University of Hertfordshire Press was formed in 1992 as the publishing wing of the University of Hertfordshire. Its first publication was a book celebrating the institution's change in status from polytechnic to university. Our Heritage (University of Hertfordshire Press, 1992) was a short history of the campuses of the new university, written by Anthony Ralph Gardner, a member of staff from the Library and Media Services Department.
UH Press grew out of the Hertfordshire Technical Information Service (HERTIS) which was a county-wide knowledge-sharing service for local industry, based at Hatfield Polytechnic. So much information was produced by this initiative that a HERTIS imprint was started to collate and publish the material. This early publishing activity was overseen by Bill Forster who became the head of UH Press when it was born.[1] It is considered one of the leading UK university publishing houses.[2]