**Guidelines for Self-Published Lab and Location Brochures**

by ARS Information Staff

*If you have any questions, e-mail Ruth Coy, Information Staff, at
rcoy@ars.usda.gov or call her at 301-504-1663.*

These guidelines are strictly for lab and location brochures that are
output in small quantities, as needed, on desktop printers at the
originating location. The guidelines are specifically designed to allow
quick turnaround and rapid change in contents without circumventing or
appearing to circumvent Federal printing regulations. Do not use for
scientific, technical, and other information with a permanent value. Do
not output in a production environment (personnel and equipment
dedicated to publishing activities, mass mailing, and so on). To avoid
any suggestion of impropriety, all work on the brochure, including
writing, design, layout, and output must be done by ARS employees on
duty time with ARS-owned software, hardware, and supplies.

**Approval**

Before printing your publication the first time, obtain approval from
the Director, Information Staff, via a memo called a justification for
printing/publishing. This is to fulfill Departmental requirements. A
template for this memo is on the last page of these guidelines.

**Description**

Output from desktop printers at originating location on two sides of a
single sheet of paper that can be folded twice (8 x 11 paper; called a
6-panel brochure) or thrice (8 x 14; called an 8-panel brochure) to a
finished size of 8 x roughly 3 ). We recommend that you purchase heavy
paper stock designed for this purpose and pre-scored for easy, crisp
folds. Suppliers of such paper include Paper Direct and Paper Access.
Also, Information Staff has developed an attractive blue-green
ARS-specific 8-1/2x11 paper on medium-weight stock, pre-scored to fold
into three panels. It includes the required elements pre-printed on the
cover and back panel. Currently, Information Staff has the only supply
of this paper and will gladly send pieces to ARS locations on a
first-come, first-served basis, free of charge. Information Staff also
has templates for use with either the preprinted ARS paper or commercial
paper. These templates are in Word and WordPerfect formats and include
general type specifications. Contact Ruth Coy for samples or supply of
the paper and for the templates. Please specify what word processing
software and version you\'re using.

[We have also developed Word templates for brochures acknowledging
ARS\'s 50th anniversary.]{.mark}

**Quantity**

Up to 250 copies between changes (in content, phone numbers, and so on).

**Contents**

Nontechnical description of research mission, projects, and so on.
Include notable accomplishments and milestones.

Contact information for the lab/location if appropriate to the brochures
purpose.

Write nothing that could be construed as lobbying for funds or other
kinds of support or as encouraging readers to do so. When in doubt,
leave it out.

Departmental regulations require that any manuscript that contains
anything that interprets USDA policy must be reviewed by the Department.
Contact Ruth Coy in such cases for instructions on how to proceed.

**Required Elements and Specifications**

*When we return the justification memo with the approval signatures,
well include information on any changes in the following specifications
and requirements.*

Include name of lab or location on cover panel of the brochure.

Do **not** put the ARS logo or the USDA symbol on the cover panel (this
is a Departmental design specification).

**Do** put the lines:

United States Department of Agriculture**Agricultural Research Service**

at the top of the cover panel, flush left, 9-point type, with
Agricultural Research Service bold.

Put an issue date (ex: December 1998) somewhere on the document, bottom
of the back panel or inside of the cover panel

Include the following nondiscrimination statement, verbatim in total, on
the back panel or inside the cover panel. It must be in the same type
size as the body text. It may be run as a single paragraph if this saves
space.

> The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits
> discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of
> race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability,
> political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status.
> (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with
> disabilities who require alternative means for communication of
> program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should
> contact USDA\'s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD).
>
> To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of
> Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
> Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice and
> TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Include the ARS mission statement on the back panel or preceding the
copy. You may use one of the following two formats:

Format 1

> The Agricultural Research Service conducts research to develop and
> transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority
> and provides information access and dissemination to:

-   ensure high‑quality, safe food and other agricultural products

-   assess the nutritional needs of Americans

-   sustain a competitive agricultural economy

-   enhance the natural resource base and the environment, and

-   provide economic opportunities for rural citizens, communities, and
    society as a whole

Format 2

> As the principal in‑house research arm of the U.S. Department of
> Agriculture, the Agricultural Research Service has a mission to:
>
> Conduct research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural
> problems of high national priority and provide information access and
> dissemination to: ensure high‑quality, safe food and other
> agricultural products, assess the nutritional needs of Americans,
> sustain a competitive agricultural economy, enhance the natural
> resource base and the environment, and provide economic opportunities
> for rural citizens, communities, and society as a whole.

In the unlikely event that you\'re going to use trade names, mention
commercial firms, or give specifics about pesticide use, contact Ruth
Coy, and shell send you the standard disclaimers and other pertinent
information.

If your computer uses Windows 3.1 or a later version, we recommend that
you use Times New Roman 10 or 11 point for the body text and Arial bold
for headings and title (the display type), 12 point for the No.1
headings, 11 point for the No. 2, and 24 point for the title. These
specs are a reasonably close match to USDA Design Manusal standards
(Times for body text, Helvetica for display type), which were written to
ensure a degree of corporate identity for all USDA printed material. If
youre using a Macintosh or printing to a Postscript printer, Times and
Helvetica themselves are likely available.

