Spring schedule in San Francisco

Tuesday, April 22: Electronic Editing: Building Efficiency

Not just tips and tricks! Word-whacker and longtime BAEF member Hilary Powers will conduct a dry run for a longer seminar she'll be conducting in New York this summer, testing various ways to "teach people to fish" in the sense of spotting opportunities to reduce the time that handwork is taking away from thoughtful editing, and how to take advantage of them. She'll demonstrate several tools in Word 2003, and invite you to propose problems for solution on the spot. Bring a laptop and follow along, or just watch the action projected on the screen. (Most of the concepts will work in any version of Word, though the execution may differ.)

Thursday, May 29: Word Theft: Editors' Review of Plagiarism Issues

Some editors notice that plagiarism is a growing problem, particularly in the electronic age when a wealth of material is easily copied from the Internet. Attorney Bob Pimm will address our questions regarding the issues that plagiarism raises for editors. For example, how do you go about identifying plagiarism during an edit? Or do you? Are there any helpful industry software tools? Once verified, how do you best approach examples of plagiarism with clients? Is plagiarism by clients their responsibility? Or, as the editor, is it also yours? What is the editor's responsibility or liability if told to "look the other way"?

Bob Pimm, literary attorney and counselor-at-law, has expertise in all aspects of the book publishing industry. He has valuable, firsthand knowledge of book industry retailing, distribution, small press publishing, and literary agency. Bob has worked at Barnes & Noble, Ingram Book Company, small press publishers, and with independent booksellers throughout the U.S. He is a member of the Authors' Guild and the National Writers Union. He is a board member of California Lawyers for the Arts, and has written a variety of articles and book chapters on the legal and business aspects of the book publishing industry. As editor-in-chief, he writes a regular column for Entertainment and Sports Lawyer.

Spring schedule in the South Bay (Santa Clara)

The Editor's Electronic Toolbox: Tuesday, April 22

Join fellow editors to discuss software and hardware needs for publishing professionals in this globally integrated and rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Time and Place: 7-8:45 pm Cedar Room, City of Santa Clara Library, 2635 Homestead Road, Santa Clara, CA 9510

Topics include:

• Hardware requirements—What businesses, publishers, and authors are using
• Software needed; software dandy to have; how often to upgrade
• Future technological trends and how to stay competitive

Feel free to invite your favorite computer geek. See you there! And many thanks to BAEF member Annie Belt and David Couzens for organizing this South Bay forum.

Time: In San Francisco, we gather at 6:30 pm for networking and socializing. Forum presentations are from 7-9 pm.

Location: The Mechanics' Institute is at 57 Post Street, San Francisco 94104. We meet in the fourth floor meeting room and café, seen upon exiting the elevator.

Directions: Just a short distance from the Montgomery Street BART station. Walk one-quarter of a block (left) up Post Street, away from Market Street bus lines. By car, from Geary or Market or 3rd Street, go north onto Kearny and turn right on Post. From O'Farrell, go north on Grant and right on Post.

Parking: On-street parking on Post and neighboring streets is free after 6 pm. Garage parking is available three blocks away in the Sutter-Stockton Garage, 330 Sutter Street at the corner of Sutter and Stockton.

About the Mechanics' Institute: Located in downtown San Francisco, the Institute houses the oldest library on the West Coast and one of the nation's oldest chess clubs. Organized in 1854 when San Francisco was a remote frontier community, it began as a center for adult technical education. The private Institute, housed in the historic 1910 building at 57 Post Street, maintains a large circulation and reference library.