Much has changed since I first began work with the Survey in 1992. Nowhere is this more evident than in our publication process. And, more change is in the offing. 

When I first arrived, the Survey had no computers and was paying a handsome sum for the prepress work necessary to prepare a manuscript for printing. Then Dean, Dr. Gary Floyd gave me start-up monies to purchase the first two computers for the Survey. With some software and a little effort, we began decreasing the cost of publication to the point that the computers paid for themselves the first year of operation.

Of course, the printing process in 1992 was rather lengthy compared to today. We used then, and still use today, the Ohio State University Print Facility. When we laid-out a publication as far as we could, we turned over the camera-ready copy to the Print Facility for the final prepress work (produce a photo-negative of each page, strip and mount eight negatives at a time onto large half-signature sheets, and produce a plate). The plates were then mounted on presses to print a series of signatures (16 pages, 8 pages to a side). If color was involved, there were four plates for every half-signature, instead of just one. Mounting and adjusting plates on a press is both an art and a science, often requiring quite a number of adjustments, followed by further adjustments to the intensity and mix of inks. After all the signatures were printed, the sheets were folded, cut, and sent off to the bindery for stitching and binding. The Survey saved money and sped up the publication process at that time by providing camera-ready copy. 

The next incremental improvement in the printing process came when we could simply hand over our PageMaker files to the Print Facility, who then generated the negatives for each page on an image-setter without the use of cameras. Cameras were still used for some artwork and figures, but not for text pages. This resulted in a small savings on the cost per publication.

The next major step down this evolutionary road came just a few years ago when the Print Facility eliminated the need for negatives and the stripping and mounting process. Since 2001, we have been providing PDF (portable document format) files of our publications, including color plates, to the Print Facility. In an operation termed “computer-to-plate,” they produce halfsignature plates directly from our electronic file. This has not only resulted in additional cost-savings, but also increased the speed at which we receive proofs and finished publications. I thought it couldn’t get any better than this. We still paid for the mounting and press run costs, but we were surely saving money on the prepress front-end of the process.

For several years, Gene Kritsky has been quietly pushing me to consider complete electronic printing for Survey publications. I built my first computer in 1959 for a science fair, and have never been opposed to increasing productivity and lowering costs through the use of computers. However, much like the output from old dot-matrix printers compared to post-script printers today, the quality was not there. The Survey makes every effort to ensure that photographs, halftone drawings, and other graphic output are as high in quality as can be achieved with the originals received. Thus, I resisted Gene’s suggestions on the grounds that electronic presses would seriously degrade the quality of our publications’ graphics. Also, I was not sure how our books would be bound under this new type of printing.  For the most part, each 16-page signature is stitched (Smythe-sewn). This reduces the chance to near zero that repeated use of a book will result in loose or missing pages. “Good idea, Gene,” I said, “but we must maintain quality.” However, his idea lingered.

Someone said, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” The need was there; the vacuum has now been filled. I recently learned while perusing print-trade publications, that the new generation of electronic presses has achieved the quality and consistency necessary for the Survey to take the next step in its publication evolution. A new paradigm for Survey publications is upon us. Of course, I quickly met with the poobahs at the Print Facility to see if they were tuned-in to this development. Actually, they were way ahead of me. The Ohio State Print Facility has stayed on the cutting edge of the printing industry for many years. They were already evaluating and budgeting for at least one of the new electronic presses. And, they were very interested in the Survey being among the first to benefit from this advance. 

Basically, there will be no more half-signature plates involved and no mounting of plates on presses. The publications will be given to the Print Facility as electronic PDF files and will be printed directly to the press.  Heretofore, the first book cost a lot because of setup charges and plate costs, whereas the remainder of the books cost primarily paper and ink. When the startup costs were spread over a print run, you arrived at a cost per book to produce. Thus, the more copies of a book you printed, the cost per book went down. With this new process, the first book will cost exactly as much as the last book to print. This means you can print in smaller quantities (including one at a time), and save money on the initial printing, on inventory control, and on storage. The proof copy will come off the same press as the final production copies. Also, if errors in a book are found after an initial print run, the PDF file can be changed. Any subsequent printed copies of the book will already be corrected. The new generation electronic presses will print on sheets large enough to contain four pages, front and back. This means that we can still have our books Smythe-sewn for long-term durability.  Finally, color pages will be cheaper because the cost of four plates per page and their mounting charges will be eliminated.

But, it gets better! Hard to believe, but true. We are also in discussions with the Print Facility to take care of our order-fulfillment responsibilities. At some point in the future, all of our publications (yes, going back to 1913) will reside as PDF files on the Print Facility’s computers. They will have a link to our website’s publication page. If a customer wants to order a publication over the web, there will be a shopping cart to fill.  If agreement is reached, the Print Facility will print each book, have it bound, mail it to the customer, and collect the money for price and postage. The Survey would then receive a percentage of the net sale on each book sold. Phone, fax, and postal orders would be handled similarly, with the Survey forwarding such orders on to the Print Facility for processing. 

A new day is on the horizon for the Survey’s printing operations - a new paradigm, indeed! The new technology and our open and supportive relationship with the Ohio State University Print Facility bode well for the Survey’s long-term commitment to informative, attractive, and quality publications.