KEEPING UP-TO-DATE

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 13886, 20 June 1938, Page 2

KEEPING UP-TO-DATE

TELEPHONE D! RECTORY METHODS. LARGE-SCALE PUB i ASH INC*. As a telephone directory loses lull veiue unless it is up-to-date, the L > ost Office pu lishes its twenty-one different directories twice a year and constantly maintains a revising, stall to keep tiie Jists accurate by embodying every change up till the last possible moment before going to Press. A section oi the Government Printing Office is also occupied continuously all the year round in the production of these useful books. They do not pretend to literary quality, but pride is shown in their neatness and particularly in their accuracy. Imimdiately a new telephone directory is published for any district, preparations commence tor the next issue six months hence. New subscribers are continually being added to the exchanges, and there is a fairly steady flow of relinquishments, the latter not preventing the grand total of subscribers from rising steadily every month by at least 70U or 800. The revising staff has to note all these changes and there are many others due to alterations of addresses. Corrections are noted by the local Postmasters, who send the details on printed lists to the revising section of the General Post Office in Wellington. Thes-e lists are numbered so that all can ‘be accounted for before the ne>ct edition of the directory goes to Press. The alterations indicated are transcribed to the ‘‘copy" for the next edition, this process being checked by a second official, while the final survey of the list numbers ei sures that every change recorded by a Postmaster lias been duly received at headquarters. A date is fixed for going to Press, Chief Postmasters are notified, and they promptly forward the final alterations. The telegraph is sometimes used to .;ave time at the last moment. Every directory has its own publication date, and that time-table must be scrupulously followed, otherwise delay will be caused m keeping telephone information up-to-date. The number of alterations in every* directory is surprisingly large—B,ooo is the average for the Auckland issue and there are usually al least 2,000 revisions in the Hamilton issue. It is estimated that at least one-third ei the corrections relate to changes of address. The larger directories take three or four weeks for printing, binding and despatch, and a shorter period is needed for the smaller directories. Last-mmute changes printed in an addenda usually show corrections to within twelve or fourteen days of the publication date. A direct telephone line to the Government Printer facilitates the work, while a staff which specialises in telepho le list revision increases the efficiency of this continuous publication process, with its impressive grand total of 396,300 books issued