Volume 25, Number 5
Feb 2002

Editor's Page

Financial Solutions, Part 3

In the August issue, I described our financial problems resulting from a) high turnover due to low wages, b) a Y2K goof with payroll software (which I didn't mention in the August issue, but should have), c) termination of the Alkaline Paper Advocate, d) distractions like the need to fight mold in the house, e) needlessly high discounts given to subscription agencies, and f) the need to increase subscription prices after a ten-year period of stability.

In the October issue, I covered our new policy of charging for replacement of issues that we know were mailed out to the correct address; also, that we had lowered the discount to agencies from 12% to 3%. Another step toward solvency was taken when I increased wages about a year ago. Everything has run smoothly since then

We had first applied for a permit in December 1999, and tried hard to master the U.S. Post Office's incredibly complex rules for sorting newsletters with a periodicals permit. By Fall 2001 it had become clear that a complex task like this one could not be done at widely spaced intervals, by a small part-time staff. We simply could not make the system work. So we started using a mail house, which sorts the mail for us, adds mailing labels and postage, mails the items, and sends us a bill.

(I wondered whether we were the only organization trying to do this, so I looked in our file of exchange newsletters to see whether any of them used a periodicals permit. Apparently few, if any, newsletters in the preservation/conservation field do.)

Last week we finally got our permit from the Post Office. When we have gained some experience with it, we will try to pass on to readers any useful information we come across.

Thank You

Sponsors ($500+)

Gary Frost
Don Dunham, Library Binding Institute
Library Binding Service
Terry O. Norris
Preservation Technologies, L.P.

Patrons ($100-$499)

Bark Frameworks, Inc.
The Better Image
Joan T. Batchelor
John Boral
Sally Buchanan
William Fuller
David Diggs La Touche
Ralph & Christa Ocker
Ocker & Trapp Bindery
Roberta Pilette
Richard Schlefler
Nancy Carlson Schrock
Deborah Wender

Contributors ($25-$99)

Heinke Pensky-Adam
R. Tom Baldwin
Betsy Palmer Eldridge
Robert Feller
David B. Gracy, II
Carolyn Jane Gammon
Olivia Primanis
Carol Pratt
Mary Schlosser
Patricia Turpening

Abbey Online

These are the back issues of the Abbey Newsletter on our web page in CoOL (http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/). A volume is judged to be "complete" in CoOL when the longer features of each issue are posted. Events are not posted.

The ABBEY NEWSLETTER: PRESERVATION OF LIBRARY & ARCHIVAL MATERIALS (ISSN: 0276-8291) is published six times a year with a separate index by Abbey Publications, Inc., 7105 Geneva Dr., Austin, TX 78723, and has about 1000 subscribers. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Rates is pending at Austin, TX 78752. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Abbey Newsletter, 7105 Geneva Drive, Austin, TX 78723.

Personal subscriptions are $35; institutional subscriptions are $65, and subscriptions for students are $20. These prices will be $45, $85 and $20 starting with V. 26 in 2002. Checks and money orders should be made out in U.S. dollars, payable to Abbey Publications. Visa and MasterCard are also accepted.

Job advertisements are billed at the rate of $50 for the heading and the first ten lines, plus $2 per line thereafter. Any notice that is appropriate and newsworthy will be printed if there is room for it.

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The Editor's permission must be obtained before making more than 20 copies at a time of lengthy or signed articles. This lets us make any necessary corrections or updates, or contact other copyright holders for permission to reprint. Back issues from 1981 onward are on our Web page at http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/websites.html.

Abbey Publications is a nonprofit corporation set up to encourage preservation of written or recorded information, including the use of lasting materials in the creation of records. The corporation has five trustees (E. McCrady, G. Frost, R. Pilette, J. Wellvang, and Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa) and five officers (E. McCrady, Pres.; G. Frost, 1st V.P.; J. Wellvang, 2nd V.P.; and C. Jensen, Treas.).

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This policy has been adopted for two reasons: 1) It helps the cause of library and archive preservation, and 2) existing copyright law considers electronic reprints to be merely extra copies of the original publication, in another format.