Mallis Expert Insights: Q & A with Stoy Hedges

Stoy Hedges

Editor’s note: Welcome to Mallis Expert Insights. Each month, we will ask a Mallis Handbook contributor five pest control questions relating to his or her area of expertise. Connect with the experts by submitting questions and find their insights in upcoming issues. For our first edition, PCT interviews Mallis Editorial Director Stoy Hedges.

Q: What have been the most valuable additions to the 10th Edition of the Mallis Handbook of Pest Control?
A: The most valuable additions to the Mallis Handbook are the doubling of the size of the Color ID Section to 64 pages to include the most common pests in high resolution photos and the complete rewrite of the Cockroach, Bed Bug, Spiders, and Pheromones chapters.

Q:  How has the publication evolved during the three times you have served as Editorial Director of the book?
A: With the 8th Edition, I wanted the key chapters of Rats & Mice, Cockroaches, Termites, Ants and Insecticides to be completely rewritten to bring the edition up-to-date. I tried to include more tables and added figures to illustrate key points in the book.

With the 9th Edition, I took the opportunity to completely reorganize the book by combining several chapters into the Occasional Invaders chapter, merging Pesticide Safety with the Insecticides chapter, and merging Lice and Fleas, thereby reducing the number of chapters from 30 to 24. I also ordered the chapters differently by placing Rats & Mice, Cockroaches, and Termites at the front of the book and placing the four chapters that deal with ectoparasites together. We also hired a professional indexer to greatly upgrade the index to make it more complete and thus valuable to the user.

With the 10th Edition, I wanted the spiders and cockroaches chapters to be better updated. I wanted the Color ID section to really pop and be a key feature. Digital cameras have made it much easier to capture quality images of the pests we deal with on a regular basis. We used the same indexer that we used in the 9th Edition to maintain consistency with the index.
 
Q: Why should every PMP have a copy of the Mallis Handbook on their bookshelf?
A: No single book can contain everything there is to know about structural pest management, but the Mallis Handbook is the more complete book about our industry available and will provide the Pest Professional with answers to most all of his or her questions.
 
Q: How do you use the Mallis Handbook to benefit Terminix?
A: We encourage all of our Technical Specialists and branches to purchase a copy of each edition so they have a ready source to consult regarding pest management in structures.

Our marketing department uses the book when it wants interesting facts regarding pests to use in our marketing efforts and websites.
 
Q: How do you select the individual chapter authors/editors?
A: Certain chapters have a level of expertise needed that I want the same author to revise them in each edition such as Dr. Bob Corrigan, with Rats & Mice, Dr. Mike Potter with Termites and Dr. Gary Braness with Insecticides .

In each edition, I want to bring new people to participate with Mallis. We have so many qualified technical people in our industry, I like to give as many as I can an opportunity to contribute.