It Could Be Ye Domesday for Georgetown's Yearbook
A word to the wise Hoya: Take mental notes. Keep a diary. Snap some digital photos. Because the way things are going, the traditional form of documenting our time at Georgetown, the yearbook, may soon only be a shadow of its former self.
Ye Domesday Booke, Georgetown’s official yearbook for 100 years, is facing a figurative Armageddon of its own. Underfunded, understaffed and largely ignored by the student body, the future of the yearbook is threatened. Change for Ye Domesday Booke needs to come, and it needs to come soon: Our very memories are at stake.
Most of us have been guilty of perceiving the yearbook as something we’re forced to purchase by our loving, generous but overbearing parents. The truth is, it’s within our power to make it so much more than that.
Ye Domesday Booke is a venerable Georgetown institution. It documents the growth of Georgetown, provides alumni with a cherished keepsake of their time spent on the Hilltop and, as of this year, also catalogues the non-senior-year Georgetown experience. Browsing through old copies, a reader can gather a true sense of Georgetown’s evolution over time. Important changes such as the growing presence of women on the Hilltop can be seen in the yearbook, as can the additions of familiar campus buildings and the increased diversity of the student body.
Not only does the yearbook show the long-term development of Georgetown and its students, but each year’s edition captures the spirit of the time, presenting pictures and stories that sum up that year’s highs and lows. Though many students now rely on Facebook or similar programs to share and save photos, a yearbook offers more than just pictures.
But, for the students who put the book together, the job is often thankless.
The fruits of their labors are not immediate; the students have to work for a year to create a single publication. Others can’t understand why someone would spend so much time working on this nebulous task, but for the editors, it’s a labor of love. They see themselves working to give the community a gift, something the students, as well as future generations, will treasure.
The lack of recognition is demoralizing, and these students should be thanked for the great service they provide for our community. However, any lack of gratification is but the smallest of the staff’s worries.
Right now, Ye Domesday Booke has a staff of just nine dedicated editors. They shoulder the entire responsibility of the 360-page publication. Nonetheless, they apply an intense amount of creativity to their work: Each year’s cover design is unique, with artists constantly finding new ways to capture the spirit of the graduating class as well as that of their younger colleagues. The pages are presented and styled meticulously in an attempt to give every club, every person a memorable space for preservation. Building a cohesive, engaging and representative yearbook requires a level of patience and creativity few of us can comprehend.
Believe it or not, this is not rock bottom for the yearbook; in 2007, the task of preserving Georgetown’s posterity was taken up by only three students, who committed an excessive amount of their time and energy to ensuring that the entire student body would have a tome dedicated to its memories.
But still, even this isn’t the worst of the Booke’s problems. The staff shortage has put the editors in the unforgivable position of having to choose between putting out a quality product and generating revenue. These Hoyas should be lauded for taking the noble route of dedicating themselves to producing the best yearbook possible on behalf of the entire student body, instead of being side-tracked by pecuniary concerns.
Their lofty ambition, however, has financial repercussions. The staff cannot dedicate the amount of time necessary to pursue more advertisers, increase awareness and ultimately sell more copies, all of which would result in a lower cost for students. Yearbook leaders explained that the Center for Student Programs, which oversees the yearbook, and the Media Board have demanded that the yearbook bring in more money, lest they be forced to make cutbacks in the publication. Editors say that this may come in the form of fewer color pages and more ads. (We’re sure Georgetown alums will love picking up their edition of the Wingos’ Domesday Booke to show their children 30 years from now.)
The yearbook is already paying the price. The current staff has had to cut the page count from 432 to 360 — reducing the amount of content and coverage.
This forces the yearbook staff to make a difficult decision: charge more or cut content.
With the book priced at $95 without tax, it is already beyond the reach of penny-pinching students.
We understand that the university is trying to make money, but this is decidedly the wrong venue for that endeavor. To put it bluntly: The yearbook is not published to make money, nor should it be.
The yearbook should not be a $95 privilege, but rather should be made easily accessible to all students who wish to preserve a little piece of Georgetown forever.
The university has a responsibility to help preserve the traditions and memories of its students during their years on the Hilltop. We don’t think it’s too sentimental to suggest that Georgetown students’ memories are priceless, but the administration seems to think that students should value them at least $95, plus tax.
If giving a gift back to its students is not enough incentive, the administration could see any money spent on the publication of yearbooks as an investment: The university should realize that when the collection envelope arrives in the mail, Hoyas who can fondly recall their time on campus with a glance through the yearbook may be more eager to give back.
But it’s not just the administration that needs to show some support; the student body needs to kick into action, too. Instead of bemoaning their bad luck for being forced to sit for their senior picture, students should take a more active role in helping preserve their memories.
The good news is that it’s easy. It takes hardly any time to submit photographs and potential articles to the yearbook. With a little effort, students can begin to help craft what can truly become “their” yearbook. Clubs and organizations, an integral part of our experience at Georgetown, need to be more responsible about replying to the yearbook’s call for materials. If “We” truly “Are Georgetown,” then we should all take a larger role in preserving Georgetown’s memories.
