BPG Publications Committee Midwinter Meeting Report – November 4, 2011
The following committee members attended the meeting: Karen Zukor, Olivia Primanis (chair), Penley Knipe, Renee Wolcott, Lynn Kidder, Amy Baker, Bruce Bumbarger, and Sue Murphy.
The following committee members joined the meeting by phone to discuss their areas of involvement: Walter Henry, Christine McCarthy, and Shannon Zachary.
1) BPG Annual Publication
Rene Wolcott was welcomed as incoming editor of the BPG Annual. She discussed current procedures for the publication of the Annual that she observed by assisting Jim Hinz publish the 2010 and 2011 Annuals over the past year. Basically, authors presenting at the AIC BPG session are notified to submit a press ready article of their talk with adequate-sized digital images. Edwards printing in Ann Arbor, Michigan still has the most competitive pricing and remains the publisher of choice for the print Annual.
The BPG-PubComm members discussed the demand for a print edition versus an online-only version of the Annual. Two years ago members at the annual AIC-BPG business meeting voted to continue the print version. At the 2009 meeting in Milwaukee members voted to add $5.00 to the BPG dues to pay for a print Annual. The current cost of printing, mailing and design of one thousand copies of the Annual is approximately $11,000.
Print on Demand (POD) publication of the Annual was also discussed. At this time it is not a viable option because printers that offer POD require a guaranteed purchase of large number of copies.
Progress Report from Walter Henry and Amy Baker about Online Access of Annuals
Amy Baker and Walter Henry continue their work to prepare earlier Annuals for online access. Walter has written code to gather metadata from the PDFs for the tables of contents and Amy is preparing and inserting the color images for the online PDFs. These color images will replace the black and white images of the print version. Currently the 2001 and 2002 Annuals have been completed and are online: the 2003 Annual is near completion.
Timeframe for Getting Annuals Online; Access for Non-Members
In the past there has been discussion about how long to wait after the publication of an Annual before it goes online and/or if there should be some kind of restriction so that only BPG members could access the most recent publications. For the time being, it has been decided that all Annuals should become available online as soon as possible. Once all the Annuals are online the BPG-PubComm can poll the membership again to clarify the details of future access.
Annual Publication General Comments
Authors continue to submit digital images that are too small to render a clear print image.
Following some questions about the publication of the summaries of the LCCDG and ADG specialty group sessions in the Annual, the BPG-PubComm reviewed and reconfirmed current guidelines. The Guidelines are sent to speakers once their papers are included in the annual meeting schedule. A copy is included in Guidelines for Discussion Group Moderators included as an appendix to this document.
It was noted that the BPG-PubComm encourages presenters to submit their articles to be reviewed for possible publication in the JAIC.
2. Application Form for BPG members to Request Funds to Complete Monographs
In recent years the AIC administration has requested that the specialty groups spend down accounts that hold an excess of two years operating expenses in order to better comply with laws for non profits. The BPG has an $11,000 surplus that was generated from sales of the print version of the Paper Conservation Catalog. Currently this money is being used to fund the design of the Annual, which costs approximately $2000. per year. It is also supporting work to get the Annual online.
BPG members also wanted to support publications by the membership. To that end Yasmeen Khan and committee were asked to prepare an application form whereby BPG members could request funds "towards the preparation for publication of a completed monograph on an area of interest to the Book and Paper Group." Funds, up to $3000, would be awarded to defray the costs of the final preparation of the monograph, such as copy editing, indexing, and image reproduction rights. For more information, please see the the document outling the AIC Book and Paper Group Publishing Fund Guidelines included as an appendix to this document.
The BPG-PubComm decided to offer up to $3000. of this money to support a monograph. The remainder would be used for the design of future Annuals.
Funding for the production and printing of the Annual will have to be reviewed by the membership at the 2014 Annual AIC meeting.
(Background: The printing and mailing of the Annual is paid by dues, the cost of the design, which was added for the past two issues, is supported by the $11,000 reserve.)
3. Update on the BCC WIKI
The new BCC WIKI team – Lynn Kidder, Christine McCarthy, Evan Knight and Laura Bedford – began their work with the Book Conservation Catalog WIKI during this past year. They familiarized themselves with the AIC WIKI technology, they finalized an outline of the BCC WIKI and they developed a front page for the BCC WIKI. They recruited volunteers by revving up interest at the AIC Annual Meeting, through general emails and by calling colleagues they thought might be interested. With this foundation in place, they feel prepared to lead the WlKI AIC EDIT-A-THON in January 2012 for the BPG Book Conservation Catalog.
4. Update on the PCC WIKI
Kate Manor is working on recruiting a team to coordinate the Paper Conservation Catalog WIKI. The original chapters of the Paper Conservation Catalog are online as downloadable PDFs and have also become the basis of chapters in the WIKI.
5. Technology for Virtual Meetings
Members of the BPG-PubComm have always found the fall meeting to have a positive impact on the goals of the committee. This year a few key members were not free to travel. We were able to get input from these members by phone, using a speaker phone. The input was a definite benefit to the meeting, but it has inspired us to look into some sort of technology like Skype for our virtual participants.
6. Mid-Winter Meeting Funding
Members of the BPG-PubComm have a total of $2000 to spend on travel, lodging and food for the mid-winter meeting.
7. Committee Members and Positions
Laura Bedford accepted the position of BPG-PubComm secretary and volunteer coordinator.
Karen Zukor stepped down as Chair of BPG-PubComm and Olivia Primanis accepted the position of chair.
To Do List
Write job descriptions for various positions on the BPG-PubComm committee.
Find a volunteer to research grants that would support publications undertaken by the BPG membership. The PubComm could act as sponsor for a grant or simply gather the names of grantors that members could approach.
Develop a paper archive for future members to convey the history of the committee and officers. The archive would include, at a minimum, the Minutes of past meetings and other important documents. The archive will be assembled from the BPG PubComm online archive on CoOL.