Page XI

Xi
                         Vl }      tae   ofjPflo      jf in       CHIE  
  TA
                           LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU
s      k                            STATE CAPITOL
                                 MADISON, WIS. 53702
 ILE             AR DRAFTNG. 2660356
 REFERENCE LB ARY.2604
                                 INTRODUCTION
     Each time a Wisconsin Blue Book is published, the editors' audible sigh
of relief
  soon gives way to the worry: how can the next edition be made as good as,
or better
  than, the present one? Whether the new 73rd edition achieves this aim must
be judged
  by the reader, but the editors feel that the help of dedicated contributors
in all state
  agencies has again made the current edition a worthy member of the Blue
Book series.
     On January 14, 1853, the Assembly of the Wisconsin Legislature created
the
  Wisconsin Blue Book when it adopted an unnumbered resolution providing
for the
  printing of "750 copies of the rules of this house ... together with
such statistical data as
  ... will be useful to the assembly"... Today's Blue Book no longer
contains the rules of
  the Legislature, but the collection of useful statistical data has grown
to 214 pages of
  general information from "agriculture" to "transportation",
plus 93 pages of election
  statistics. In addition, the present Blue Book, for the first time, supplements
each
  statistics topic with a summary narrative.
     The 1977 Wisconsin Blue Book is a comprehensive reference source on
Wisconsin
  and its government. For each agency, it provides the reader not only with
an
  organization chart, a brief history and the agency's functions, but also
shows the name,
  title, address and telephone number for all management personnel from the
secretary
  or commissioner at the head of the agency, to the administrator of each
division and
  the director of every bureau. Following the example of Wisconsin's "program
budget"
  initiated a decade before the concept became popular at the national level
 the
  agencies are presented alphabetically within broad functional areas: legislature,
  governor and lieutenant governor, commerce, education, environmental resources,
  human relations and resources, general executive branch functions, state
authorities,
  temporary, regional and interstate agencies, and judiciary. However, for
the reader
  who needs additional finding help there is a detailed alphabetical index
at the end of
  the book listing every elected official, every agency, every function,
every table of
  statistical information, etc., and highlighting the main page for each
entry by bold face
  type.
     The feature article of the Blue Book's 1977 edition deals with Wisconsin
Writers. It
  begins on page 95. The article, by Dr. John 0. Stark, an instructor with
University of
  Wisconsin Extension, is more than a literary review. The writers discussed
were
  selected because of their involvement in the life of Wisconsin during their
respective
  lifetimes, and the insight into "Wisconsin then" which their
writings give to the reader
  of today.
     The cover of the present Blue Book shows the Senate and Assembly Chambers
in
  the Wisconsin State Capitol, one of the most beautiful statehouses in the
Nation. We
  are indebted to the artistry of Matthew J. Joyce, Senate Democratic Caucus
Media
  Coordinator, for patiently exposing roll after roll of film until he managed
to create
  just the right composition for our cover illustrations.