Submitted to Meeting for Worship with a focus on Business, April 2006.

Committee Members and Annual Review: Elaine Sullivan and J. Toscano shared the duties of clerk for 2005. J. Toscano has completed his time on the Publications Committee. Jabez McClelland was the ex officio, as recorder, for 2005 and retains those duties for 2006. Elaine Sullivan remains on the committee as co-clerk and Jillaine Smith has signed on as the newest member of the Publications Committee. Jillaine brings with her new energy and sense of direction, as well as a good understanding of Internet communications.

The publications committee held its annual meeting on February 18, 2006. In attendance were Jillaine Smith, Jane Coe and Elaine Sullivan.

At our single annual meeting we:

• reviewed and updated the publications budget (enclosed);
• finalized and gave to Jane Coe her contract for the next year ' s services; and
• completed our annual report to Meeting for Worship with a Focus on Business.

We also discussed proposing to A&O, as well as Meeting for Business (through this, our annual report) that Publications become a subcommittee of Advancement and Outreach. Our rationale is as follows:

• We meet only once per year with very discrete responsibilities as outlined above.
• The publications we manage are really avenues of advancement and outreach. (While the publications also serve/support the activities of other committees, if one had to choose one committee above all others most closely tied to our activities, A&O would be it.)
• If publications became a subcommittee of A&O, then all produced publications of the meeting (including the electronic “ publication ” – www.bethesdafriends.org) would be under one “ roof. ”
• Currently we have three people being paid for both publications (Jane) and web site (Elaine and Jillaine) and it would be prudent for the sake of the meeting to have a larger body (A&O) aware of and managing this.

In addition to the actilities we engage in at our single annual committee meeting, described above, the Publications committee is responsible for:

• proofreading the directory;
• overseeing and being the contact persons for anything related to the contract with the newsletter and directory editor (currently Jane Coe);
• finding, hiring and managing a new editor if/when the time arises; and
• providing backup to the editor as needed.

As a subcommittee of A&O we would happily continue to be responsible for these activities. Currently, both Elaine Sullivan and Jillaine Smith actively contribute to an A&O activity — namely, the upkeep of the online calendar and web site; Jillaine Smith is also a member of A&O. And Jane Coe is an ex-officio of A&O. Jillaine will present our proposal for merger to the A&O committee at its next meeting.

Editor: Jane Meleney Coe

Editor ' s Work: Jane Coe has successfully seen to the production of the 2006 Directory ; 11 monthly newsletters (July and August are combined); and most of the First Day Bulletins. Jane has eliminated the two pages of the telephone tree and one page of e-mail contacts and replaced it with a two page “ rapid alert system ” of e-mail contacts.

We would like to draw attention to the fact that the Directory is more than a list of names, phone numbers and addresses. The Directory includes valuable information regarding the schedule of Meeting for Business, committee nights, hospitality schedule, Clerks and members of each committee and what each committee ' s duties are and Yearly Meeting information and more.

Jane ' s work always reflects her care for the members of the Meeting and her extensive involvement in all aspects of its life; and we are very grateful for all her time and effort.

Elaine Sullivan and Jillaine Smith presented the agreement to Jane Coe extending her contract for another year, July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007 . There were no changes made to the contract.

Respectfully submitted,

Elaine Sullivan and Jillaine Smith, co-clerks
Publications Committee