Lapsing into Metaphor
August 2009
You have been reading, in this space, about Choice’s elegant new digs—the construction of the building and interior space and the final move in. This editorial reports on construction of another sort: “the review process”—i.e., the progress from nothing to a tidy, 200-word critical review, all trimmed up with citations, active voice, and perfect punctuation.
Glossing right over our wonderful reviewers, out there on the academic frontlines keeping up to date with scholarship, let us consider the folks whose work ensures that reviews are processed in a timely fashion. I speak of office manager Tom Radko and his able crew—distribution assistant John Adams, library technical assistant Evelyn Butts, and publishing assistants Sharon Coleman, Colleen Barile, and Sheila Laverty.
John’s task is two-fold: he logs in all incoming books by ISBN (which allows us to track them) and delivers them to the proper editor (determined by LC class), and he sends assignments on their way, neatly packaged with the appropriate review sheet and the occasional note from editor to reviewer. Evelyn oversees bibliographic entries. Editors cannot assign a book or Web site unless it is “in the system.” Assisted by Sharon and Colleen, Evelyn makes sure that it is and that the entry is spot on in accordance with the OCLC/MARC record. Titles within titles? No problem. Part of a numbered series? Into the bibliographic record go the series title and the number. But Sharon and Colleen have other tasks as well.
Sharon is our maven of reviews. In addition to monitoring the inflow of reviews, Sharon fields deadline inquiries, late reminders, and canceled assignments, and in general keeps reviewers happy. A reviewer who has been in touch with Choice has surely encountered Sharon, who is unfailingly gracious and unflappable. Colleen keeps the reviewer information—addresses, affiliations, areas of interest, availability—up to date. She also oversees “summer forms” (the annual request to reviewers that they update their records for the coming academic year), in the process entering and confirming new information sent by our hundreds of reviewers; and “receives” applications from prospective reviewers, directing them to the correct editor.
Sheila enters the picture with the reviews themselves: she scans those received by fax or post, tidies them up, supplies missing LC classes, and neatly annotates words that are questionable or indecipherable. When reviews appear in editors’ inboxes, Sheila has had her way with them (and delivered them, too).
We can’t say enough nice things about Tom Radko, who brings to the task of office manager a rich knowledge of academic publishing that serves Choice in multiple ways. In addition to daily oversight of “the review process,” Tom is in constant contact with publishers, making sure those who are supposed to send us books “automatically” (without our requesting them) do so; keeping editors supplied with publishers’ catalogs from which to request books; and pestering (oh so nicely) publishers who may be slow about sending titles we want.
So a huge thanks to Tom, Sharon, Evelyn, John, Colleen, and Sheila for constructing a sturdy framework on which the rest of us can build.—Rebecca A. Bartlett
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