September 3, 2004

In order better serve our customers, on September 3^rd; Everett’s Bindery replaced its aging SystemIII hot foil lettering machine with a newly rebuilt SystemIII from the manufacturer, the Flesher Corporation of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The installation of this machine should be noticeable with crisper and more precise hot stamped characters.

The installation will also bring with it the addition of numerous diacritic characters, including the accent mark, umlaut, tilde and more, all of which will be available to both the LARS and ABLE libraries.  If your library would be interested in learning more about these capabilities please contact us at 1-800-869-0420.

June 15, 2004 

Houchen Bindery Ltd. was honored by a visit from Joanne Rock, Executive Director of the Library Binding Institute, Chicago.

Above is a picture of John Salistean giving Joanne Rock a tour of Houchen Bindery Ltd.

The busy and full agenda included a tour, meetings and lunch, PLUS a Celebration of June Birthdays, June Flag Day, a Welcome to Brett Edmonds, new Sales Mgr. of our division in Shreveport, LA., Everett's Bindery, and a "Farewell and Good Luck" to Jamie Martin.

Joanne was asked to give our "team" a motivational speech.  Her message was this:  "Always challenge yourself!  Identify one thing to accomplish and set out to Do It!  I read a book called "Write it Down, Make it Happen" that really influenced me.  When you do identify what it is you want, Write it Down!  Over and Over!  You'll be amazed at what happens….

Now let's have some fun!  I want to hear the Best Advice your mother ever gave you. My mother always told me, "Put it in a Tribune Headline."  This was my Mom's way of helping us with ethical or moral dilemmas - if we weren't sure of a course of action, we should pretend it was in the headlines and see if we would be comfortable with the world knowing what we did!  It worked."

From left to right:  Joanne Rock, John Salistean, and Sara Ogren

January 30, 2004 

Effective at the close of business January 30, 2004, the assets of the bindery portion of Ware-Pak, Inc., and Illinois corporation, will be sold to Houchen Bindery Ltd./Everett's/University, a certified bindery in Utica, Nebraska.

At the same time, Houchen Bindery Ltd./Everett's/University is also taking over the customer list of Bindery Corporation of America, a Chicago, Illinois corporation.

Houchen Bindery Ltd. provides excellent pick up and delivery service with our own sales team.  We also have state-of-the-art equipment along with an excellent, caring staff and team members.

September 3, 2003

 Houchen Bindery Ltd. held their 10th Annual "The Pancake Man" event this summer. This is always a "thank you" to team members and their families, but this year it also served as a benefit for the Utica Rescue Squad and for Seward's Memorial Hospital Expansion Project 24/7.

To add to the excitement, the Osbornes' son-in-law Steve Pederson, the new Athletic Director at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was invited to be the special guest and speaker. Above, L-R: Don Osborne, Connie Osborne & Steve Pederson.

After the event, HBL presented the Utica Volunteer Rescue Squad and the Memorial Hospital Expansion Project 24/7 each with checks for $650.00.

Above, L-R: Connie Osborne, VP Houchen Bindery Ltd. and member of Memorial Hospital Steering Committee; Linda Birkes-Lance, Executive Director of the Foundation of Memorial Hospital; Eudece Jones, Soliciting Cpt. Of Utica for the Expansion Project; Bill Deremer, the Utica Fire Chief in charge of the Rescue Squad; and Don Osborne, Pres. Houchen Bindery Ltd.

April 11, 2003

Since 1990 the Houchen Bindery team members have maintained a two-mile stretch of Interstate 80 near Utica. Over 20 team members have participated in the Nebraska Department of Roads' Litter Abatement Program every time we have ventured out. Although it is a difficult and sometimes dangerous task, the team finds great satisfaction in knowing they are helping the greater area community by keeping Nebraska’s main artery a cleaner and more scenic drive.

March 14, 2003

ABLE™ Bindery Preparation Software

Houchen Bindery Ltd. is pleased to announce that we have become an ABLE Library licensee with ABLE™ Ventures LLC. Our new relationship will allow us to continue to offer ABLE™ to our Everett's Bindery and University Bindery customers, and also offer an additional option for bindery preparation software to the library customers served from our Nebraska facility.

ABLE™ has successfully developed a version of the software that is web based. Allowing the library's data to be stored at a remote site, accessible by the library with any browser. The primary advantage to the library is that so long as the bindery preparation staff has internet access, they can prepare binding shipments. This eliminates the constant support problems, keeping up with all the changes within libraries, their workstations and networks, change in printers, etc. Upgrades to the software can be accomplished at the web site and become accessible to all the library users at once.

ABLE™ has an impressive track record working with its library binding preparation application. There are currently eight member library binderies. The software is under constant revision and is working toward integration with ExLibris and Innovative Interfaces. ABLE™ has been in this style of development for many years.

Oct. 4, 2002

Effective at the close of business October 4, 2002, the assets of Everett's Bindery Inc. in Shreveport, LA and University Bindery Inc. in St. Louis, MO, both owned by ICIBinding Corporation, were sold to Houchen Bindery Ltd. of Utica, NE. Houchen Bindery Ltd. has assumed responsibility for the products and services of existing Everett and University Bindery customers, and has purchased all equipment and inventory of the two binderies.

Houchen Bindery Ltd. and the teams in place at EBI & UBI intend to work very hard to demonstrate that they remain capable of providing you with excellent library binding services. Woody Rust will continue to manage the Bossier City operation and his team acknowledges that the future success of these operations centers on the responsibility they have for making sure every Everett and University Bindery customer is well served and pleased with their performance. The plants will continue to serve all of the library binding customers in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi.This is an important transaction for both companies. In twenty-five years Houchen Bindery Ltd. has grown from eight employees to over one hundred during peak binding seasons. Likewise ICIBinding Corp has accumulated a track record of growth operating 10 library binding plants throughout the country. They both thank the customers for their loyalty and also the team members for making this growth possible.

Houchen Bindery Ltd., and it’s new operations in Louisiana and Missouri are committed to continuing the quality and service they have been known for from the Canadian border to the Gulf Coast.