Altabits and Publishing On the Canadian Prairies

Canadian-owned publishers are assisted by their government through its Department of Communications (DOC) to compete with US and British publishers. Publishers in the province of Alberta who were singly too small to qualify for a DOC programme to help publishers computerize and increase their cost-effectiveness, formed a consortium called ALTABITS. Its successful application to the DOC enable ten publishers to computerize their operations, leading to reduced typesetting costs, the ability to network with each other and other Canadian publishers and to participate in the Canadian Telebook electronic ordering system. The DOC is now promoting the ALTABITS model to small publishers in other provinces.