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Volunteer Reporters Cover ALCTS Programs In TorontoALCTS members attending ALA Annual Conference 2003 provided these summary reports. We thank the volunteers who covered a program or preconference sponsored by ALCTS or one of its units, so that the rest of us can benefit from the presentations. We regret that we had no volunteers for two additional programs. Preconferences
Programs
Business of Acquisitions - Working Together To Get It Done: Acquisitions Librarians As CollaboratorsAnn S. Doyle, University of Kentucky This Business of Acquisitions (BOA) preconference may have had a relatively small attendance this year, but the intimate atmosphere contributed to a feeling of collaboration among the 40 of those present. Opening and closing keynote speakers added additional structure to the already well-organized program. The event, presented by the Acquisition Section's Education Committee, received generous sponsorship from TLC The Library Corporation (principal sponsor), and Casalini Libri, Midwest Library Services, and Majors Scientific Books. Joyce Ogburn (Associate Director of the Libraries for Resources and Collection Management Services at the University of Washington), the opening keynote speaker, applied recent leadership theory to library acquisitions. Stressing the importance of learning and understanding the values of others, Ogburn also underlined the importance of creating and achieving organizational vision by planning and leading change. Types of change range from adjustments to transformative. Ogburn then went on to describe why acquisitions needs transforming, including complexity of the work, automation of the work, the fusing of content and delivery, and changes afoot in scholarly communication and publishing in general. Acquisitions librarians can respond to change by learning the how their local "system" (formal administrative structure and informal power structure) works and working that system effectively. For the rest of the morning, the program offered three repeating breakout sessions:
After lunch, those attending could choose from five discussion groups:
As the closing keynote speaker, Dan Halloran (President, Blackwells Book Services, Inc.) brought everyone back together and onto the same page. He spoke about the future of acquisitions from a bookseller's perspective. Halloran identified macro-trends: economics of library funding and operations, down-sizing library technical services staff, economics of the publishing industry and related components such as booksellers, and the huge growth of electronic information resources and their unique demands on libraries. He then spoke about the five-point plan Blackwells Book Services, Inc. developed to respond to these macro-trends. Collaboration turns out to be a key element in all work in acquisitions. Effective acquisitions librarians must collaborate with co-workers and colleagues, with internal and external customers, and with materials and library systems vendors. Dewey Decimal Classification 22 and Beyond: An Introduction to the New Edition of the Dewey Decimal ClassificationJessica MacPhail, Racine Public Library After a continental breakfast and a welcome from David Miller, Chair of the CCS Subject Access Committee, Joan Mitchell (Editor in Chief of DDC) gave an introduction to the new features of DDC 22. Several major updates include Computer science, religion, social groups and cultural institutions, law, mathematics, chemistry, medicine and health, history and geography, and tables. Good news for Dewey libraries, no schedule has been completely reordered, although there have been multiple revisions and expansions. Jessica MacPhail (Racine Public Library and member of the Editorial Policy Committee), described to the attendees how the committee functions to prepare new editions of Dewey. Julianne Beall and Giles Martin (Assistant Editors of DDC) gave a thorough overview of the changes in religion and social groups, and in computer science and mathematics. Libby Crawford (Marketing Manager for OCLC) provided information on the role of Dewey Web services. After lunch, Beall, Martin, and Gregory New (Assistant Editor of DDC) led breakout sessions to focus in-depth on the Dewey schedule changes. For two hours, attendees were able to delve into specific areas and see examples of DDC 22. Linda Woodcock (Catalogue Division, Vancouver Public Library) presented strategies for implementing the new Dewey, and Joan Mitchell wrapped up with information about what else can be done with Dewey, including new and exciting international projects. With a newly revised manual as part of DDC 22, and a new edition of Dewey Decimal Classification: Principles and Application being published, Dewey users will have plenty of assistance as they move to the new edition. Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program (SCCTP): Electronic Serials Cataloging Workshop; Integrating Resources Cataloging WorkshopRobert Alan, Pennsylvania State University Twenty-five participants attended an all day workshop held in conjunction with CONSER's thirtieth anniversary. Serial catalogers as well as non-catalogers who were interested in becoming more knowledgeable in electronic serials cataloging issues participated in this event. Trainer Steve Shadle (University of Washington) did an excellent job keeping the workshop on track and covering all of the material within the allotted time. Cataloging of electronic serials is ever changing, and the course materials have been revised since the workshop was first offered a year ago. Shadle very adeptly introduced both revisions and new concepts during the course of the day. The workshop was divided into six sessions; the first session outlined its goals, including coverage of basic terminology, techniques, tools and problem solving approaches; practice creating catalog records for a variety of electronic serials; discussion of problems of multiple electronic versions and common problems in cataloging online serials; and a look at trends in electronic serials cataloging. Session one also discussed differences between