How SSP Started by Mark Carroll

National Park Service
President, SSP

The Society for Scholarly Publishing, the sturdy sapling under whose growing branches we now gather for the third time, had its roots in two separate, interrelated movements. It did not come about, as some have theorized, as the result of some cosmic 'big bang,' but rather was the logical outgrowth of two antecedent activities. The first was the Association for Scientific Journals, and the second, the Innovation Guide project of the National Science Foundation.

The first flowering of the Association of Scientific Journals took place in May, 1973, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City. It was organized under the auspices of the Professional Communication Group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, which provided nourishment and financial support. There were 157 in attendance for the program chaired by one James M. Lufkin, who was assisted by George Schindler (who had suggested the conference in the first place), Woody Gannett, Art Herschman, Charles Roland, and Fred Spilhaus, each of whom served as a session chair. John Phillips of RCA was the program chair. Among the general topics discussed were editorial management, economics and production alternatives, and social implications. There was talk of future meetings, a possible newsletter, and even, spoken as a well relished jest, of course, even perhaps, a journal.

ASJ Proceedings Published

The first tangible result of the conference was the appearance of Volume 1, Number 1, of the Association for Scientific Journal Editors, Publishers & Users Newsletter. The editor, J.M. Lufkin, circulated it to all who attended the conference and supplied them with an attendee roster. He declared that all attendees were automatically members of the Association, and he won their hearts and minds by announcing that 'there will be no membership dues, and no charge for the Newsletter, at least for the foreseeable future.'

In September, 1973, the conference record was published as a volume in the IEEE Transactions in Professional Communication. Editor Lufkin’s preface deserves quoting in its entirety for two reasons: it is brief, and it is full of portents. He wrote:

'The conference represented by this record was remarkable in at least two respects. It brought together editors and publishers from engineering and engineering-related sciences on one hand, and those from the biological and social sciences on the other. It also joined in discussion the editors and publishers on one hand, and the users –librarians and information scientists—on the other. The informal exchanges alone from these unusual encounters was enough to justify the conference for many of those who attended.

If the bridges we have built in this way between these quite different ‘subcultures’ of science are strong enough to last, we may look forward to some important new traffic in ideas. And to judge by the spirited three-hour debate (transcribed in this record) we have made a good beginning.'

Planning for a second conference, to be held in 1975, began soon after, with the authorization of the IEEE. It was at this time that the newsletter editor announced in his organ the 'If the Association gets official, or organized, or starts to incur expenses, the editor will resign.' Charles W.N. Thompson of Northwestern served as program chair for the 1975 meeting, which was held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The proceedings were again published by the IEEE, with the aid of a grant from the National Science Foundation, which was also to assist the 1977 meeting publication. Lee Burchinal of the NSF was the keynote speaker at Cherry Hill, on the subject, 'Microform and Electronic Publication: Emerging Bases for Scientific Communication.'

Meanwhile, Elsewhere

Before proceeding to that third meeting. Let us leave ASJ to rest comfortably while we consider the other strand of our lineage, the Innovation Guide Project. The NSF devised the Innovation Project, more formally known as 'Improving the Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Innovation,' to gather and distribute information on printing and publishing procedures of value to the scientific and technical journal community. Two contractors, chosen from among many bidders, conducted inquiries among those concerned. The inquiry was to lead to a planning guide that would help publishers, editors, and others responsible for communicating scientific and technical information, 'to adopt innovative concepts and techniques to enhance the services they provide, reduce the cost of their operation, or both,' in the words of an early query letter. The letter continued: 'Please understand that by ‘innovation’ we do not necessarily mean the leading edge of technology. Rather, we construe it to mean anything that has not yet becomes standard practice. Quite often, what is considered prosaic by one organization will be considered novel by another. We have found, for example, some rather conventional marketing techniques to be quite ‘innovative’ when applied to scientific and technical information.'

The principal purpose of the exercise was to prepare a planning guide. This was undertaken by the Capital Systems Group, an independent management services organization in Rockville, Maryland. A technical advisory panel was formed to review project design, identify content, and advise staff. Later a user advisory panel was formed to review and arm-wrestle about content.

The first version of the Guide, a loose-leaf compilation of articles, was issued in 1975. It was widely circulated for comment and contributions, and its appearance was duly noted in the ASJ Newsletter in March, 1976. (There is certain circularity to this account, for I have discovered, not surprisingly, materials from the ASJ conference records in the Guide’s research files.)

For the next two years, Capital Systems worked with a third party, termed a general advisory panel, that met periodically to deal with the final version of the Guide, which was issued in 1978.

My one regret about the whole process was that no mechanisms were devised to update it in a regular basis. It remains today on the shelves of the participants and a small group of recipients as a summary of the innovations of some five years ago. It is no longer available in its original form, but the national Technical Information Service sells it in microform and paper, and it is one of their all time best sellers.

