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Tuesday February 22, 8:12 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
The Presbyterian Church -U.S.A.- Saves Trees, Saves Paper and Saves Souls With Electronic Books
SoftBook Readers(TM) Help Manage Meetings and Information For The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2000-- SoftBook© Press, Inc. today announced that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has integrated the company's electronic books into their comprehensive meeting program, dramatically improving the dissemination of information for one of the nation's largest non-profit organizations. The church uses SoftBook Readers(TM), and the network tools and Internet services that support the electronic reading devices, to replace 3-ring binders for compiling, organizing and distributing thousands of pages of information for its many meetings. It is currently one of the largest applications of SoftBook Press' electronic document distribution system for a non-profit organization.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), based in Louisville, KY, is one of the nation's largest religious organizations with a membership of over 11,000 churches and more than 2.5 million members. To facilitate the organization's work with member churches, presbyteries, synods, ecumenical groups, and other events, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) manages a comprehensive meeting program with over 100 major meetings a year. Prior to the use of SoftBook Readers, these meetings would be supported by hundreds of pages of information (agendas, background materials, presentations, etc.) organized into 3-ring binders. By moving to electronic books, meeting planners and church staff have replaced those bulky 3-ring binders with a solution that is more cost effective and delivers information in a more timely, efficient and organized fashion.
``SoftBook Readers help us run more effective, more professional meetings,' said Kerry Clements, Director of the Department of Communication and Technology in the Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). ``We typically send out SoftBook Readers before our meetings so attendees can be properly briefed ahead of time. We then make updates and additions at any time without needing to print and redistribute paper. User response has been fantastic.'
Prior to widespread implementation of SoftBook Readers, the church tested the concept in a small pilot program. Briefing materials that typically amounted to five inches of paper were put on electronic readers for a small group of commissioners (delegates) at the annual meeting of the General Assembly meeting. In addition to getting thousands of pages in a convenient, interactive format, users can also take notes and highlight sections directly on the touch screen. The pilot program was so well received that many user delegates wanted to immediately deploy the solution for all meetings.
``All our meetings are extremely important events and the SoftBook System helps us achieve better results by more effectively informing, briefing and educating the attendees,' said Clements. ``The SoftBook Readers combine the readability and ease-of-use of paper, with powerful electronic features that allow us to change and update information at any time. The result is a solution that keeps our delegates and other meeting attendees well informed, while giving the church a practical, cost effective way to distribute important information.' |