serials (including electronic serials) and integrating resources (a separate SCCTP workshop). Prior to the AACR2 2002 revisions, definitions addressed monographs and serials, with some monographs being updatable Web sites and databases. Shadle discussed what types of electronic resources should now be treated as serials or as integrating resources, suggesting decisions be based on whether there are numbered issues of discrete parts being issued. However, if an online resource consists of volumes or issues of multiple journals, or is an updated Web site, then the resource should be treated as an integrating resource. Session two described the steps involved in cataloging online serials, the application of AACR2 rules and MARC 21 fields, and unique features of online serials. Discussion included choosing a chief source of information, choice of entry, and choice of format (serial or computer file). Three cataloging exercises followed to provide participants with some practical experience applying what they had learned, with time allocated for discussion. Session three addressed aggregators and options available for improving access to online resources packaged in a database. Shadle presented the aggregator neutral record concept (single bibliographic record that is separate from the print and covers all versions of the same online serial). Vendor solutions, the OpenURL, and link resolvers were also discussed. Session four addressed online versions of a serial with the session focused on the single record approach. Changes that affect cataloging, such as title changes, URL changes, and format changes, were discussed in session five. The workshop concluded with six case studies covering additional characteristics of online serials (e.g., organization of the Web page) that challenge catalogers, and strategies for making sound cataloging decisions. The workshop provided an excellent introduction to electronic serials cataloging by providing participants with a good understanding of current cataloging standards, applications, and current options available for providing access to online serials. Additional information on SCCTP (Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program) is available on the program's Web site. Digital Audio/Digital Video: Is Your Library/Media Center Digital Ready?Brian McCafferty, Wabash College The internet and local networks are increasingly becoming avenues of delivery for digital audio and digital video content. Widespread experience with electronic journals and books is generating expectations for electronic access to audiovisual materials as well. The speakers for this program reported on their experiences in making digital audio and video available to their user communities, and addressed issues of delivery technology and standards, acquiring and creating digital content, and questions surrounding intellectual property rights and fair use. Jon Dunn (Indiana University Digital Library Program) addressed the advantages of digital audio files in libraries for sound reproduction, network delivery, and new forms of interactivity. He discussed existing digital audio formats, the differences between uncompressed and compressed files, how compression programs use psycho acoustic techniques to retain sound quality while allowing for more efficient storage, and differences between streaming and downloading audio files. He described process of creating digital audio files and how the Variations and Variations2 projects at Indiana University are replacing traditional library collections and services as well as providing new opportunities such as the interactive linking of digital recordings to digital scores. Claire Stewart (Digital Media Services, Northwestern University), drawing on her experience with digital video distribution at Northwestern University, discussed issues relating to the creation of a digital video delivery system including content creation, file storage, and access. Stewart listed a number of questions libraries should consider focusing on its motivations and capacity for providing and delivering digital video. She then walked through the mechanics of capturing, compressing, and formatting digital video files and described alternate strategies for accomplishing these activities. Storage is major consideration since digital video files are huge. Libraries must also confront management and delivery issues including streaming vs. downloading, client support, the creation and maintenance of metadata, and integrating digital video resources into existing library information systems. Allan C. Rough (Nonprint Media Services, University of Maryland) reviewed the history of video marketing and pricing for libraries and media centers emphasizing the similarities between video and research databases. In both cases initial restrictions and fears of value loss on the part of producers have given way to more inventive and less paranoid marketing and pricing models as technologies have caught up with demand. At the University of Maryland digital video is delivered through a video-on-demand system (VideoHawk) that permits authenticated, simultaneous and independent access. Rough described the University's services and its arrangement with Films for the Humanities and Sciences by which 1000 video titles have been licensed for digital encoding and delivery. FH&S is now licensing digital rights commercially as are a growing number of other video distributors, though concerns about intellectual property rights are a continuing issue for both producers and libraries. In their presentations and in follow-up questions all three speakers addressed the issues of copyright and fair use. Each institution represented in the program has adopted a slightly different approach based on the opinions of university counsel; some university attorneys take a more liberal view of fair use than others. Currently rights licensing is more developed for video, which has a bigger market in academic institutions and more commercial activity. The audio market is smaller and commercial distributors have not developed licensing strategies for institutional customers. Digital