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Columbia University Press

Columbia University Press was founded in 1893 as a nonprofit corporation separate from Columbia University, although bearing its name and associated closely with it. The purpose of the Press expressed in the Certificate of Incorporation was to "promote the study of economic, historical, literary, scientific and other subjects; and to promote and encourage the publication of literary works embodying original research in such subjects."

The Press has distributed books on behalf of other organizations and publishers throughout most of its history. One of the titles it distributed for many years was The Granger's Index to Poetry. In the 1960s, it assumed ownership of this highly successful reference work.

Electronic publishing by the Press was inaugurated in 1990, when The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia went online on the Columbia University network. In 1991 The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry on CD-ROM was issued in response to requests from reference librarians. Currently, the Press publishes a variety of CD-ROMs. Its first four publications online are Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO), The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry Online, Earthscape, and The Columbia Gazetteer of the World Online.