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Yizkor Books in Print
Project Coordinator – Joel Alpert
Yizkor Books Project is please to announce a new initiative to print Yizkor Books that are fully translated, so hard copies will be available for purchase by the descendants of these communities, university and temple libraries and museums. Our intent is to make this unique literature available to the descendants of the towns in book form, so that when their children and grandchildren ask questions, these books will be use to teach the history of these town and make the recent history come alive and not be forgotten. We are aware that people could print the material off the web and many will continue to do so. Nevertheless we feel that people would like a professionally printed version to be on their book shelves for reference. We intend to make the books very affordable.
How we will print the books:
The project will use the “Print on Demand” model, which uses the latest technology for being able to print even single books on demand and ship to individual buyers, without requiring runs of hundreds of books. Hence here is no minimum requirement of number of books to be ordered, nor is there a storage problem, nor an unsold books problem. It is ideal for our situation with a limited audience.
Message to Coordinators of Yizkor Books for Prospective Printing:
We will be printing only fully translated books for which we have permission from the copyright holder of the original Yiddish or Hebrew book to print the translation. If you are interested in getting your book in the queue for processing to be printed, first you must make sure that the Yizkor book project either already has that permission or that you can get it - for clarifications on these issues, please contact Lance Ackerfeld.
Next we will need higher resolution (300 dpi or preferably 600 dpi) scans of the images from the book than were used for the on-line version (72 dpi). When you have satisfied these requirements, then you may contact Joel Alpert, Project Coordinator.
Looking for Volunteers:
In order to accomplish this task, we are looking for talented people who are willing to volunteer to make this effort happen. Below we list the people and talents we are looking for. We want to create a team of several people with each of the talents. We would assign one of each of the volunteer categories below to a book, with the exception of the Document Coordinator, Cover Editor and Publicity Specialist - one or two each for the whole project.
Book Coordinator:
Most likely the project coordinator of the Yizkor book website for that community. If necessary, obtain permissions necessary to produce the book from the organization or person holding the copyright on the original Hebrew/Yiddish Yizkor book. Create a new Preface and Acknowledgements, Credits etc. appropriate to the publishing of the book in English. Consider adding an Appendix containing any new material that might be available (such as from a KehilaLinks page on the community) and clearly marking it as “Not in the Original Yizkor Book.”
Editor:
Take files from the Yizkor Book website and copy into MS WORD files for each book chapter. Read and edit these files to improve English of the translation if necessary. Transfer the files to the Layout Editor.
Image Coordinator:
Scan images from the original Hebrew/Yiddish book, then using image processing software, such as Photo Shop or other to crop, enhance, filter, or blur as necessary, label and save the images. This is necessary because images on the web are 72 dpi resolution, whereas images for a book should be 300 or even 600 dpi.
Layout Editor:
Format the files from the Editor and according to a template supplied changing headings, image captions, etc into a standard format. Imbed the images from the Image Coordinator in the proper place in the text. Edit the material so that the layout has images in a place near the reference to the image, adjust the text so that single line widows would be eliminated, sometimes adjusting size of the images or rewording slightly to gain space. Re-editing and proof reading of material not expected.
Document Coordinator for the whole project:
Submit application for Copyright, Library of Congress Number, ISBN number. Keep track of submittals and responses.
Cover Editor for the whole project:
Create the cover using Photo Shop of some other software likely using a scan of the original Yizkor Book cover and modifying it by inserting English, laying it out on a provided template; or possibly creating a totally new cover. One or several people to do this for the whole project.
Publicity Specialist for the whole project:
Deal with publicity for books. Send out announcements to all researchers signed up for each community covered in the book to be published. Develop list of libraries, university libraries with Judaic collections, Holocaust Memorials, temple libraries, etc. that would likely be interested in purchasing copies of the “Yizkor Books in Print.” Send off periodic announcements to these institutions about new Yizkor books now available. One person or several people to do this for the whole project.
If you feel that you are able to take on one of these tasks, please contact the “Yizkor Books in Print” Advisor – Joel Alpert
Currently available translated Yizkor Books in print:
In the Museum of Jewish Heritage Book Shop
Yizkor Book Project
JewishGen Home Page
Yizkor Book Project Manager, Lance Ackerfeld
Emerita Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field
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Updated 6 Jan 2012 LA
