I thought you might be interested in the exchange of e-mails between myself and Helene Potter at Thomson Gale regarding the lack of illustrations accompanying articles in the new EJ.
Quite frankly, I am astounded at her responses. As far as I am concerned the fact the the color photo inserts in the new volumes do not even have page numbers and are therefore not (as far as I can tell) referenced in relevant articles or index entries makes those photos useless for reference and research purposes! This is an encyclopedia, not a coffee table book. I think Helene's suggestion that we should enjoy BROWSING through those photo inserts is an absolute evasion of the definition and obligation of an encyclopedia! While it might indeed be pleasurable to browse those photo inserts, they do not in any way (that I can see) enhance the research value of the EJ. And the loss of photos from the old edition in fact reduces the research value and requires us to check both old and new editions for every search! Elizabeth Edelglass Library Director Department of Jewish Education of Greater New Haven 360 Amity Road Woodbridge, CT 06525 (203)387-2424, x330 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] ; <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 12:20 PM Subject: RE: Encylopaedia Judaica The color inserts are of a thematic nature kettubot, Israel, archaeology, rituals, communities, etc. They are meant for use in tandem with relevant articles. I don't have a copy of the book at home, so cannot help with index. And the idea was not to emulate coffee-table books. Each one of these inserts is to be used in addition to and as illustrations of the articles on archaeology, kettubot, communities, etc. But it also needs to be said that EJ is a perfect illustration of learning through browsing, and this is where I disagree with you and your comment: no encyclopedia is meant to be read cover to cover; rather its best use implies a great deal of continuous browsing that, hopefully, leads to more discoveries and more learning. The many thousand illustrations in the first edition shared extremely poor technical characteristics, and originals were faded in too many cases beyond repair, another reality we had to take into consideration. And yes, our scholars AND librarians participating in the academic review of EJ1 were very much in favor of a better photo program. I am sorry that, due to copyright ownership, we were unable to retain some v. others. Yes, EJ2 is a standalone title. But EJ1 was and remains what most have found it to be: a project that memorialized the Jewish communities of Europe decimated by WWII, the contributions of Judaism to all scholarly fields, the creation of the State of Israel, etc. This is not replaceable (and most of the illustrations you are referring to addressed that world). The second edition celebrates a changing world, with a State of Israel now fully a part of the "concert of nations," "Americana" occupying a central position in Jewish studies, etc. The two editions ought to live side by side, just like our second editions of the Encyclopedia of Religion or the Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ---------- From: Liz Edelglass [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 11:36 AM To: Potter, Helene (Gale) Subject: Re: Encylopaedia Judaica Thank you for your long answer to my e-mail. Perhaps you can enlighten me on the best way to access and utilize the color photo inserts in the printed volumes. Are there references in the text of articles that refer the reader to relevant photos in the inserts? If there are such references, I have failed to notice them, and this is what I am missing in terms of reference value of the photos. To use your example of a photo of the first woman ordained a rabbi in Italy -- In which volume will I find this photo? If I am researching Italy or women in Judaism or rabbis, will I find reference to this photo? The photo inserts do not seem to have page numbers, which makes reference to them difficult if not impossible. I also do not see reference to these photo inserts in the index (for instance, I did not find reference to the photo of the woman ordained in Italy under "women -- ordination" in the index volume.) Am I completely missing something? While the color photos may be wonderful, I am not looking to use the EJ as a coffee-table book for photo browsing. I need photos with specific reference value that can be found when a library patron is researching a specific topic. As an additional comment, I never meant to suggest that all illustrations from the 1972 edition should have been included without editorial consideration as to each illustration's value. However, the decision to eliminate all the old illustrations because some were "ranked as pretty low" in editorial value (to quote you) seems to me like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Finally, I take exception to your statement that "No one ever thought of recommending that EJ1 be discarded in favor of EJ2." First of all, NONE OF YOUR MARKETING SUGGESTS THAT EJ2 IS A SUPPLEMENT TO EJ1 RATHER THAN A STAND-ALONE PRODUCT! Secondly, libraries and researchers are not well served if