New and Improved (Over the Last Version)

The Archives of the Episcopal Church has come up with a new PDF version of the 2009 constitution and canons of the church.

In February, I complained about the initial version that was posted by the Archives in my essay “New and Somewhat Worsened.” In particular, that version of the 2009 governing documents did not have bookmarks, a convenient feature of the 2006 version. The latest file, which has replaced the old one, does have bookmarks, as do the PDF versions of individual sections (Constitution, Title I, etc.) also provided by the Archives. The files are still not tagged PDFs, nor do they offer a fast Web view. (See earlier post for details.)

The Web site of the Executive Offices of the General Convention does not yet offer the new files. Also, that site causes the PDFs to open in a separate program (i.e., Adobe Reader), rather than in your browser. (I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.)

In case anyone is interested, I have made a version of the new PDF of the constitution and canons (plus Rules of Order for the General Convention). I have incorporated fast Web access, and the file opens with the bookmarks showing, which makes access of particular content very easy. You can get it here. My file is not lots more convenient than the one from the Archives, but it is perhaps a bit more convenient.