By Ronica Stromberg
The public has questions, and Jacki Loomis has answers—in person and publication.
Loomis has worked for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln since 1993, answering questions, organizing events and selling products in the School of Natural Resources. For the past 25 years, she has also managed the school’s Nebraska Maps & More store and published the books and materials where some of those answers are found.
The books, maps, posters, abstracts, bulletins and series she publishes mainly deal with conservation, geology and natural resources. Authors of the books hail from various universities but gain the Nebraska logo on their book covers, which is Loomis’s primary means of compensating them.
“The thing I have to offer is that big red N on the front cover of their book, and that's really valuable to get to publish in the University of Nebraska system and get to have that big red N on the cover of your book,” Loomis said. “You've automatically got credentials.”
She works with Matt Joeckel, the director of the Conservation and Survey Division in Nebraska, to acquire and produce about five publications every year. Although they do not pay authors, they offer authors a means to publish without the expense of it. Through the Nebraska Maps & More store, Loomis funds the publication of books, working with printers and, sometimes, outside editors and layout people. She arranges for books to have an ISBN and listing with the Library of Congress.
She sells the publications through the Nebraska Maps & More store in Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege Street, and online at https://nebraskamaps.unl.edu or Amazon. The store receives any profits from publication sales. Loomis uses those to fund other publications.
Most states have a division similar to Nebraska’s Conservation and Survey Division and have published materials from the late 1800s. With the fiscal challenges of publishing, some divisions have stopped publishing. Nebraska’s Conservation and Survey Division started publishing in 1911 and has stayed relevant to stay in business.
“As times have changed, science has changed,” Loomis said. “Of course, we've modernized. We publish some series that we didn't publish back then. Back then, in essence, we were answering questions for government and stakeholders. And as times came along, we embraced also answering questions for citizens of Nebraska.”
Nebraska’s Conservation and Survey Division has published the “Geological Survey Bulletin” and the “Nebraska Conservation Bulletin” since the early 1900s. More recently, Loomis and Joeckel have added the popular Educational Circular series directed more toward a lay audience. This series includes booklets such as “Banded Agates: Origins and Inclusions” and “Geology, Geologic Time and Nebraska.”
For books, they have found success expanding into biological surveys like “The Fishes of Nebraska,” “A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Nebraska” and “The Flora of Nebraska.”
Thirty years ago, Nebraska’s Conservation and Survey Division published mostly in paper, but now about half of its publications are published electronically and distributed freely. Materials with plates or large maps lend themselves less well to digital publication and, so, are more likely to be available in paper only.
How to remain solvent while giving away publications has proven challenging, but Loomis and Joeckel have continued meeting the Conservation and Survey Division’s mission.
“Our mission isn't to make money publishing books,” Loomis said. “Our mission is to publish good scientific information and make it available to the public. We have had to walk that line and find the right place to be.”
Joeckel said Loomis has consistently adapted to changes in publishing and the times.
“She is unflappable and she always comes through in a crisis,” he said. “Her can-do attitude and her calm perseverance continue to inspire me.”
The two have remained in publishing partly by selecting books that draw interest from the general public and that serve as university textbooks. Joeckel credited Loomis with also keeping alive academicians’ other scholarly works.
“Jacki has excelled at digitizing and archiving all manner of scholarly works by School of Natural Resources personnel, from draft maps on paper to open-file reports to theses and dissertations to peer-reviewed journal articles,” he said. “Some of these documents would have vanished had she not been so conscientious and determined.”
Loomis said she is nearing retirement but unafraid of what the future holds for the publishing effort in the School of Natural Resources.
“I just think wherever it goes, we'll meet that challenge,” she said. “We're not afraid of it, and it'll be fine. But the people at the school are going to keep doing the good work. And whoever does this kind of work will figure out a way to deliver the information.”
With no plans to stop the presses soon, she will continue doing what she has enjoyed doing with coworkers for more than 30 years.
“The basic thing is we're answering questions for people,” she said. “And that's really satisfying.”
Authors seeking publication of a biological survey or manuscript in conservation, geology or natural resources may propose their idea to Jacki Loomis in a verbal presentation, an abstract, a written proposal or a full or partial manuscript.