Volume 6, Number 5
Oct 1982

Editor's Page

Letter to the Readers

This fall I am trying out a new policy of sending regular invoices annually to all subscribers, individual as well as institutional--just like other periodicals do. However, there will not be a series of invoices--just one. Furthermore, all subscriptions, except by prior arrangement, expire on December 31.

In the past, I have used various ploys and subterfuges to avoid having to type and mail 600 invoices by hand, a mammoth job. The write-your-own invoice ploy, suggested by a reader and used last fall for individual subscribers, was good. It resulted in one half (instead of the usual one third) of all subscribers renewing by January 1. The little note stapled to the February issue of unpaid subscribers brought in another 150 payments, but this left an unpaid residue of 150 (25% of 600) that declined only gradually through the spring and summer. Many subscribers in this unpaid 25% must have wanted to continue because they kept slipping me checks or cash amounts at conferences, or sending urgent notes telling me not to let their subscription lapse. Thus the decision to try another invoicing method.

Recently I realized that the Abbey Newsletter has got to be one of the hardest serial publications in the world for subscribers to keep track of, because the price, billing method and address have been changing every year, and even the editor's name used to be something else, not to mention the addition of a subtitle recently. It must be a cataloger's nightmare. The new invoice is supposed to help by having the correct return address and price clearly written on it, and by being something separate from the Newsletter so it can be expedited, sent to someone else, deferred or ignored at will.

Subscription rates are given on this page. Note that the individual rate stays at the old level ($15) for both 1983 and 1984 subscriptions, until January 1. On that date, the rate for issues of the year just past falls to $12. So if you want to get the most for your money, a) ask for 1983-84 before January 1, and either in the same letter or a later one, b) ask for the 1982 issues to be sent as back issues in early 1983, in case you are not now a subscriber.

Ellen McCrady
Editor

Subscription Rates

Foreign air mail $8.00 per year
Back issues, v.2 to date $2.00 each
Single-topic supplements are distributed and priced separately.
Dealer discount 20%

Subscribers outside the U.S. may pay in their own currency, with the exception of France and a few countries with unsettled currencies. To convert any of the above prices to foreign currency, either use the rate furnished by your bank or calculate them as follows:

Multiply by .96 to get Australian
Multiply by .58 to get British
Multiply by 1.28 to get Canadian

The Abbey Newsletter: Bookbinding and Conservation is issued six times a year and has about 600 subscribers. 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 $15.00 (institutions: $25.00) to Abbey Newsletter, c/o School of Library Service, 516 Butler Library, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. (Note: the Newsletter receives its mail at this address, but in not part of Columbia University.) Institutions may subscribe in their usual way, through subscription agents or with purchase orders.

No paid advertisements are accepted, but any notice that is appropriate and has news value will be printed if there is room for it. Tel.: (212) 280-4041, 280-7761.

Written contributions and bits of news are welcome. Claims for issues which are defective or damaged in the mail, and for back issues paid for but never received, will be honored without question, within a reasonable period of time after original mailing.

Simple news articles and announcements may be freely reprinted in other newsletters without attribution and without explicit permission. Signed contributions, however, may not be reprinted without permission.