BY TOM TOMASKO
With the imperialist onslaught against Yugoslavia, one of
Pathfinder's books, The Truth About Yugoslavia: Why Working
People Should Oppose Intervention, has rapidly gone out of
stock. The steering committee of the project to put all of
Pathfinder's titles in digital form has pledged to just as
rapidly get it ready for reprint. The deadline for having it
ready to hit the presses is the first week of May.
The Reprint Project is an effort by more than 100 volunteers around the world to place all of Pathfinder's titles on compact disks in order to take advantage of computer-to-plate technology. The new technology makes it possible for Pathfinder's print shop to reprint them quicker, cheaper, and with less-skilled labor. The quality of the books is also improved, with easier-to-read type and more detailed photos than some of the books printed many years ago.
The effort to keep the communist movement's arsenal of books in print has taken several strides forward recently. Most importantly, the Reprint Project is now utilizing a common database accessible through the Internet. This will make the work more efficient, transparent, and secure.
The database is a place where volunteers go to get their work assignment and where they post it when completed so that it is readily available to the next person or team of volunteers downstream in the production pipeline.
For instance, a book that has been formatted in a new style as compared to its last printing can be accessed by the team of format checkers, who carefully inspect the work for errors. It is simultaneously available to those assigned to make a new index. The unnecessary duplication of e-mail and time delays is eliminated.
Proofreading will also be more efficient. Scanners, who start the process of digitizing a book, make two kinds of computer files for most books. One is an exact image of every page of a book, the other is an editable text of those very same pages. The latter needs to be proofread against the original book because the process of digitizing text is not perfect. Heretofore, the pages of the book had to be sent to each proofreader by "snail-mail" regular post office mail, while the text file was received with the speed of e-mail. The database will now have both files for proofreaders to download.
Any volunteer who is given authority to enter the database can see a list of books in production and the stage each book is passing through. This especially helps the steering committee of the Reprint Project to see the flow of work and recognize bottlenecks sooner. The database also limits the damage if a volunteer's computer crashes.
Another step forward is financial. From the start the Reprint Project has been 100 percent self-financing. Each volunteer is responsible for her or his own computer, software, Internet access, and mailing costs. However, there are some expenses involving the reproduction of book photos and graphics that the team doing this work cannot and should not bear themselves. The steering committee estimates these costs to be about $22,000 over the life of the project. About $2,700 has been raised so far.
The committee proposes a campaign to have volunteers make modest monthly contributions of $20 or more over two years.
"We believe this would cover all our costs," said Ruth Cheney, the head of the project and one of the four members of the steering committee. "The idea for this campaign springs from the fact that 14 volunteers, although not a lot of attention had been paid to it, are already giving monthly pledges."
In addition the committee is looking for a few individuals who can make much bigger onetime contributions.
A third success is registered in the fact that one-half of all Pathfinder's 350 books and pamphlets have been scanned and manuscripts prepared for proofreading. If the scanning team continues preparing proofreading manuscripts at a rate of 15 titles a month - the average for the last four months has been 16 - then this aspect of the project will be finished sometime in November. The 18 volunteers concentrating on this effort can then work on proofreading, formatting, or preparing graphics and photos.
The Reprint Project has set a goal of having 10 titles a month ready for reprint - the estimated rate by which Pathfinder's titles go out of print. This goal has yet to be achieved. From December of last year to February of 1999, the project has averaged five titles a month - a giant step forward from the average of one a month for most of 1998.
Another success is the ability of the project to hyper- prioritize certain small books that Pathfinder needs to fulfill classroom orders or for other political opportunities, and to do this without disrupting the production flow of other books. The project has made The Communist Manifesto, one of Pathfinder's most popular books, one of its top priorities, right after the book on Yugoslavia.
Those interested in keeping the lessons of the communist movement in print can contact Ruth Cheney via e-mail at ruthchen@flash.net
Tom Tomasko is a member of the Reprint Project's steering committee and a member of the International Association of Machinists, Local Lodge 1781.