CLUEB

CLUEB — originally the Cooperativa Libraria Universitaria Editrice Bologna — is an Italian academic publishing house founded in Bologna in 1959. It began as a student-led cooperative created to produce affordable, scientifically reliable textbooks and course materials for the University of Bologna, at a time when many new university courses had no proper manuals and students relied on expensive, often unchecked lecture notes. Over the decades it grew into a full academic press with a catalogue of nearly three thousand titles spanning essentially all disciplines, with authors drawn from many Italian universities. The publisher's identity is closely bound to the University of Bologna. Its early legal seat was in Palazzo Poggi on via Zamboni, and the opening of its bookshop in Piazza Verdi — attended by Bologna's mayor and the university rector — placed it at the heart of student life. After the upheavals of 1968 and the decline of the national cooperative structures (UNURI and CUNICLE), CLUEB continued independently, gradually involving researchers and professors more directly in its governance while keeping its focus on high-value, low-cost academic publishing. In the 2000s CLUEB expanded into digital publishing, offering EPUB and PDF editions and sometimes open-access content. It weathered a serious crisis in 2013 following the death of its administrator and president Luigi Guardigli; in December 2015 its catalogue and contracts were taken over by the company CLUEB srl, formed by former employees and various University of Bologna professors. In 2016 the organisation transformed from a cooperative into a limited liability company (società a responsabilità limitata). Today CLUEB operates as the brand dedicated to research texts, journals, essays and high-level scientific monographs, while its acquired imprint ArchetipoLibri (bought in December 2011) focuses mainly on textbooks and teaching materials. Alongside print and digital book production, CLUEB provides marketing and content-management services to authors, institutions and companies, and its digital content is archived for long-term preservation through the distributor Casalini Libri on Portico and CLOCKSS. In December 2022 CLUEB merged with its affiliate Pàtron Editore to form the new company Casa Editrice prof. Riccardo Pàtron, creating a medium-sized academic publishing group that today brings together the Clueb, Pàtron Editore, ArchetipoLibri and Biblioteca Clueb brands. Its headquarters are at Palazzo Leoni, via Marsala 31, Bologna.

CLUEB's history begins on 10 June 1959, when nine students and a university assistant — the future professor Alberto Caltabiano — met at the office of notary Cesare Alberto Forestieri in Piazza Calderini, Bologna, to create a book cooperative in support of students. At that time Italian university faculties were revising their curricula and adding numerous minor courses for which no manuals were prepared or printed; the only way to study was through lecture notes taken in class. Private enterprise offered a solution — the sale of rare lecture notes at high prices — but it was inconvenient for students, and because those semi-clandestine notes were printed without the lecturer's review, their scientific accuracy was uncertain and errors were possible. As an alternative, the UNURI (Unione nazionale Universitaria Rappresentativa italiana) promoted the founding of cooperatives to produce such materials through collaboration between students and young professors, combining typographic care with recognised scientific value. There was to be one cooperative per university, all joined in a consortium, the CUNICLE (Consorzio Universitario nazionale italiano Cooperative Librarie Editrici). UNURI also secured funds for the purchase of printing machinery and for staff training, and CUNICLE set the criteria for distributing government funds, which were then allocated by local university bodies to the various cooperatives according to need, and promoted consortium publishing programmes. In its first decades the cooperative was carried forward mainly by students, who were actively involved in decision-making through their presence on the board of directors and who took part in every phase of the work, from collecting notes to preparing and distributing books. The legal seat was fixed at number 25 via Zamboni, in a small second-floor room of Palazzo Poggi, while many activities were located elsewhere between via Zamboni and via San Vitale, sometimes granted free of charge by the University and the Opera Universitaria. A fundamental moment of those years was the opening of the bookshop in Piazza Verdi; the official inauguration was attended by Mayor Giuseppe Dozza and Rector Felice Battaglia, showing the city's and the university's support for this student initiative. The bookshop's central position, in the heart of university life, was decisive in establishing direct contact with students. Then came 1968, which disrupted the university world and ended the first phase of CLUEB's life. In those years UNURI ceased to represent students, who began to prefer forms of direct democracy such as assemblies and related demonstrations. CUNICLE consequently lost its unitary character, 'declined' until it disappeared, and the various cooperatives each went their own way — as did CLUEB. In the 1970s, with students distancing themselves, CLUEB involved researchers and professors who had approached the publishing house more heavily in the board of directors, demonstrating their interest in the project. Attention to students did not diminish: it continued through high-value, low-cost publishing proposals, though from then on their involvement in the cooperative's management was necessarily indirect. CLUEB today has a catalogue of nearly three thousand titles in all disciplines, with authors from numerous Italian universities. Alongside book production (research texts, journals, essays, teaching manuals and high-level scientific monographs) it offers services expressly aimed at authors and academic publishers. Since the early 2000s it has expanded into digital publishing and continues in that direction, providing EPUB and PDF editions and sometimes open access. After the crisis that struck it in 2013 following the death of administrator and president Luigi Guardigli, in December 2015 the catalogue and contracts were taken over by the company CLUEB srl, formed by some former employees and various University of Bologna professors. In 2016 the company transformed from a cooperative into a limited liability company. At the end of 2022, together with Pàtron Editore, it gave life to Casa Editrice prof. Riccardo Pàtron, an old name for a company that today brings together, besides the Clueb brand, the Pàtron Editore, ArchetipoLibri and Biblioteca Clueb brands. The publishing house is headquartered at Palazzo Leoni, via Marsala 31, Bologna.

