Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

How To Cut Corners On Catologs by Jack Keene XTIARRY Harried directs a large cooperative AV Center not far from here. Harry would like to have a new AV catalog ready for September but the collection is getting pretty large and he is worried about the problems of organizing, annotating, making a dummy, proofing and printing. So Harry has quietly decided to produce a supplement to a supplement to a supplement. He'll print on yellow paper to distinguish this one from last September's list. Somewhere in the education office of which Harry is a member there are several pieces of equipment which hold beneath their gray crackle surfaces a possibility of delivering Harry from frustration and ignominy. Harry should look thoughtfully in the direction of these two machines— the Graphotype and the Addressograph. The Graphotype, a combination typewriter and stamping mill, can emboss on a small metal plate all of the pertinent information about any single item in the AV library. For example, there is space on the plate to give a film's full title, indicate that it is a film, its running time, producer, date of production, color, subject area, recommended grade level, plus an annotation of as many as 30 words. These plates can be made for each item in the collection. They are then filed in specially designed storage drawers. The Addressograph produces printed copy from the metal plates which are embossed on the Graphotype. It will print cards or lists. It will produce original copy, carbon copies, and offset masters. When catalog production is required, the Addressograph operator slides each storage drawer of metal plates into the Addressograph hopper. The Addressograph prints each offset master, ten items to a page, in less time than it takes to read this sentence, and then redeposits the plates in proper order in their storage drawer. Page numbers and subject headings are added by a typewriter equipped with an offset ribbon, and the main body of the catalog is ready for production. When, after several years, a new catalog should b< produced, it will already be organized because th< plates are filed in proper order. It will be current be cause as each new item is acquired, a new plate ii placed in the file; as items are retired, plates are re moved. It will require a minimum of proofing, becaus< each plate is proofed as it is made. Virtually no typinj will be necessary, because the Addressograph wil "write" each offset master page in a matter of seconds The print in the final catalog will be dense, clean anc shaqi. But Harry suspects that producing catalogs this easi ly must involve some hard work. When he investigates he'll find these problems facing him: • The catalog contents, especially the concise annota tions, must be prepared by people with professiona competence. • The plates must be embossed. A Graphotype opera tor embosses between 80 and 100 nine line plate; per day. • Time must be allowed for initial planning and estab lishment of the system. This is no week-end project • The operation must be financed. In some cases equipment is already available which can be usee with minor adaptations. If not, Harry's budget mus include a capital outlay of from five to seven thou sand dollars, depending upon size of the AV collec tion and the degree of flexibility and mechanizatioi to be incorporated. When amortized, the initial cost of establishing thi cataloging operation compares advantageously to th annual costs of preparing catalogs by more convention al methods. But this isn't all. As many AV director know, the clerical demands in a cooperative AV 1: brary can be very heavy. If Harry ignores clerica needs, he fails to give requested service; if he meet these demands, he struggles with a potential budget buster. From library to library, variations in clerical pn cedures reflect variations in size, policy and logistic; For example, three California AV libraries affiliate with offices of the superintendent of schools in Ken' San Diego and Stanislaus Counties are utilizing tbi Addressograph in varying degrees and technique I Each of these AV libraries, however, faces catalogin i and clerical problems peculiar to its own organizatioi This is where the little Addressograph plates ca more than pay their way. For example, Kern County AV library embosses a plate as soon as the distribute confirms that the AV item is coming for preview. Thi one plate, written, embossed and proofed just once, ; a labor and materials cost of about 30 cents, prints master inventory card, a preview scheduling recor five advance notices to preview committee member five preview evaluation sheets, a listing for Board Education purchase recommendation, and a purcha: order request. During the life of the item— say, tt years— the plate continues to work. It will print abo ten entries on master scheduling cards, several co tainer labels, five or more catalog entries, and perha] four or five curriculum correlation lists for buUeti and study committees. It will print a card for tl c A /-• A.,„.,^™ in*