Meanwhile, dialogue continued solely about the possibility of a new organization devoted solely to scholarly publishing, in whatever medium, in whatever discipline, in whatever context or country. Indeed, the user advisory panel of the guide, a synergistic assemblage that included some who could properly be labeled 'humanists,' fervently felt that some means should be concocted so that they might continue their productive deliberations.

And lo, it happened.

A New Organization?

Encouraged by the momentum and interest generated by the Innovation Project, John Strawhorn, who was its principal investigator, and Fred Spilhaus, a member of both the user and the advisory panels, with the advice and assistance of Judy Holoviak, drew up a prospectus, complete with budget and membership projections. This was circulated to a number of publishers, and to officers of editing and publishing units. It was to become the basis for an informal workshop at the third meeting of the ASJ, to whose activities we now turn.

ASJ’s third meeting was held in Reston, Virginia, in may 1977, and it is remarkable for several reasons, among them the fact that the program chair and committee were the same as the previous meeting’s, they having been dragooned or volunteering to repeat their previous success.

It was also at Reston that the word 'humanities' appeared for the first time in the title of an ASJ paper, having been brought into the tent by R.H. Lineback’s paper on 'Journal Quality in the Humanities.' There was talk of a fourth meeting in 1979.

The fourth ASJ meeting did not come to pass. Mr. Lufkin was assigned to different duty by his employer, and was chained to the galley in Minneapolis. But the Reston workshop discussion of a new society led to a revised prospectus, circulated in the winter and spring of 1977-78. This version was complete with by-laws, which history records as having been confected in a Greek restaurant in downtown Washington. Historical accounts differ as to whether the accompanying house wine was red, white, or both/

As might be expected, reactions differed, and were eloquently expressed. One four-page letter stressed that the concept was 'unworkable,' and used precedents from the PLO-Israeli conflict to prove the point. The weight of the reactions, however, was on the favorable side, and a small working gathering was convened on 16 June 1978 at Anita DeVivo’s apartment for further deliberation.

After good food and wine, good talk, serious discussion and a considerable amount of irreverent comment, it was moved and seconded that there be established by those present a Society for Scholarly Publishing. The motion carried unanimously, and those present –Robert Day, Anita DeVivo, Elizabeth Pake, Brigette Huybrechts, Barbara Meyers, Fred Spilhaus, John Strawhorn, Seldon Tarrant, and your narrator voted themselves the first Board of Directors, pro tem (which turned out to be a good long tem). Officers were elected according to a slate prepared by a self-appointed nominating committee chaired by Fred Spilhaus. Bob Day was the first to pay dues. Subsequently, we were duly incorporated, certified a tax-exempt organization, and set about planning for our first meeting, held in Boston in June of 1979, with Woody Gannett as program chair.

It was there that Jim Lufkin, sometimes know as 'P.O.F.' or 'Perceptive Organizational Facilitator' or some such, received the Society’s first award, declaring him the 'Godfather' of the SSP. And it was there that the incumbent president pro tem, and the first elected president, used the Society’s first and only official gavel.

Help From many Quarters

It was a long journey to Boston and beyond, and a great many people and organization helped us along the way. All those people, many of whom became members, who had played so many different roles over the years, remind me of a Boston colleague’s characterization of the kinds of people who wear many different hats, giving the impression of the Soldier’s Chorus from Faust, where 'the same few soldiers march on and off the stage to create the illusion of an army.'

We drew strength and talent from our membership. In addition to the endorsements of our sustaining members, we benefited early on from the contributions of goods and services by Edwards Brothers, the Byrd Press, CadmusMack, and the Evans Press. IEEE and the American Chemical Society lent logistical support. For the first two years, the American Geophysical Union supplied the secretariat, space, an address, and a whole lot more, and it continues to harbor us and provide supporting services. The National Science Foundation graciously permitted a one-time announcement of the Society’s formation in the final communication of the Innovation Project. The editor of Scholarly Publishing, and others, made mailing lists available.

It is not possible to list all who should be singled out, and I expect that I shall be excoriated for omissions. I hope that the definitive history of our society, done as an M.A. or Ph.D. thesis, will harmonize the various versions of its genesis and growth. It has been extremely rewarding for me to have been drawn into this surging sea of talent, now eddying around the Pacific shores. May we all have smooth sailing in the future, for we’re all in the same boat.

Mark Carroll has been Chief of the Professional Publications division of the national park Service since 1972. Prior to that he was at Yale University Press (1951-1956) and Harvard University Press (1956-1972), the last four years as Director. He was a member of the Association of American Publishers copyright delegation to Russia in 1970. He has a 1911 printing press in his basement.