Use half-inch side and top/bottom margins.

**Quality**

See the attached list of Signs of an Amateur Desktop Publisher for
pitfalls to avoid**.**

**Copy**

Ensure that the copy is technically accurate, is clearly written in
standard American English suitable to the reading level and
understanding of the audience, and has consistent writing mechanics
(punctuation, capitalization, spelling). Avoid passive voice, long
sentences (average length should be about 20 words), and unnecessary
technical vocabulary.

**Illustrations**

We strongly recommend against using photographs in these self-published
brochures. Photos printed at 300 or 600 dpi on a desktop laser or inkjet
printer, especially at the small sizes possible in these brochures, are
substandard in both appearance and in ability to convey information.
They lack sharpness of detail and high color fidelity. And while it is
possible to achieve remarkable results with some inkjet printers and
special paper, the cost per copy becomes prohibitively high. At that
point, it makes better sense to produce your brochure through
conventional means (see Alternatives). Rely instead on line drawings and
on clip art that is royalty free (read license agreements carefully).

If you do use photos, to comply with Federal printing regulations, make
sure that photographs relate directly to the subject matter and are
necessary to explain the text and those that include Federal employees
show them actually engaged in an act or service related to their
official duties.

**Distribution**

Because they are printed in such small quantity and dont contain
scientific, technical, or other information of permanent value, these
self-published brochures are exempt from Federal, Departmental, and
agency distribution requirements given in ARS P&P 151.1 on in-house
publishing.

You must send two copies of each version of each brochure to Ruth Coy,
Chief, Information Products & Services Branch, Information Staff, 5601
Sunnyside Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-5130. This will allow us to improve
these guidelines and assess the success of this publishing program.

**Alternatives**

Laboratories and locations wishing to publish professionally written,
edited, designed, and printed brochures in quantities of more than 250
copies should get in touch with Ruth Coy. Be advised that the process
takes from 6 to 12 months (including printing time) from submission of
manuscript to printed brochure, depending on the resources available to
the location, Information Staff workloads, and the brochures size and
complexity. The cost to the location can range from 10 cents to more
than a dollar a copy for printing depending on various factors. Other
costs (for contract photography, photo duplication, and contract design)
may accrue to the location, but these are determined case by case.
Information Staff services are free of charge.

# Signs of an Amateur Desktop Publisher

**Type**

-   More than two different typefaces (except in highly unusual cases).

-   Gaudy typefaces (script, ornate display faces, and so on).

-   Type that's too large and type that's too small (for body copy, the
    range should be between 10 and 12 points, depending on the
    typeface)..

-   Heavy dependence on bold and italic.

-   Typewriter conventions such as headings in all caps, underlining for
    italics, and so on.

-   Right-justified type badly executed (best left to professional
    typesetters, who know kerning, letterspacing, wordspacing, and
    hyphenation rules and tricks). This is called full justification in
    word processing programs.

**Artwork**

-   Scanned photographs output at resolutions and sizes that show
    jagged, stairstep edges and other evidence of pixelation. (This
    depends on the photo, but no desktop inkjet or laser printer can
    equal commercial printing with color photographs.)

-   Bitmap illustrations with jagged, stairstep edges.

-   Clipart of different drawing styles (cartoons mixed with sketches
    mixed with silhouettes mixed with highly detailed drawings, for
    example) and tones (serious, comical, whimsical).

-   Widely used clipart.

-   Artwork for its own sake, not integrated into the whole design.

-   Too many illustrations. Clutter confuses.

-   Too small and too big. This is partly a matter of taste and partly a
    matter of effective communication.

**Design**

-   Every page visually identical to every other page; for example, a
    1-inch thumbnail photo at the top of every page followed by nothing
    but text, though there may be times when this is called for (such as
    a visual index).

-   Very wide reading lines. Rule of thumb: A line of text should
    contain no more than 2.5 alphabets (about 65 characters). Wider
    lines force reading of one word at a time instead of the more
    efficient one line at a time.

-   Large blocks of copy. Break into smaller paragraphs, especially in
    nontechnical material.

Sample Justification for Publishing (Don\'t exceed one page). Address
for Ruth Coy is 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-5130

date

SUBJECT: Justification for publishing \"Title of Publication\"

TO: Sandy Miller Hays, Director, Information Staff

THROUGH: Ruth Coy, Chief, Information Products & Services Branch

FROM: Author/Originator

This is to request your approval to print the subject publication, which
\[describe publication\'s contents and purpose; be succinct\].

The target audience for this publication is \[describe audience\].

To meet the needs of this audience, we request that #,### copies be
printed.

APPROVED:
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_Date:
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Research Leader

APPROVED:
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_Date:
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Area Director

APPROVED:
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_Date:
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Sandy Miller Hays, Director, Information Staff