ABSTRACT
Reference publishing produces the encyclopedias, indexes, dictionaries, directories, bibliographies, handbooks, readers' guides, biographical sources, and similar research tools that the user consults not to be amused, converted, entertained, emotionally moved, or spiritually advised but to be informed. Systems management is the arena where many reference editors exercise their special wiles and ingenuity. In marketing books to librarians, reference publishers keep in mind that they are selling professional tools. A hard-sell marketing approach is generally neither necessary nor effective. Given the tremendous cost of researching, compiling, editing, and producing a new series, it usually takes several years before it begins to break even. Reference books are valued as information sources, and the accuracy of each small piece of information is essential to the integrity of the whole. Data-base publishing is especially efficient where the same information is to be arranged in several ways for multiple access.
