To fill in the detail concerning Pauline's view that we have combined the
jobs of journal editor and web editor, and accordingly increased the
honorarium:

I wish to emphasise that I have never, at any stage, stated that the jobs of
editor of the journal and web editor have been combined, nor have I stated
that the honorarium paid to the editor was to be doubled to reflect these
responsibilities.

The sequence of events is as follows:

The post of managing editor was advertised in February, then readvertised
several times, via email alerts, the website and in the journal. The
following description was emailed to group members and others with an
interest in the multimedia information area, some 2500 people, and published
in print and on the website, where the advert stayed until the post was
filled:

Managing Editor Multimedia Information
& Technology

The current Managing Editor of Multimedia Information & Technology will be
retiring after the publication of the November 2009 issue of the journal.
The Editorial Board of the Journal is now inviting applications for this
position, to commence duties before the end of 2009, with a view to taking
responsibility for the publication of Multimedia Information & Technology
from vol 36 no 1 February 2010.

The Managing Editor is responsible for the production of two versions of the
Journal, online and print, four times a year, and is supported by an active
Editorial Board. An honorarium is paid for duties which require DTP skills
and experience, the ability to write clear and accurate English, good copy
editing skills and an interest in the development and application of
multimedia resources across the information services spectrum and in related
sectors where relevant good practice is demonstrated. A working knowledge of
html would also be an advantage. Please contact the Chairman of the
Editorial Board, Dr. Anthony Hugh Thompson at
[log in to unmask]
For an informal discussion, contact the Managing Editor, Lyndon Pugh, at
[log in to unmask]

The reference to html skills is to do with the inputting of a tiny piece of
code to update the web page which subscribers use to access the current
versions of the journal online. This page is not even on the group website.
Please note that there is no reference whatsoever to the job of web editor.

The editorial board has never, ever, discussed formally combining the two
roles. The website does not form part of the responsibilities of the board.

Last June I offered to do the work required to move the group website onto
the Cilip server because members were complaining that the site was badly
out of date, and the previous web editor, Jane Yeadon had not been replaced.
Indeed, the committee has not, to my knowledge, ever initiated any
discussion of replacing the web editor. I did not, most emphatically, offer
to take over as web editor, and it is news to me that I have done so.

Once the website was transferred, I basically continued to do what I had
previously done in collaboration with the former web editor, Jane Rowlands,
which is post news items on a weekly basis. After Jane's death, the online
news bulletin was transferred to the Freepint server because Jane's
successor was not capable of providing the same support, and the news
bulletin had ceased to exist, as had the display of the journal contents
pages and highlights.

All this was a temporary expedient. None of it can be remotely construed as
amalgamating the two jobs, however desirable that might be in theory.

By the middle of June this year, we had received only one query about the
job vacancy, from a candidate who was clearly not in a position to fulfil
the post, and whose interest evaporated after looking at the journal itself.
We had not, at this stage, revealed the level of the honorarium.

In the meantime, I had unilaterally reduced the honorarium for 2009 by 50%
as a cost-cutting measure. With other changes, for the current year, we have
cut the cost of producing the journal by approximately £5000.

Given the failure to recruit a replacement editor during the first six
months of the year, in spite of extensive advertising, we felt that it was
essential to reverse the cut in the honorarium from January 2010. Otherwise,
the journal would cease publication in November, because there would be no
editor. 

It is quite tedious to have to deal with minor issues stemming from
inaccurate views of what has gone on, while we are trying to resolve
critical problems.

It is also worth noting, in passing, that successive editors of the journal
have always subsidised certain journal costs out of the honorarium. This
might require some attention in the future.

Lyndon