Rights, Digital Wrongs: The Impact of International Copyright Law on What Gets Published (And What Librarians Can Buy)Bob Nardini, YBP Library Services The complex and turbulent area of international copyright law was examined from the respective vantage points of publisher, aggregator, academic librarian, public librarian, and attorney, in a program organized by the ALCTS/Association of American Publishers Joint Committee. Sponsors included McGraw-Hill Professional, the Scholastic, Inc. Trade Book Group, and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sarah Sully (Morrison & Foerster, formerly General Counsel and Director of Publisher Relations at JSTOR) was the program's keynote speaker. Her address, "International Copyright: Current Legal Issues Affecting Publishers and Librarians," was a summary of the legal issues surrounding international publishing today in six general areas: information security, privacy, copyright, licensing, jurisdiction, and libel. Sully reported that key questions in each of these areas are far from settled; that harmonization among the laws of different countries is no more than a distant goal; and that publishers may find themselves unprepared for a variety of hazards and risks they might not have imagined. The online projects of many companies, for example, are vulnerable to hackers, and piracy is nearly unchecked in some parts of the world. North American firms will find that privacy laws in the European Union and elsewhere offer far more protection to users than laws at home on the gathering of personal information. While dozens of countries have signed licensing treaties, local regulations and practice on matters such as censorship, taxation, and registration still vary widely. The same is true for libel, where the claimant-friendly laws of some nations must be taken into account. The state of international agreement on jurisdiction questions, finally, is "a mess," as claimants may shop for the best choice of law (e.g., contract law vs. copyright law), choice of forum, and choice of jurisdiction for enforcement. Thanks to the universality of the Web, there may be risk of legal action even in countries where a firm never intended to do business. "The risk for a publisher today," warned Sully, "is that it's going to be sued all over the world." Ian Jacobs, consultant to Oxford University Press, New York, and formerly Editorial Director for Palgrave Macmillan and Grove's dictionaries, addressed two main themes in his presentation "Online Product Development and International Copyright Law." Assignment of copyright to the publishers of an online work is essential, enabling a quicker and more flexible response to challenges than is possible with content licensing. However, online publishers devote far more of their energy ensuring that the content and functionality they have created will result in a profitable business. While copyright provides a necessary foundation, the level of trust among partners is more important to the success of an online publishing venture. He drew upon examples centered on music, where uncertainty over online copying in that industry has spilled over and affected online reference works: legal questions over server location have as yet prevented Grove's from offering access to recorded music. A Japanese music site's success rests upon not only on the complexities of a legal agreement, but upon the trust of the project's several content and technical partners. Canadian Library Association President-elect Stephen Abram spoke on "Copyright and Electronic Publishing: Reality Check." Abram based the talk upon his experience as Vice President, Corporate Development, Micromedia ProQuest (Canada), a firm whose head office, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, maintains tens of thousands of agreements with owners of content, employing some 35 staff to carry out negotiations. Other staff support this work by maintaining the firm's massive publisher rights database, which records such information as changes in ownership, rights by market, royalty payments, and payment of taxes. Abram referred to "rights layering," the determination and tracking of who owns what rights to a work mounted online. The intersecting and overlapping interests of author and publisher are only the beginning, as photographers, composers, illustrators, artists, directors, editors, actors, and many others with a hand in creating at least some part of a print, or especially, an audio-visual work, all must be accounted for in this enormously intricate and time-consuming task. Three hundred separate rights agreements, for example, were necessary to secure all permissions to mount one particular 3-minute video clip. Echoing Sully, he characterized the state of international contract and licensing law as unstable-although a "house of Lego," since it has held together, and so not quite a "house of cards." On the other hand, he described a "transmission environment where the old copyright law is going to break," as emerging standards such as XML, open URL, and SFX create systems which present material to end-users in contexts beyond those envisioned by most agreements. Virtual reference service in libraries, whereby through a "guided search" a librarian might lead a remote user to licensed content, presents a similar situation. The film, video, and music entertainment industries have an undue influence upon the academic world, according to Abram, as these high-stakes producers gain rights tilted toward content owners. Abram concluded with an overview of the factors an aggregator must consider in decisions about launching new online products, including estimates of customer demand; cost and pricing forecasts; format conversion and technical support; hosting and storage questions; competitive and strategic issues; and the duration, security, and terms of agreements on rights. Peggy Johnson (University of Minnesota) described how her institution had changed its policies in "Copyright and Fair Use, Libraries and Users: Where Does the Responsibility Lie?" As has been true for most large academic libraries, Minnesota traditionally