Georgetown is steeped in tradition and a rich history, which we continue to add to today. There must be, however, something to document our contributions. The yearbook is as important a tradition as all those bound within its intricately designed covers.
Let’s not sell our memories short.
Apr 25 2008 at 7:20 a.m.
Here here! I second this. I'm looking forward to getting my yearbook in the next few weeks. I do wish it were a bit cheaper, but I also wish more students participated in it. I think right now they only put students who buy the book into the book, and that's only less than a third of the class. Most of my friends won't even be in it!
I hope that the university decides to infuse the yearbook with some major cash. If it were cheaper and more widely publicized, I'm sure it'd get a lot more involvement. I'm impressed with what they can do as it is.
Apr 25 2008 at 6:41 p.m.
I'm glad to see the Hoya taking the side of the yearbook and promoting it. As one of those editors who has to work with various groups to get pictures, I can verify that it's not an easy task for anyone involved.
Just to address Billy's concern on this article, the yearbook features all students, not only those who purchase the book. Your senior picture, if you had one taken at the appropriate time, will appear in the book, to the best of my knowledge.
Apr 25 2008 at 10:36 p.m.
The yearbook should go the way of the football team - extinction.
Apr 26 2008 at 11:07 p.m.
To further address Billy's concern: per yearbook policy, we can only print the senior photo of those seniors who have purchased a yearbook. We are asked to do this because the sitting fee for the portrait is included in the cost of the book. However, with respect to candid photographs, we look to get as diverse of a group of Hoyas as we possibly can. When choosing a photo for a spread, we look at the quality of the image, the needs of the spread, and the expose of the subjects within the rest of the book. We try to advertise for desired candids each week in the CSP broadcast e-mail, update our Facebook page (Georgetown Yearbook 2008), and occasionally send class-wide e-mails and Facebook messages with our wants. In the future, we'd like to have a yearbook listserve of shutterbugs we can e-mail and ask for candids, but staffing shortages have not allowed us to create one at this time.
Apr 27 2008 at 3:27 p.m.
To the Editors of the Hoya from the 2007 Editor of YDB:
So, as I am still on campus (now over on the medical school side) I still keep tabs on my previous home - namely the undergrad campus. A friend of mine showed me this editorial, and I felt compelled to write a response.
To your notes about the yearbook hitting rock bottom last year - yes it did. While there were three editors, I was the only one working full time over the summer to complete the book with one of the other editors responsible for the majority of the writings for the separate section working from home in Boston. The third editor was fairly absent and completed one small section of the book. This being said, we did not start page one of the book until the day after graduation.
You may be thinking this was crazy, and yes, it most certainly was a gamble a the same time. With 400 pages to fill with memories of the previous year, waiting until the entire year was over was . . . shall we say, scary. And I still remember walking across the stage in front of Healy and thinking to myself, "I hope people get some good shots, we are going to need them for the book."
As the book came together beautifully in the end (and before my self-imposed deadline of July 31st). That means the book is possible to be put together between graduation on May 15ish and July 31st by one person.
This being said - WE SHOULDN'T REINVENT THE WHEEL! As all of the student workers who work on the yearbook are to be paid, and while we do have a small budget - it is important to streamline.
Advice to all students now on YDB staff and future YDB staff:
1) Cultivate relationship with the HOYA - there is no reason to have multiple people taking shots of the same events on campus. The Hoya already does a fantastic job of capturing everything that is the campus and life of Georgetown. They are the Newspaper of Record since 1920. If there was a way that every Hoya photog would pick their 2 best shots of every event they shot, including one capturing the event and one including student reactions to it - YDB would have a huge outpouring of photos to document and chronicle a year in the life. If these photos were delivered to the office next door on a monthly basis via CD - this would allow the YDB staff to keep up with events and keep a record of the order things happened throughout the year. The Hoya and the staff photographer would of course be given full credit for the photo.
2) FACEBOOK STINKS - While it is important to document all of the students in the book, the 2007 book got some bashing due to under recognized individuals. To this I have to say - sorry. Approximately 10 emails throughout the year requested, "High Quality (AKA NOT FACEBOOK) images of you and your friends" - and what we got was an outpouring of drunken facebook shots. Ummmm...thirty years from now, when I open my yearbook of my experience at Georgetown and show my associates, I am not going to want to see Jane Hoya, drunk with a red solo cup or Joe Hoya with sharpie writing all over his face passed out on the floor. The request was to document and chronicle people - not their drunken escapades. To those of you who did submit quailty photos - that were not facebook photos - I do thank you, and hopefully you see your picture in the book. The reason for the no facebook picture is because the resolution of the image isn't high enough for the full color, high res book. The community needs to help support the yearbook - as the yearbook editors putting together the book are not friends with every Hoya on campus - it is up to everyone on campus to ensure that their photos are submitted to be used.
