Dear Colleague

You are receiving this message because you are an author for a chapter
in the Handbook of Star Forming Regions. We are finally at the point
of having all the chapters completed, and so we can move into the
final brief phase of each reviewing and updating our chapters one
last time. Below I send various comments. The Handbook is now at 1800
pages, and while it has been possible for me to read and comment on
everything as the chapters trickled in, it will be impossible to check
the final submissions in detail, so please read this message in its
entirety, it contains important details for a successful completion
process.

1) The Handbook will be printed by the ASP as a special publication,
   not as part of their conference series, and it will appear as two
   volumes for the northern and the southern sky.  I have arranged
   with the ASP to receive the Handbook by May 19, and at a minimum
   two weeks are needed to compile and check the two volumes, prepare
   Tables of Contents and Indices, etc., so the latest I can receive
   your revised and updated chapters will be MONDAY MAY 5. Please do
   not submit beyond that deadline and, if at all possible, send your
   chapter early, so I can frontload the work.

2) An amazing amount of work has gone into this project by everyone
   involved. The Handbook will be a truly unique source of
   information, and every attempt has been made to reach a very high
   level of detail and completeness. In order to avoid to mar the book
   with a serious omission or any error, I ask you all to read
   critically through your chapters with fresh eyes, and work with the
   lead author to incorporate any changes or new results. Also check
   that your chapter is camera ready, if you have problems just write
   me.

3) You can at any given time see the status of the book at the
   Handbook web site at

   http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/users/reipurth/handbook/index.html

   login: handbook,  pswd: author

   where you can download your own as well as all other chapters.
   Please keep this URL confidential.

4) More than one hundred authors are involved in this project, and
   together we constitute a significant fraction of the observational
   astronomers working on star formation. I would therefore like to
   ask each of you to read at least one other chapter, preferably one
   in which you have expertise and/or new results, and contact the
   author with your comments, if any.

5) Many of you have used and referred to the Dobashi et al. (2005)
   atlas of dark clouds. After many discussions with the IAU
   Nomenclature Committee and SIMBAD, it has turned out that we cannot
   use the designation DoH favored by Dobashi, instead these clouds
   have to be named TGU. When you review your chapters, pls change DoH
   to TGU everywhere.

6) I have talked individually to each of you about the use of color
   figures in the book, which we can do if we pay $50 per page that
   uses color. The ASP has set up a web site where it is possible to
   arrange payment, so when we have the final layout of the book, I
   will inform each lead author about the charges, and each team can
   make the arrangements they prefer.

7) The ASP has been very helpful at every step of this process. Since
   they are a non-profit organization they can sell our book at a far
   lower price than for-profit publishers. The ASP has also agreed to
   allow authors to buy discounted copies, that is, at $50 per volume
   plus postage. A web site is being set up on which orders can be
   made, and I will write you about that when the book has been
   submitted.  Meanwhile, we can of course download electronic copies
   from the Handbook website, which is continuously updated.

8) Those of you who would like to make preprints available on astro-ph
   or elsewhere are welcome to do so. I will be reviewing each chapter
   for layout issues, update the slug, and make other cosmetic
   changes. So if possible, please wait until the day the Handbook is
   submitted, so we can be sure that your preprint is truly the final
   version.

with best wishes and thanks again for your support of this project

Bo Reipurth