Editorial Committee Annual Report
January 31, 2003
Submitted by Thomas Jacoby and
Kathy Zimon on behalf of the Editorial Team
Editorial Team
Kathy Corcoran, Indexer
Thomas Jacoby, Contents Co-Editor
Eileen Markson, Copy Editor
Joan Stahl, Reviews Editor
Kathy Zimon, Contents Co-Editor
The Editorial Team met at the
St.Louis Annual Conference to discuss AD content and production issues,
were introduced to the two new potential designs for AD covers to replace
the existing cover, and were presented with the new graphics package (new logo
and logo colors, and corporate identity) subsequently adopted by the Executive
Board for all Society publications/communications.
The Contents Editors attended various conference sessions with a view
toward recruiting appropriate authors/articles for publication in AD.
Two issues of Art
Documentation were published in 2002 (Vol. 21, #1 Spring 2002; and #2 Fall
2002), and editorial work was completed on the Spring 2003 issue (Vol. 22 #1,
currently in production).
The new editors initiated a small change, discontinuing the labeling of articles as shorter ‘brain waves’ and longer ‘feature’ articles. The change was made in response to the types of articles, and ideas for articles, that were submitted to the editors. AD is now accepting articles of various lengths, dependent on the judgment of the editors/authors and the requirements of the subject.
In celebration of ARLIS/NA’s
first joint meeting with VRA in St.Louis, the Fall 2002 issue of AD published
the first three articles from the landmark VR session:
“Property and Capital in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Visual
Collections: Tales in Search of the
History of the Visual Copy.” The
Spring 2003 issue will include the last two papers from that session.
In 2002, each issue of AD
contained an integrated mix of eight articles, varying in length from about
3,000 to 7,000 words. Each issue
was 60 pages, excluding covers, with the articles consisting of about 42 pages,
while the remaining 18 pages were devoted to the Reviews, Publications Received,
and Index (in the Spring issue).
The Reviews Section
continued as before, with book jacket images included in both the print and
online publications when available. The
retrospective index of the Reviews
on the ARLIS/NA Web site
is now searchable by title, author, and artist.
AD Contributors
Guidelines were revised with new
guidelines for length of articles, and requirements for submission of text,
notes, and illustrations were also amended.
The revised Guidelines were also added to the ARLIS/NA
Publications Web site.
As of Vol. 21 #1 the Table
of Contents of the issues was added to the Web site, and in future, the
Table of Contents pages of AD issues will be added to the Publications
Web site after 1st proof corrections have been made.
Section 4.1 Rules for Style was
expanded with the addition of more ‘preferred’ words/spellings to reflect AD
practice. Aspects of AD
production style were also documented for future reference.
With a view to improved aesthetics and fewer corrections of spacing in
titles, in future the book titles in the Reviews Section will be spread
across the entire width of the column, with the book jacket images placed at
left below, and the text of the reviews placed at the right of the image.
The current cover of AD (the
pointillist eye) has been in use since Fall 1997.
The Editorial Team prefers not to change cover designs in mid-volume, and
began discussion of a new design in St.Louis.
After further consultation among the Editorial Team members via email, it
was decided that of the two potential cover designs presented to us in St.Louis,
the grid design was preferred, if appropriate revisions could be made.
The Board Liaison, Treasurer, and President were consulted about the
requirement to use the logo colors and authorization for design revisions.
A quote was obtained from ion and the cost issue of design revisions is
now pending decision from the President. Alternatively,
the ‘eye’ design has been translated into the new logo colors, and may
continue to be used at least for 2003.
Selling advertising in AD is now the responsibility of Elizabeth Clarke Associates. The Spring issue contained five pages of paid advertising, while the Fall issue contained five and a half pages. For the second time in the last five years, the outside back cover of an AD issue also had a full page ad, instead of a half page ad. Both the Spring and Fall issues also made available three and two half pages respectively for internal ads for ARLIS conferences and publications on a space available basis. Half pages at the ends of articles will continue to be offered to appropriate and timely internal (Society related) ads if paid advertising is not available when the 1st proofs are produced.
As in past reports, the
Editorial Team has asked the Executive Board and the management firm for a
breakdown of production costs for AD.
While earlier in the report year some general figures on production costs
were shared, we are still waiting for more detailed reports on production costs
for each part of the production process.
On the agenda for discussion in Baltimore is the possibility/necessity for some sort of electronic publishing vehicle for the Society. There will be further discussion of rules for style, e.g., the necessity for notes and bibliographies for AD articles
The editorial team may discuss the desirability of establishing a policy to review the AD cover design approximately every five years (ten issues), and the necessity to plan for associated design costs at least a year in advance.
Although Kathy Corcoran announced her resignation as AD Indexer in St.Louis (after a tenure that began with v.16, 1997), she graciously continued to index AD for the last time this year (v.21, 2002). The need to find a new indexer for future volumes of AD is now urgent and must be resolved soon.