Glacial Deposits.indd - Department of Geography - Geology - Illinois ...

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
N
owadays it happens all too often. I receive a request from the editor of a
newsletter, or even a journal, asking that I agree to access their publication
electronically and forgo the printed pages. They tell us they are hoping to reduce
printing and mailing costs, speed up delivery to the reader, or become more in tune with
the green times in which we live. Sometimes they want to send me a periodic email with
the publication attached. Others tell me I can go to their Website and find the newsletter
or whatever they may be relegating to the electronic world. I usually agree to such
offers, but I much prefer the printed predecessor to the modern marvel on my computer
screen. My tendency is to skim the electronic whereas I like to sit and ponder the
printed version. I have saved newsletter and journal runs for decades and wonder if
their electronic successors will be there for readers and researchers to consult into the
future. All of this prefatory prose brings me to Glacial Deposits. So far we are still going
forward with the print format as our primary means of dissemination, although we do put
an electronic version on the departmental Website. I appreciate the commitment of
departmental funds to print a couple hundred or so copies of the yearbook so I do not
have to join other editors in asking readers to look for it online or in their email inboxes.
Writing this column always signifies that we are approaching the end of a something I
consider worth doing. Authors who agreed months or a year ago have fulfilled their
promise to produce an article. Photographers have come through with images we can
use. Conversations with authors have enabled me to corroborate claims and to
eliminate here and enhance there, making the final text more readable (I hope). Dialog
with photographers has helped me prepare captions that will allow the photos to stand
as much on their own as possible. We have five solid articles for Volume 38 plus
several photo segments and the usual series of departmental accomplishments
(awards, presentations, sketches). “Yesteryears” is a short piece of prose that I enjoy
researching and composing each year. This time the computer jumped out as common
theme linking volumes from one, two, and three decades ago.
Of course, I have to thank a host of helpers, such as the five authors: colleagues Skip
Nelson, Jim Carter, and John Kostelnick; geographer Geoffrey Martin; and former
students Ellen Dietz and Anthony D’Anza. Bill Morgan agreed to the use of his poem
and to our traipsing around on his micro prairie. Others, including botanist Joseph
Armstrong, assisted by answering questions as I did my fact checking. Deb Lescher
prepared the text for press, and Jill Freund Thomas handled the graphics segments.
Dave Malone made the funds available so we could avoid the aforementioned
electronic replacement of the printed word. Photos, besides my own, came from Skip
Nelson, Geoffrey Martin, Bill Morgan, Ellen Dietz, Larry Haigh, Mark McCleary, Anthony
D’Anza, Andrew Nordstrom, Mark Lofrano, Dagmar Budikova, Jim Carter, and John
Kostelnick. We hope our readers find something of interest herein, and we are on the
lookout for new material to fill the next volume. MDS
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