• Founded as Cooperativa Libraria Universitaria Editrice Bologna by nine students and university assistant Alberto Caltabiano.

• Opening of the bookshop in Piazza Verdi, attended by Mayor Giuseppe Dozza and Rector Felice Battaglia.

• Student movement disrupts university world; UNURI and CUNICLE decline, ending CLUEB's first cooperative phase.

• Researchers and professors increasingly involved in the board of directors as student involvement becomes indirect.

• Expansion into digital publishing, offering EPUB and PDF editions and sometimes open access.

• Acquisition of the ArchetipoLibri imprint, dedicated mainly to textbooks and teaching materials.

• Crisis following the death of administrator and president Luigi Guardigli.

• Catalogue and contracts taken over by CLUEB srl, formed by former employees and University of Bologna professors.

• Transformation from cooperative into a limited liability company (società a responsabilità limitata).

• Merger with affiliate Pàtron Editore to form Casa Editrice prof. Riccardo Pàtron, creating a medium-sized academic publishing group.

Academic and scholarly publisher closely connected to the University of Bologna, offering high-value, low-cost research and teaching texts across all disciplines.

• Machine Design for Structural Integrity

• L'altra politica

• Lessicografia bilingue con l'italiano tra Otto e Novecento

• Introduzione allo stoicismo

• Psicologia, neuroscienza e psicopatologia

• Storia della fitoiatria in Italia

• Cecco, l'eretico

• La Repubblica sociale italiana come Stato

• Metodi di calcolo nella dinamica delle strutture

• La scuola di Dewey

• Geografie dell'innovazione in dialogo

• La collezione etnografica di Giovanni Miani

• Esercizi di Tecnica delle Costruzioni Meccaniche

• Lo sport che cambia

• Margherita Zoebeli from Zurich to Rimini. A life devoted to childhood

• Dolomiti. Dieci percorsi mille emozioni

• Il metallo e la lettera

• Verso Milano-Cortina

• Il metodo degli elementi finiti applicato alla meccanica delle strutture per problemi non lineari

• Il laboratorio del prof. Gedda

1. 1Clueb casa editriceclueb.it
2. 2Margherita Zoebeli from Zurich to Rimini. A life devoted to childhoodclueb.it
3. 3Chi siamo - Casa Editrice Pàtron Clueb ArchetipoLibri Biblioteca Cluebclueb.it
4. 4CLUEB - Wikidatawikidata.org
5. 5CLUEB - Wikipedia (Italian)it.wikipedia.org