The University of Missouri Press notified 7 of its 18 staff members today that they are being laid off. The layoffs will not take effect for at least a couple of weeks.

The layoffs come in the wake of growing financial losses for the press. Other university presses have also been struggling in recent years. In addition to the staff reductions, the press will also be refocusing its efforts, but the specific changes have not yet been hashed out, said university system spokeswoman Jennifer Hollingshead.

“Out goal is to be fiscally independent, and we are developing a plan that will reduce our dependence on state funding while at the same time making our operations more efficient to better serve our authors and customers,” said Dwight Browne, interim director of the press, in a statement. “We are cautiously optimistic because last year’s net sales exceeded those of any year in the 50-year history of the Press. While the current national economic crisis is not the cause of our need to streamline, certainly it is imperative that we operate in a manner that recognizes the challenges faced by publishers throughout our nation.”

He added that there will be no interruption in services or in manuscripts prepared for publication.

The University of Missouri Press receives about $450,000 in state funding through the university. It publishes about 40 titles annually. An analysis has showed that about 25 percent of the titles over the last decade were from Missouri authors, including 10 percent from the university’s faculty.