American Council of Learned Societies will use a $3-million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help scholars and university presses establish electronic publishing programs for history monographs.

While the venture is aimed at developing noncommercial electronic publishing that is "responsive" to the needs of scholars, ACLS president John H. D'Arms was quick to note that the programs must eventually "prove to be viable economically."

The presses involved are Columbia University Press, Harvard University Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, New York University Press, Oxford University Press, Rutgers University Press and the University of Michigan Press. NYU Press is the project coordinator and will provide the project's administrative office. Carol Mandel, dean of the NYU libraries and publisher of the NYU Press, will serve as advisor.

Over the next five years, the new program is expected to publish and market 85 new electronic books and convert 500 influential backlist titles to digital form. The University of Michigan's Digital Library Production Service will be the initial distributor for the publications in the series.