SZ/RS/9 - Consultative Committee on Co-operation with Printing Organisations
Reference code
SZ/RS/9
Level of description
File
Title
Consultative Committee on Co-operation with Printing Organisations
Date/s
1949-1955
Quantity & Format
3 sub-files
Scope and content
The Committee was set up at the end of 1949 "To maintain understanding and co-operation between scientific publishing organisations and the representatives printing organisations" [Document PO/1(49), 'Terms of Reference and Membership']. The Committee was chaired by SZ and reported to the British Federation of Master Printers, the Printing and Kindred Trades Federation, and the Council of the Royal Society.
The establishment of the Committee was a consequence of concerns expressed at the Royal Society Information Conference, 1949, and it was required to "keep the Information Services Committee informed of its activities" [op. cit.].
Involved as he was with publication of various scientific journals, especially those of the Society for Endocrinology, the business of the Committee was close to SZ's heart. He was particularly active in promoting the adoption by scientific publishers of Pro-printing, a photolitho process in which the original text was produced on an electric typewriter and then pasted up. In 1952, at the urging of the Committee, the Society set up a small Pro-printing unit to undertake commissions for both journals and monographs from scientific publishers, especially other learned societies.
The principal matters that exercised the Committee were the length of time between submission of a text and its publication, and the cost of publication, and the risk to quality in any technique or procedure designed to address either or both of these issues. Discussions were held with the government on the possibility of grant aid to learned societies to enable them to keep publication costs down without going into deficit. Worries were also expressed about the possible effect on circulation, and therefore income, if subscriptions were raised.
See also Series SZ/SE (Society and Journal of Endocrinology) and File SZ/BU/11, relating to proposals to set up a Birmingham University Press.
The establishment of the Committee was a consequence of concerns expressed at the Royal Society Information Conference, 1949, and it was required to "keep the Information Services Committee informed of its activities" [op. cit.].
Involved as he was with publication of various scientific journals, especially those of the Society for Endocrinology, the business of the Committee was close to SZ's heart. He was particularly active in promoting the adoption by scientific publishers of Pro-printing, a photolitho process in which the original text was produced on an electric typewriter and then pasted up. In 1952, at the urging of the Committee, the Society set up a small Pro-printing unit to undertake commissions for both journals and monographs from scientific publishers, especially other learned societies.
The principal matters that exercised the Committee were the length of time between submission of a text and its publication, and the cost of publication, and the risk to quality in any technique or procedure designed to address either or both of these issues. Discussions were held with the government on the possibility of grant aid to learned societies to enable them to keep publication costs down without going into deficit. Worries were also expressed about the possible effect on circulation, and therefore income, if subscriptions were raised.
See also Series SZ/SE (Society and Journal of Endocrinology) and File SZ/BU/11, relating to proposals to set up a Birmingham University Press.
-
SZ - Zuckerman Archive
-
SZ/RS - Royal Society
- SZ/RS/9 - Consultative Committee on Co-operation with Printing Organisations
-
SZ/RS - Royal Society