More than 140 volunteers from seven countries have participated since the project was officially started two years ago. Sixty-eight books and pamphlets have been completed and put onto a CD for Pathfinder.

Many of the new recruits are responding to an appeal by the Socialist Workers Party for more help with the project. Warren Simons from New York reports that four party supporters "have volunteered to start working on the project, two volunteers have gotten reactivated, and a fifth supporter is thinking about joining.

"Our success in signing up new recruits flows in part from the enthusiasm generated by the successful completion of Scan2000," he added. Scan2000 was the project's 1999 goal to scan every Pathfinder title by the end of the year.

The new volunteers are also responding to world politics, just like the volunteers who have stayed with the project since its inception, in what has turned out to be an historic contribution to the worldwide development of the communist movement. "While the work of digitizing Pathfinder books is demanding, the reward of knowing that our efforts will enable these books to get into the hands of revolutionary workers as soon as they are needed in a fight to take the power away from the imperialists, is very, very great," one longtime volunteer said.

Now that the scanning is completed, volunteers must proofread and format the books. If these books have an index, it must be redone because the new format changes the page numbering. And all graphics, colorful covers, internal photographs and maps, must be digitized as well. Volunteers who were scanners are pitching in to help on other work teams. But more volunteers are needed.

Mark Weddleton from Des Moines sent this report after a recent SWP supporters meeting there: "Andrew and Joanne volunteered at the meeting to join the Project. I gave a little talk about the Reprint Project and showed them around the database. It gave me a renewed appreciation for the strength of the website. All the titles in process and the number of supporters you could see were involved was very impressive to them. It clearly conveyed it as an international team effort."

Nine months ago the Reprint Project moved its work to a database on the Internet. This is an easier and more secure way to store the hundreds of files the volunteers create in the course of their work. It also allows all participants to follow the progress of the work.

While it is helpful for volunteers to be computer literate, it is not a prerequisite to participate. The steering committee for the Reprint Project recently made several recommendations to new volunteers without computers. The first was, buy a computer. "They are less expensive by far these days, and they are also getting more and more necessary for revolutionary socialists to use in our struggle to advance the ideas of socialism."

But until new volunteers buy a computer and learn how to use it, "computerless volunteers will have to find a volunteer in the same area to work with. Fortunately, most volunteers are part of supporter groups that meet monthly (or ought to!), thus making organization relatively easy."  
 

Volunteers without computers

Volunteers without computers have been asked to help with proofreading. In Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, Montreal, New York, and Toronto volunteers with computers are helping those without to download assignments, print them out, enter corrections and upload completed work. They also handle the e-mail correspondence involved in dispatching assignments and deadlines.

The new wave of recruits into the project has also highlighted the importance of training. Simons explains how it is being organized in New York. "Maggie will give an introductory training session on Sunday before the NYC supporters' meeting. We will give [each new volunteer] a three-ring binder with the proofreading guidelines, all the helpful hint bulletins, a sheet listing some of the most common proofreading marks, and hopefully their first assignments. Maggie will show them a sample of some of her work and discuss how it's done. Then they can work on the assignment for a week or so and we'll organize another training session to discuss more concrete questions."

In Miami, supporters of the Socialist Workers Party are also organizing training for four volunteers who asked to join the project there. "First we had a session in front of Glen's computer, where we logged onto the website, and demonstrated how to find files, download, upload, and so on," said Maureen Coletta, a veteran volunteer from Miami.

"Next we printed out the guidelines and went through them together, section by section. We showed them what a typical assignment looks like and what some of the common errors are.

Phil Norris in Pittsburgh e-mailed to say that he is working with three new volunteers there. One of them had expressed interest in the project last November, but couldn't figure out how to get her computer to work properly. "We're going to get together next week for some computer lessons," Norris wrote.

In an e-mail to the new Pittsburgh volunteers Norris wrote, "Don't get overwhelmed. You might think that you volunteered for some little task. It really is a big project, and a complex project, with many different aspects. And it will take you a while to get used to it."

Simons said, "At the February supporters' meeting George, a new proofreader, told us that when he first started contemplating working on the project he was intimidated. But as he delved into it he realized that technical 'know how' wouldn't be a barrier to participating. If he didn't know how to do something or had a problem there were more experienced volunteers who willingly helped him."

Anyone who is interested in joining the project should contact Ruth Cheney at ruthchen@flash.net.  
 
 
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