REDUCING THE HIGH COST OF PRODUCING LIBRARY MESSAGES

Libraries generate voluminous quantities of paperwork producing overdue notices, bibliographies, letters, memorandums, reports, budgets and contracts as well as brochures and newsletters. At the same time the cost of communicating via paper has risen exponentially. As an example, in the 1930's, it cost $.50 to produce a basic business letter using a typewriter. By the early 1980s that figure had risen to over $6. In 1986 it cost more than $8 to produce the same letter. Charges for outside text composition and printing have experienced similar increases.