Date: Fri 04-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

DEP-Bookstore-Hartford

Full Text:

The DEP Bookstore - Nature's Best-Kept Secrets Are Down In The Basement

Photos by Andrea Zimmermann

The DEP Bookstore in Hartford, which offers 1,300 titles, is open to the

public Monday through Thursday, 9 am to 3:30 pm. Nature lovers, scientists,

and teachers will find books and maps on every imaginable subject.

Administrators and staff of the DEP Bookstore include (left to right) clerks

Hector Flores and Lisa D'Addario, publisher Allan Williams, and (not pictured)

business manager and teacher Al Levere.

THIS GOES WITH OUTDOOR SCULPTURE NEAR BUILDING ENTRANCE

The bookstore is located at 79 Elm Street in Hartford, in the basement of this

Department of Environmental Protection Agency building. The public must sign

in at the front desk before proceeding to the store.

This owl is one of the most impressive of the confiscated (replete with tags)

natural history items on display at the bookstore.

THIS ONE GOES WITH THE PICTURE OF CONNECTICUT RIVER NAVIGATIONAL CHARTS (NOTTT

THE GUIDES INCLUDING PONDWATCHERS...)

Waterproof, river navigational charts are available at the DEP Bookstore as

are topographic maps, aerial photographs, and bedrock and surficial maps.

THE FOLLOWING CUT LINE GOES WITH PICTURE OF BACKYARD BIRDS, AND

MUSHROOM/BUTTERFLY IDENTIFICATION MAPS SPREAD ON WALL. THIS IS NOT THE PRIMARY

FOCUS OF THE STORY, SO MAYBE THIS SHOULD GO WITH CARRY-OVER.

Besides their own publications, the DEP Bookstore carries materials published

by university presses, books by local authors, and guides requested by the

public such as Audubon's Pondwatchers .

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

Some of nature's best-kept secrets can be found in the basement of a state

office building in Hartford, where curious minds of all ages are invited to

explore them and carry them off.

The Department of Environmental Protection Bookstore, located at 79 Elm

Street, Hartford, offers 1,300 titles (including maps) printed by the DEP

Technical Publications Program. The book store is open 9 am to 3:30 pm, Monday

through Thursday, during which time the public can visit or place phone

orders.

"People in Connecticut should know this is one of the best resources in the

country for environmental/natural resource material," said Allan Williams,

supervising environmental analyst. The "publisher," as he prefers to be

called, said he knows of only one other similar bookstore in the country.

DEP publications, which range in titles from Let's Take A Walk to

Stratigraphic Framework and Quaternary Geologic History of Eastern Long Island

Sound, are not available in regular bookstores. Bargains can be had for as

little as 25 cents ( Touch The Earth: Earth Day Poems, 1995 ) and 99 cents (

The Freshwater Snails of Connecticut ); a Connecticut Topographic Map Atlas

costs $18.95, and The Face of Connecticut: People, Geology and the Land , an

award-winning book for non-geological readers, costs $14.95. A dozen new

titles are published by the DEP each year.

"The books are neat for a number of reasons," said Mr Williams. "All our books

represent very significant contributions of authors who donated their time.

There could be 25,000-200,000 hours of free staff time represented in a book.

The authors get no royalties."

Authors choose to publish their works through the DEP because "they want to

get their work out, not because they want to make money," said Mr Williams.

They know their research will be available to more people and at a lower cost

than would otherwise be possible. It is "interesting and fun" to work with

authors like Michael W. Klemens ( Amphibians and Reptiles of Connecticut and

Adjacent Regions ), said the publisher. "He really cares about frogs. He

really cares about turtles," Mr Williams said.

All the books published by the DEP are scientifically defensible, each having

been peer-reviewed by three scientists. "This is good stuff," said Mr

Williams. Ten years ago, the store sold 20,000 books; today it does an annual

business of 250,000.

The DEP also takes pride in the quality of its products as well as the way in

which they are manufactured. "We use environmentally progressive printing

materials, advanced ink and processes. And we have pretty books, as well,"

said Mr Williams.

The DEP contracts Connecticut designers, scientific editors, proofreaders and

copy editors. The printing is done by bid. "I also make an effort to use

Connecticut printers; I put a mileage limit in because we bring the designer

to do a press check so the color is as close as possible to the original. And

the name of every book printer is on the book," he said.

The publisher is constantly experimenting with new products. For instance,

they used a water-based varnish to coat the photographs in this year's DEP

calendar; the text paper is non-bleached 100 percent post-consumer-waste and

is printed with vegetable-based ink. "I don't think we've ever gone two

projects in a row without trying new processes," said Mr Williams, who engages

people in conversation and searches the Internet for new ideas. Then he has to

research a product or technique before they can implement it. "We should be

doing this - if we don't, who will?" he said.

