Greetings! I hope this newsletter finds you with a happy, healthy and productive start to 2016.
The KP editorial staff has hit the ground running in 2016 with production of the 22nd edition of Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Modern Issues.
After a call for contributions last fall, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of folks who so generously came forward and agreed to send in updates and corrections for the book. We have also welcomed a few new contributors. I am grateful to all of you for your knowledge and your willingness to share that knowledge with the collecting community. Thank you!
A good number of you agreed to submit your updates via Excel spreadsheets. I appreciate your willingness to learn this new process. I think those who gave it a try found it to be a fairly easy, more streamlined way to communicate your updates – and it certainly makes my job easier from an editorial and data entry standpoint. So thank you! I have high hopes that even more of you will make the switch to the spreadsheets for the next edition.
I thought it might be helpful to explain a bit about the catalog’s production process, especially for those of you who submit updates on an ongoing basis:
Updates to the catalog during production time are made country by country in alphabetical order. I gather all the data I have for a particular section (say, all countries that begin with “A”), enter those updates into the database, then pass that section along to the design team, who begins laying it out in digital files to be sent to the printer. Once a section has been turned over to the designer, changes are much more difficult to make and we only do so if absolutely necessary. Many of you are continuing to send in updates for the Modern Issues book after the contributor deadline has passed. Please continue to do so – updates are welcome year-round! – but know that if that particular country/section has already moved forward in the production process, those changes will not be reflected until the next edition of the book is published.
We will be spending the next few weeks completing updates to the Modern Issues book, which will be available in mid-April. In February and March, my attention will turn to the Standard Catalog of World Coins 2001-Date, focusing primarily on entering new issues into the database for inclusion in the book. It won’t be long until I begin work on Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money and North American Coins & Prices. See Tom Michael’s schedule notes for a more detailed run-down of the year in books.
We have a lot of work ahead of us to be sure, but it’s work we are excited about. It’s also work we couldn’t do without the help of our contributors. I can never say too many times how appreciative I am of all you do to better our catalogs and better this great hobby.
Here’s wishing you as warm a winter as possible with the promise of sunshine and springtime around the corner. Take care, and please reach out any time with questions, comments, corrections or updates. My email is maggie.judkins@fwcommunity.com.
All the best,
Maggie
