Volume 11, Number 2
Mar 1987

Editor's Page

Corrections

• The subject classification scheme devised for the Abbey Newsletter's information files, and sent out on request, has a flaw that should be easy to correct if not too many items have been classified by it yet: It needs a space at the beginning of each major category for general works by type or format, e.g. proceedings, manuals, bibliographies, and so on. Both Dewey and LC classification schemes have this provision, and the Editor, who compiled this scheme, is a librarian, so she should have known better.
• Vicky Adamitis's name was misspelled on p. 88 last year. It is Adamitis, not Adamomitis.

An Apology to Libraries Unlimited

The Editor made a regrettable error of tact and judgement when she published a letter to Carolyn Clark Morrow from her publisher, Libraries Unlimited, in the Literature section. (The letter was an apology for using the wrong page attachment method for the second edition of her manual, Conservation Treatment Procedures.) No one's letters should be published without their permission, even in the business world, unless they were written with publication or distribution in mind; and it is not kind to further embarrass someone who is already apologizing for a mistake.

The Editor hopes that people who are modeling their own newsletters on the Abbey Newsletter will not imitate its occasionally rash and ill-considered style.

A New Stage in the Editor's Career

In August 1984 I accepted the position of Preservation Librarian at Brigham Young University, and have been able since then to keep up publication of the Abbey Newsletter in my spare tine, largely because the Library made it possible for the publishing aspect to be carried out from my office (receiving mail, filling subscriptions, doing mailings). All the time, however, the field was growing and I felt in increasing urge to respond to the needs of the field by performing more information-related services: translations, monographs, indexes and so on. Over the last six or eight months it became clear to me that having a full-time job would make it impossible to accomplish anything of this sort. In January I decided to resign, and February 27 was my last official day. The Library will remain the mailing address for the Newsletter for the foreseeable future, and I will stay in Provo, so not much has changed. There will be someone in the office afternoons at least till May 1 to answer the phone (still 801/378-2512) and handle subscription work. I can be reached at my home office must of the time (801/373-1598).

The Newsletter will provide some income for me. The rest will come from consulting, teaching and (possibly) grants. Since the Newsletter is now tax-exempt, it should be easier to get grants and donations. I feel that subscriptions are already expensive enough, and raising them further would only interfere with the Newsletter's mission.

It feels good to be able to concentrate on the Newsletter, and I look forward to attending the usual number of conferences this year. Since I will be working out of my home office, I could subscribe to an electronic mail service, and send and receive news at any hour of the day or night. It will be nice to have the time to get better acquainted with my two computers, a Macintosh and an IBM clone. I will use them for indexing, editing of long articles, maintenance of frequently revised items like price lists, and other complex or repetitive tasks for which computers are well suited. The IBM clone, a Turbo XT, will continue to keep subscription records and generate mailing lists, using a custom program. The Newsletter will continue to be produced by typewriter and pasted up with a hand-held waxer, because that is the most efficient way to produce a newsletter of this sort.

The Abbey Newsletter: Bookbinding and Conservation is issued six or more tines a year and has about 1050 subscribers. (Vol. 9 had seven issues.) New subscribers automatically receive all issues published in the current year, unless they request otherwise. All subscriptions expire on the last day of the year. To initiate or renew a subscription, send name, address, and a check for $35 (students $20), or the equivalent in £ Sterling to Abbey Newsletter, 6216 HBLL, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602 (801/378-2512; home office, 373-1598). Note: the Newsletter is not part of the University or the Library.

No paid advertisements are accepted, but any notice that is appropriate and has news value will be printed if there is room for it. Written contributions and bits of news are welcome. Claims for issues never received, or received in damaged condition, will be honored within a year of publication.

The Abbey Newsletter is indexed in Art & Archaeology Technical Abstracts, Institute of Paper Chemistry Abstract Bulletin and Graphic Arts Literature Abstracts (RIT). It is not indexed in the usual periodical indexes because it is a newsletter. All issues but v.1 #2 are in print.

The Editor encourages readers to copy and pass around any article from the Newsletter, even entire issues; but before copying any part on a scale that amounts to republication, they must obtain permission from both author and Editor.