The publisher said he enjoys his work tremendously, and is always seeking ways

to help others have better access to information. "Not only do we publish

books, but we provide technical assistance to the DEP and outside, non-profit

organizations [who want to publish something]," he said. He applied for and

received a grant that enabled teachers to purchase Marine Animals of Southern

New England and New York at less than half the cover price.

"I have a soft spot in my heart for librarians and teachers because they just

don't have enough money for materials they need," said the publisher.

Types of Publications

The DEP Bookstore has publications that reflect years of specialized

scientific study; these are often used in academia. They also have

publications to guide Connecticut fishermen, hikers, and nature lovers, as

well as geologic information much valued by contractors and potential

homeowners.

Although Guide to Insects of Connecticut Part VII: The Plecoptera or

Stoneflies of Connecticut sounds like a book only scientists would be

interested in, many fly fishermen purchase the book, said Mr Williams. Some

books for a more general readership are listed in the store's Outdoor

Publications Catalog. Titles include Connecticut Bike Book, Finding Birds in

Connecticut, Natural History Outings On Connecticut's Trap Rock Ridges,

Gardening In Connecticut, Enhancing Your Backyard Habitat For Wildlife,

Quinnipiac River Canoe Trail Guide, Composting To Reduce The Waste Stream,

Pondwatcher's Guide, Country Walks In Connecticut, 50 Hikes In Connecticut

(fourth edition), Connecticut's Venomous Snakes, Long Island Sound

Navigational Guide, and Connecticut's Saltwater Fishing . But this is only a

smattering of what will be found in the drawers and on the shelves of this

small store.

Aerial photographs, taken during 1995/6, may be viewed at or borrowed from the

bookstore; order forms for reprints and enlargements are also available there.

The 9x9-inch contact print has a scale of 1 inch to 1,000 feet.

Many types of topographic maps may be purchased at the bookstore including

quadrangle (Connecticut is broken into 117 quadrangles), county, Metropolitan

District Commission maps, and a state atlas. Base maps are offered, as are 13

different types of state maps published by the state and United States

Geological Survey including those indicating bedrock, surficial materials,

groundwater, and open space.

Geologic guidebooks, marine geology maps, and books on climate in the state

are also part of the bookstore inventory. The store also sells resource

planning aids such as Septic Systems Manual, What's Legally Required (legal

rules for making local land-use decisions), and You Can Conserve Water .

"Not only do we produce materials, but we teach people how to use them," said

Mr Williams. For instance, Al Levere, who is the bookstore business manager

and "teacher," has gone to wetlands commission meetings and instructed members

on how to use a manual.

Publishing Since 1903

The state survey was established in 1903 to study the geological and natural

history of Connecticut and report its findings to the public. It published

materials and offered them to the public free of charge.

In 1959, the survey became part of the Department of Agriculture and Natural

Resource; 25 years later it was incorporated into the DEP's Natural Resources

Center. At that point, the survey became a central source of information and

continues as such to date.

The "bookstore" moved from a small, cramped space, where publications were

piled to the ceiling, to a larger area in the basement of the DEP building.

Because there are no windows to afford views of nature, Mr Williams has placed

some confiscated, stuffed wildlife (the owl is most impressive) on top of the

book shelves to add a feeling of natural history.

The bookstore has no advertising budget, but the publisher and business

manager set up booths at conferences to help promote DEP materials. Mr Levere

began to market the materials through mail order (call or write for a

catalog). With the exception of the administrators' salaries, the bookstore is

self-supporting, covering the expense of a small retail sales staff and all

book production.

Although the DEP Bookstore offers mostly materials it has published, it also

stocks books and maps from three other sources - books produced by local

authors on geology and natural history, books by non-profit university presses

("books the public would never otherwise see"), and a few commercial items the

public requests, such as Peterson's Flash Guides (mushrooms, butterflies,

animal tracks, trees) and Massachusetts Audubon Series (Pondwatchers,

Beachcombers, Backyard Birds), as well as some Smokey Bear fire prevention

items for children.

Small publishers, many from Connecticut, are also represented. For instance,

Come, Walk In The Woods With Me is published by Greene Bark Press in

Bridgeport, water guides and waterproof charts and maps by Embassy in Essex,

and The Forgotten Nature of New England is a Down East book.

Good quality T-shirts imprinted with images of nature are also offered at the

bookstores. But no plastic lizards, no coffee mugs, "no junk," said Mr

Williams. "We want stuff that lasts, not blatant consumerism."

For more information, to receive a catalog, or to place a credit card order,

contact the DEP Bookstore Monday through Thursday between the hours of 9 am

and 3:30 pm.