Great progress in this direction has already been made. Pat Smith in New York has prepared the new web site and book page designs, and some 15 Pathfinder Reprint Project volunteers are now entering all the information from the printed Pathfinder catalog and order form for each title. Once the catalog database has been completed and checked for accuracy, this information will be transferred to individual book pages for placement on the Pathfinder web site. Each Pathfinder title will then have its own page. Most pages will include an image of the cover of the book. These will be cross-referenced and linked by subject, author, and theme.

Ordering will be simple and direct and a real boost for anyone wanting to purchase a Pathfinder title on-line. The on-line store will also save time for the Pathfinder staff that processes the orders in New York and the volunteers who ship the books to the publishing house's customers.

The biggest challenge in constructing the web site is producing high-quality scans of each book cover. Pathfinder's editors and designers put a lot of thought and effort into producing colorful, eye-catching covers for every publication. Displaying these covers will make the books and pamphlets more attractive to anyone visiting Pathfinder's web site.

The San Francisco based Reprint Project Steering Committee has made the completion of pathfinderpress.com a top priority and has put out a call for help to supporters. Especially needed are volunteers with the computer resources necessary to reproduce the covers: a scanner, knowledge of PhotoShop, and some graphics experience. Whether contributing two or 20 hours a week, the efforts of every volunteer will help make Pathfinder's arsenal accessible worldwide.

The Pathfinder Reprint Project is an organization of volunteers formed in 1998 to keep Pathfinder's more than 350 titles in print. Before the project began, all of Pathfinder's reprints of books had to go through a time-consuming and expensive pre-press process to produce film and plates that would go on the presses. With the introduction of new computer-to-plate technology in Pathfinder's printshop in late 1998, the volunteers stepped up our efforts to produce digital files of the reprints of Pathfinder books on CD-ROM's. To date, volunteers in the South Pacific, North America, and Europe have scanned, proofread, formatted, indexed, and reproduced the covers on more than 170 digital, ready-to-print Pathfinder titles in English, Spanish, French, Swedish, and Icelandic. Over the past year, the reprint project volunteers have also taken on the responsibility for proofreading and formatting Pathfinder's new books and pamphlets.

To volunteer for scanning covers or entering data for the new Pathfinder catalog, or other work in the Pathfinder Reprint Project, you can contact Ruth Cheney at ruthchen@pacbell.net.

Laurel Kelly is a member of the Pathfinder Reprint Project Steering Committee.  
 
 
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