every search in the EJ now requires 2 searches, one in EJ2 for text and a second in EJ1 for illustrations -- if this was the publisher's intention, purchasers should have been made well aware of that fact. Elizabeth Edelglass Library Director Department of Jewish Education of Greater New Haven 360 Amity Road Woodbridge, CT 06525 (203)387-2424, x330 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] ; <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 10:44 AM Subject: RE: Encylopaedia Judaica Thank you for your comments. I am sorry that you find our obligation to deliver the same quality online and in print a not-good-enough answer to your query re. the black and white images we could not reproduce in the ebook version of EJ2. We could not get permissions for such an edition and would have had to produce two different projects, with different costs, etc., creating much more anger among our clients than your and some of your colleagues' stated disappointment. No one ever thought of recommending that EJ1 be discarded in favor of EJ2. This edition adds new knowledge, it is not replacing its predecessor. This edition needed new images, and we provided color thematic essays that teach, illustrate, enrich the words on the pages. There is no doubt in my mind that the image, for example, of the first woman to be ordained a rabbi in Italy, does wonders in conveying the evolution of the institution as well as the solemnity of the moment. I would say the same about how diverse the Jewish communities look and live around the world, how Israel has changed in the past 60 years, etc. all colorfully and beautifully laid out in our volume inserts. I would also like to point to the long black-and-white photo essay on life before and during the war, in the ghettos and in the camps, something that was totally absent from the first edition. So it is not a situation where we discarded a body of work and did not replace it with anything worth studying. We just did what our many advisers and we thought would serve the topic and users best, in light of new and different production, editorial, and cost circumstances. Had we decided to embark on an illustration program worthy of a 21st century edition, we would have faced a color-image budget that would have made the final item totally unaffordable to most of our constituencies, which are numerous and diverse, from elementary schools to university research libraries. As you point out, the set is already quite costly as it is. Do believe me when I say that reproducing all of the original photos aside from discussing their quality and their editorial value, which many of our reviewers ranked as pretty low would have made the unit cost of EJ unacceptably high. As for the 100-year calendar this decision was made unanimously by our academic editors in Israel and in the U.S., who all thought that information on this is ubiquitous on the web, where not only kids like to go and be. I realize that this may be a perfect instance where the lack of indexing of the web may create issues of source authority. But we also trust that the librarian, through her vigilance and knowledge, will know how to direct her charges to EJ1 or/and vetted web-based sources. I hope the above clarifies our position on, at least, the photo and calendar issues. Sincerely, Hélène Potter Director of Publishing Macmillan Gale ---------- From: Liz Edelglass [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 10:10 AM To: Potter, Helene (Gale) Subject: Encylopaedia Judaica Dear Helene- Thank you for gathering our comments on the new EJ for feedback to Thomson Gale. I am very distressed at the lack of illustrations, which were an essential feature of the 1972 edition. Visuals, whether of people or places or biblical or religious constructs (such as the wrapping of tefillin or the Holy Ark) are at least as heavily referenced in my library -- by adults and teens -- as the text of the articles. The Encyclopaedia Judaica has always been this library's reference authority, both to learn about something as well as to learn what something looked like. Visuals help us learn from text and understand text. For this alone, I must keep the old edition on the shelf and find myself needing to look up everything twice, once in the new edition for hopefully up-to-date text and again in the old edition for illustrations. I do not accept the excuse that they were not able to get authorization to reprint illustrations from the old edition. This is a costly purchase for any library or individual, and effort should have been made to obtain rights to as many illustrations as possible and to find new illustrations to replace those for which the rights were unavailable. I would also like to add my name to the list of those who are unhappy with the lack of the 100-year calendar. As others have said, we can't always trust what we find on the Internet to be accurate, but we could always trust EJ's calendar, which was always the authority in this library. Elizabeth Edelglass Library Director Department of Jewish Education of Greater New Haven 360 Amity Road Woodbridge, CT 06525 (203)387-2424, x330 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
