MSERA OPERATIONS MANUAL: Editors

Editor of the MSERA Researcher

Purpose

     The MSERA Researcher is the official newsletter of the Mid-South Educational Research Association. The purpose of the Researcher is to keep the membership of the Association and other parties apprised of the organization's activities.

Selection of Editor

The editor of the Researcher is appointed each year by the MSERA President.

Responsibilities

1. Produce and disseminate a high-quality newsletter consisting of four issues each year: February (issue #1), May (#2), August (#3), and October (#4) according to the production schedule. The February issue will contain the Call for Papers and highlight the past Annual Meeting; the May issue will highlight MSERA'S leadership including committee chairs; the August issue will contain the full membership listing and will highlight the upcoming Annual Meeting; and the October issue will contain the Annual Meeting program. Each issue will contain a listing of the organization's Board members, Officers, and editors; a president's message; the graduate student corner; membership applications and a schedule of upcoming events.
2. Develop an annual production table that indicates the deadlines and responsibilities for contributors and communicate in a timely fashion with anticipated contributors. As a minimum, the communication network should include the editors of the MSERA Web Page, Proceedings, and Research in the Schools, Officers of MSERA, chairs of the Graduate Student and Program committees, and any other identified contributors.
3. Determine the production number of each issue to accommodate distribution to the membership and authorized requests for wider distribution. Copies of the February issue are distributed at AERA'S Annual Meeting and mailed to department chairs and deans of colleges of education in the MSERA region.
4. Submit a semi-annual report at Board meetings held in the spring and at the Annual Meeting.
5. Submit information for a calendar-year budget to the President in January for inclusion in the Association's budget to be presented at the spring Board meeting.
6. Submit bills for expenses incurred in producing the Researcher within 30 days after receiving the invoice or receipt.
7. Serve as a member of the Publications and Communications Committee.

NOTES to contributors:

1. Submit small text contributions (message, announcements) by e-mail with Word or Corel (WordPerfect) attachment (or include message in text of e-mail). For pictures the editor prefers glossy print that can be scanned. For site pictures, web urls can be identified and the pictures downloaded. For publicizing the Annual Meeting, hotel pamphlets or local interest brochures can be sent and the editor can scan them.
2. If information just needs to be updated from previous Researcher pages, the contributor can fax or mail a copy of the edited pages to the editor.
3. Secretary-Treasurer and Program Chair. Do not send rft (rich text format) files for the Directory contents and the Annual Meeting program because the editor will have to disassemble them for the production staff. Contact the editor for clarification about format. Especially for the Annual Meeting program, use only tabs with single line spacing, bold and caps in the manner they appeared in the previous year's program issue. (Indentions, italics, and ragged indents do not make the conversion, so they must be excluded.) Although e-mail can be attempted first, the editor prefers the Secretary-Treasurer and Program Chair to send files on a 3-inch disk for PC via snail mail.
4. Secretary-Treasurer. Send one set of labels arranged in zip code order with the current paid membership year on each label. For the February issue, the editor needs the combined listing for current year and the past year (non-renewable) membership. For the May and August issues, send one listing of printed labels of the current year membership. For the October issue, send one listing of printed labels of current and next year membership. (Two separate listings cause undue time spent resorting labels for bulk mailing.).