Supporters of the Socialist Workers Party and the Communist Leagues around the world participate in this ambitious effort, which was launched in early 1998. The Reprint Project is now an effort of more than 200 supporters in numerous countries who are preparing these books in electronic form.

The volunteers scan, proofread, format, and index the books on their computers, transforming the books into digital files. They also make digital covers and photo signatures and then burn a compact disk--which will now be print-ready when it is sent to Pathfinder’s printshop. In 1998, the shop purchased new computer-to-plate equipment that allows a digital file to be sent to the shop over the Internet or on a CD that can be prepared to go on a printing press in a matter of minutes, thus replacing outdated printing methods that required the use of labor intensive equipment.

In October, a series of three meetings were held in the San Francisco Bay area to discuss these next steps. Peggy Brundy, Ruth Cheney, Jerry Gardner, and Tom Tomasko, the four members of the steering committee of the Reprint Project attended, as did Mary-Alice Waters, president of Pathfinder Press, and Norton Sandler, a National Committee member of the Socialist Workers Party who has been assigned to work with the steering committee.  
 
Quality work by volunteers
In explaining the proposed changes, Waters explained that three of the four Pathfinder editorial staff members currently spend the majority of their time each week checking formatted text, graphic files, and the final CD sent in by volunteers. Waters noted that the time spent on this is growing in response to the pickup in the pace of the work being submitted by the project volunteers.

At the beginning of August the volunteers took on a goal of producing 30 finished titles by year’s end. They have completed 19 as of October 31. Waters said the work of the volunteers is resulting in quality work that would have been unimaginable when the project began.

Over the course of the meetings, participants came to agreement with the proposal that they take on major increased responsibility for the production of Pathfinder books and that all unnecessary duplication of effort should be rapidly eliminated. Much of the work currently done by the Pathfinder staff is already or can easily be carried out by the volunteers themselves.

When the various checks that will be part of the volunteers’ new procedures are completed, a final compact disc with an entire book on it will be sent to Pathfinder, ready to go on the presses. Previously, the Pathfinder staff looked over the entire CD before sending them to the Pathfinder printshop. These CDs will be of such quality that they can be easily produced by a quality digital printshop anywhere in the world, greatly enhancing Pathfinder’s ability to produce its revolutionary arsenal.

Volunteers will also begin to do the formatting and proofreading of new titles, beginning with the booklet Pathfinder nació con la revolucion de Octubre, the Spanish-language version of Pathfinder was born with the October Revolution. These changes, which will eliminate hours of work each week, will free up the editorial staff to focus its time on editorial priorities and the promotion and sales of Pathfinder titles.

To take on and achieve these additional tasks, and to increase the quality of its work while maintaining and increasing production levels, the Reprint Project leadership will review its overall production plan. With Pathfinder no longer carefully checking titles, new checks by volunteers will be put in place. Increased attention will also be paid to the checks currently done.

Volunteers who have been developing skills needed by the project will be called on to take on additional new responsibilities.

There is every reason to expect that this will happen. Before the October meetings, a call had gone out to the many volunteers who work on indexing books to see who was interested in learning formatting or graphics skills.

Shifting additional volunteers to these production areas is necessary to get production up to 10 CDs per month--the long-term goal of the Reprint Project. Volunteers have already made more than 130 titles digital, but more than 80 Pathfinder titles remain out of print.

As a result of this call, 12 indexers have stepped forward. It can be expected that additional volunteers will rapidly come forward to fill the new tasks while we redouble our efforts to successfully complete our existing assignments.  
 
 
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