3) The Qualified Editor(s) - While I will say that I had never worked on an undertaking this immense in my life (I wasn't on the yearbook staff in high school, so it was all new to me) I still felt prepared for the rigors of the job. I had, however, taken graphic design courses in high school and was extremely comfortable in the world of Adobe Photoshop - which Adobe Pagemaker was just like. The Editors need to be qualified and capable of using the programs of the yearbook - and if they are not, need to get so ASAP. There is nothing worse than giving an editor a section to complete - and then it dragging out past deadlines because the editor is too busy to learn the program to put the pages together.
The assembly of the book is not the undertaking, it is the accumulation of the material that is. The layout is easy, popping this here, and that there - but you need the material to fill those empty spaces. Words and pictures. That is the yearbook, just a compilation of words and pictures.
Which brings me to my final suggestion:
4) While previous years (def. not for 2007, and not sure for the 2008) YDB had an editorial staff of writers that were paid for the writings about campus activities, etc. - to me, I truly think this is a close-minded waste of time.
Just like for the graduation speeches we need to open it up to the larger community and ask for submissions. This is what the 2007 book did, we communicated with members of the class that were actively participating or had a vested interest in something to write about it. From a boisterous participant of 99 days, to someone who just couldn't get enough of Chipotle - having someone outside of that YDB office writing it gave a varied voice to the book that is important. It is also an honor to be published, printed in the book, and read by the rest of your class for years to come. This is definitely a way not only to streamline and outsource, but also a way to take the heat of the editors' shoulders.
So in summary to all of the Georgetown Community - help the YDB:
1) Hoya + YDB = CD compilations
2) Facebook = the devil for yearbooks. Digital HQ submissions only.
3) Qualified applicants for editors ONLY.
4) Outsource writings for varied voices of the community.
And speaking from experience - these things work.
1) Making friends with the Hoya to fill in gaps in our spread was fantastic. Always high quality images, with clean lines, etc. Another great person to make friends with is the campus photographers - Phil Humnicky. Works extremely well with YDB and very easy to work with.
2) Digital submissions makes everyone happy. Before, people would have to send their pictures, staff would scan them, and then we would either have to send them back, or house the pictures. Digital photography has saved time, space, work! (again streamlining the cost) But this is only for original photos not condensed, and low res from internet/facebook.
3) If the book's editors are already qualified (ie having taken the graphic design class offered with Professor Hyams in the art department) then the learning curve/production schedule would be on schedule, and working fine.
4) The writings of the yearbook staff may be fun to read with all of the inside jokes, etc - but they sometimes fall short of communicating the whole Georgetown saga. Make sure you get as many voices documented in each and every book - because that is what you want to look back at -
the memories of the many, not of the few.
Apr 27 2008 at 3:32 p.m.
As a side note - the books are usually not finished and shipped out until EARLIEST - the summer. The books do try to document senior week, senior dis-o, and lest we forget graduation. So the book is not actually fully into production until AT THE EARLIEST, day after graduation.
This needs to be made abundantly clear to everyone who ordered it - as everyone thinks they were forgotten or off the list because they haven't received it before graduation day.
Apr 27 2008 at 9:44 p.m.
How does one get on the committee for this? I would love to be a part of the yearbook staff, but how?
Apr 28 2008 at 8:40 p.m.
We're always looking for new people to join the YDB Staff! Right now we have some editor positions to fill for next year, so if you're interested, send an e-mail to guyearbook@gmail.com to get more information.
May 10 2008 at 9:48 p.m.
There was a time when the yearbook was literally multiple years behind in getting the book out, so the current situation seems tame compared to that!
Jul 22 2008 at 8:13 p.m.
I am also a past editor of YDB, and worked on years 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. The struggle to keep the yearbook going is not a new one. Just read the editor's notes in a few of those volumes. And there was even an article by The Independent back in 2001 (I think) of which this Hoya article is an echo. While I am not surprised that 2007 and 2008 are having trouble (based on my experience with trying to convince students and administrators to support and participate in YDB), it is still sad and troubling. You might not think you will value a yearbook later on, but you really will. And only the participation of the wider student body will assure that ALL students are represented. As has been stated by this article and in other comments, the editors can't possibly do it on their own. To the present editors: I have been there, and I feel your pain. It is truly a labor of love and a thankless job. So thank you!
Mar 11 2009 at 12:04 p.m.
Already, the mood of this EP can be felt, not in the graphic interpretation itself, but in the question it makes the casual observer ask himself. With track names like “Tissue Sample” and “Feed,” the back of the EP remains non-committal, challenging the
listener to let the sound speak for itself.
Mar 11 2009 at 12:06 p.m.
As if to bounce back from the mention of Elliot Smith, the next track, “After The Fact,” switches gears once again, incorporating the quirky feel of Hellogoodbye’s “All Time Low,” into a very grounded and bass-treble balanced track. The up-beat emphasis makes this track rhythmically distinct, continuing a sense of movement toward a goal that permeates the EP.
Jun 05 2009 at 2:11 a.m.
Hopefully the yearbook doesn't go away! I think the yearbook is in important part of any college seniors collection. As pointless as it may seem at the moment, 10 or 20 years you will appreciate as something to remember college by and show kids, etc.
Karen
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