Interest in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism is soaring. Snow Lion is also expanding to accommodate this growth. We have added several new staff members as well as additional offices.

We've expanded our operation to include the house adjacent to the main building. This new space contains the entire editorial and design division where they can work quietly and happily with sunny windows and fewer phones ringing. Our editorial, design and production departments are headed by Sidney Piburn, one of the founders of Snow Lion. He determines what Snow Lion publishes and how the publications look. Our designer, Jesse Townsley, designs our quarterly newsletter, all of our ads and with input from Sidney produces our magnificent book covers. Susan Kyser, Thomas Spiegelberg and Chris Hatchel do the copy editing and proofing of our publications. Thomas and Chris also typeset our books. Gail Bimbaum is moving from customer service, where she's been for thirteen years, into a her new position in marketing. She is eagerly looking forward to bringing her prior educational background in marketing to this position.

Our main headquarters contains the general administrative offices, the bookkeeping and accounting functions, customer and computer services, and order fulfillment. The order fulfillment division is headed by Dhondup Dorje (D.D.-la as he is affectionately called). The department also includes Kunga Nyima and Palden Choedak. Karma Dorjee maintains all our stock of products from outside producers. Susan B., who has been with us for over four years, is the newly appointed head of customer service. Akendo, a native of Kenya, is our bookkeeper. Our new employees, Beth Dart and Dan Hershberg, are students of Tibetan language and Tibetan Buddhism at Namgyal Institute. They are working in customer service and data entry. Daniel Bimbaum has also been working in customer service and data entry for the past three years and is happy to have the added staff. Calvin Smith maintains our computers and manages our physical facility. Sandra Bossack does complex data maintenance. Erin Riddle maintains our website. Jeff Cox is our President and Office Manager. Jeff supervises the entire operation, focusing his energies primarily on the business and financial aspects of Snow Lion. He handles contracts and foreign rights, distribution, budgets, personnel issues and also puts together most of the material for the Snow Lion Newsletter and Catalog. He's the glue that holds everything together.

Snow Lion provides a unique service in that most of our staff members are practitioners familiar with our titles and can often suggest the appropriate product for you. There's always a native Tibetan language speaker here for your Tibetan language questions. For example, Palden Choedak is a former Tibetan Buddhist monk. He is also an artist and translator. This emphasis on knowledgeable customer service is one thing that makes Snow Lion unique from other mail order and online companies. Because of our dedication to preserving Tibetan Buddhism and culture, all Snow Lion profits go directly into increased production and expansion of the business.

Snow Lion was founded in 1980. Its direction was based on meetings with H.H. the Dalai Lama. His Holiness encouraged Snow Lion to be broad based and not associated exclusively with any one particular lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He recommended that we try to publish translations of the best of Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, Geluk and Bon literature as .well as modern oral teachings and written works by lamas, western scholar and practitioners. He-suggested an overall publishing plan which in addition to books on Tibetan religion also would cover all aspects of the culture. He also suggested that we publish books for different types of audiences: scholarly translations and academic works; practice oriented works for serious Buddhist practitioners; books of an introductory nature and popular books for a wider audience that can help subsidize the more scholarly and advanced texts.

After formulating this publishing plan, Snow Lion solicited books from all Tibetan religious orders as well as books on Tibetan language, history, food, and so forth'. Since then Snow Lion has published over 150 texts in varying categories. These books have now become Snow Lion's Library of Tibetan Buddhism and Culture. Included in the Library is an academic series called Studies and Translations in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.

Our website continues to improve. It is now in the process of being totally revamped. Within the next few months the site will have a completely different look. Stay timed for further progress and order online at www.snowlionpub.com. We are discounting Snow Lion titles 20% and also providing free shipping for orders over $100 when you order online through the website. ä_æ