From the Editor
Amy K. Weiss
Welcome to the OLAC Newsletter, volume 28, no.1! This is my first outing as Editor-in-Chief, and pulling this issue together has been a challenge. There is a lot of non-editing work involved with putting out the Newsletter—getting a bulk mail permit, getting an account with a reliable and inexpensive printer, sticking labels on the Newsletter, sorting it zip code order for the bulk mail, and learning to use Microsoft Publisher. In short, a lot of energy goes into things that don’t relate to the content of the Newsletter.
In addition, a lot of money is expended on the Newsletter. Printing and mailing costs for the Newsletter are the biggest expenses in OLAC’s budget. Costs limit the size of the Newsletter and therefore the content. Your plain brown Newsletter features no fancy graphics or formatting and has a tight limit on how many pages it can contain.
The Executive Board has agreed in principle that it is time to look at going electronic exclusively. It is time to look beyond a simple reproduction of the print content of the Newsletter and moving forward with something, dare I say it, more interactive, more graphically appealing, and with space to feature value-added content. The time and money that is spent on printing and mailing could go toward expanding our horizons. If we were to go electronic only, it wouldn’t be until next March’s Newsletter. That would give us some planning time, and we’d get full use out of that expensive bulk mailing permit for 2008.
Of course, there is still plenty of good content in this Newsletter as it is! We have reports from ALA and from OCLC, a book review courtesy of Richard Leigh and our new book review editor Douglas King, and biographies of this year’s candidates for OLAC office.
Read and enjoy!
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Last updated: March 28, 2008
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