Editorial Committee Minutes and Correspondence, 1924-1940, 1971-1982
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Brief Description: Minutes and correspondence of Editorial Committee from the files of Emily Van Dorn Miller, Editor of Publications (April 1924-July 1935), Everett O. Fontaine, Chief of the Department of Publishing and Cooperative Services (August 1935-November 1951) and Donald Stewart, Associate Executive Director for Publishing (1971-82), contains status reports on publishing projects, summaries of reader's reports on manuscripts submitted for publication, dockets of Publishing Board meetings at annual and midwinter conferences and copies of ballots for committee voting on manuscripts, includes reports from the Reading with a Purpose series and on the committee's difficulties with Isadore Mudge. Note: the editor or chief of publications prepared the docket of business for the Editorial Committee meetings, acted as secretary to the committee and reported to the group on problems arising in connection with publishing activities.
Held at:
The American Library Association Archives
19 Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61802
Phone: 217 333 0798
Fax: 217 244 2868
Email: ala-archives [at] library.illinois.edu
Record Series Number: 13/1/1
Created by: Publishing Services
Volume: 3.0 Cubic Feet
Acquired: 01/17/1974. 10/21/1991
More information is available at https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/alasfa/1301001a.pdf
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by date
Biographical Note for Publishing Services :

In 1886 the American Library Association established a Publishing Section to create a cooperative publishing program for librarians (1).  The program was to provide catalogs, indexes and bibliographies, and to undertake publishing projects that were not necessarily commercially feasible, but still of value to librarians (2).  By 1900 the ALA changed the name from the Publishing Section to the Publishing Board, and took steps to secure ALA committee status (3).  Two notable titles produced by the Publishing Board in the early part of the century were Booklist (1905-present) and ALA Bulletin (1907-1970, continued by American Libraries 1970-present) (4).  In 1920, as a result of the ALA constitution adopted that year, a standing ALA Editorial Committee replaced the Publishing Board (5).

The next forty years saw a steady increase in library science book publishing.  By 1966 the Editorial Committee could no longer efficiently manage its diverse requirements and responsibilities. To rejuvenate ALA's position in library science publishing, the ALA created a new Publishing Board in 1966.  Operating as an arm of the ALA Executive Board, the new Publishing Board centralized control over manuscript acquisition and editing, design and production, and in marketing (6).

The Publishing Board was concerned with matters of finance, policy, and INT, while the Editorial Committee maintained editorial control over nondivisional works.  Better coordination of editorial policy and financial administration was realized with the merger of the Publishing Board and the Editorial Committee at the ALA San Francisco Conference of 1975 (8).  Following the Conference the two bodies became known as the ALA Publishing Committee.  This ten-member ALA standing committee of Council, which governs over ALA Publishing Services, held its first meeting in October 1975 (8).  At present, ALA Publishing Services manages five principal activities: 1) Books and Pamphlets  2) Booklist  3) Central Production Unit  4) Library Technical Reports and 5) Reference/Subscription Book Reviews (9).

Subject Index
Editorial Committee
Fontaine, Everett O.
Miller, Emily Van Dorn
Mudge, Isadore G.
Publications Editor
Publishing and Cooperative Services, Department of
Publishing Committee
Publishing Projects
Publishing Services
Stewart, Donald E.
Languages of Materials
English [eng]