had issued prescriptive guidelines to users, limiting user activity which seemed out of bounds. Under their new policy, however, the library will shift responsibility to users to make their own informed good faith decisions on the boundaries of fair use. It will be the responsibility of a faculty member, for example, to determine copyright status of a work, to gauge the applicability of fair use, and to secure whatever permissions might be necessary. Instead of enforcing policies, the library will attempt to educate users in a statute-based understanding of fair use. Each fair use claim will depend upon its own particulars in light of the rights and responsibilities set forth in 17 U.S.C. Section 107. These concern the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion to be copied, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for the copyrighted work. The library's further goal will be to avoid entering into agreements with content providers that restrict fair use rights. Johnson noted that licenses in fact often place greater restrictions on use than do copyright law. This will be a part of a larger library goal to advocate within and beyond the university community for the strengthening of fair use rights. This shift in orientation is the focus of a project team consisting of members from the library, university attorney's office, and the campus copyright permissions center. The project is co-sponsored by the Vice Provost for Distributed Education & Instructional Technology and the University Librarian. The library expects the greatest frontline impacts on staff working in reference and library instruction, interlibrary loan, document delivery, and copy services. "A View from the Street: Providing Access to Unaffiliated Users," was delivered by Paul Whitney (Vancouver B.C. Public Library). Whitney argued that copyright is too often seen as an economic right, rather than as a means to balance private and public interests. Fundamental change in the law, he believes, is needed, to prevent large commercial audio-visual interests from entirely co-opting the agenda. Today's copyright climate, for example, is preventing materials recorded for the visually impaired to move freely from country to country. He sees geographical market segmentation as "really insidious," since attempts to keep DVD markets intact are affecting the free movement of printed materials. Different sets of rights, he believes, should correspond to different formats. In Canada, copyright law is being used to enforce third-party contracts. Libraries are denied the avenue of "parallel importation," and instead normally must buy non-Canadian materials from licensed agents, rather than from a source in the country of origin. More generally, he asked how library users not affiliated with large institutions were to have access to the breadth of published works that a member of most university communities enjoy? It's in everybody's interest, Whitney concluded, to build and nurture a broadly educated community. Don't Be Dysfunctional; How to Put the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) in Your FutureJohn Radencich, Florida International University The joint CC:DA/MARBI program on FRBR offered presentations by Barbara Tillett and Tom Delsey (Library of Congress), Glenn Patton (OCLC), and Vinod Chachra (VTLS). Matthew Beacom (MIT), ALA's representative to the Joint Steering Committee, served as moderator. Beacom read Tillett's presentation, an overview of FRBR, in which she subdivides cataloged entities into four increasingly specific elements. A "work" is an abstract entity that is realized through an "expression;" a "manifestation" is the physical embodiment of an expression. An "item" is the physical copy of the manifestation. As an illustration, "Hamlet" is a work that is expressed through texts, films, etc. These expressions are manifested by the Signet Classics edition, the Oxford University Press edition, the Bantam Books paperback, and so on (for the text). The movie "expression" (let's say the Kenneth Brannaugh film) is "manifested" by videotape, DVD, etc. Items are the three copies of the Oxford University Press edition on your library's shelves. Vinod Chachra gave a demonstration how FRBR records look in reality, on a library's OPAC. Though this was through a particular system (VTLS), it gave the audience an idea how FRBR will work in an actual library setting. Sally McCallum read Tom Delsey's presentation titled "Mapping MARC to FRBR." This took all the fields present in MARC and showed which fields went with which FRBR elements, that is, which MARC fields were appropriate for Works, which for Expressions, etc. Glenn Patton concluded by addressing "What FRBR Can Do For You." FRBR gives clearer understanding of what catalogers do; provides better collocation and navigation; gives clearer, more useful relationships; and brings more controlled, authoritative information for productivity. Getting the Most Out of Subject References in the Online Catalog: Better Than It Used To Be?Tony Olson, Northwestern University Health Sciences Library This program, presented by CCS and co-sponsored by the Canadian Library Association Technical Services Interest Group, focused on improving the use of subject references in the online catalog. In 2001 the CCS Subject Analysis Committee formed a Subcommittee on Subject Reference Structures in Automated Systems. The Subcommittee prepared a report, targeted at both vendors of library management systems and librarians who implement these systems, containing 25 recommendations for improving the use of subject reference structures in the online catalog. Sara Shatford Layne, Chair of the Subcommittee, in her presentation: "Using Subject Reference Structures" highlighted the most important recommendations:
A draft report containing all 25 recommendations with examples can be found on the Subcommittee's Web site. The Subcommittee also recommended providing linking references between equivalent headings from different controlled vocabularies. Very few library management systems provide this capability, but one that does is AMICUS, the Library and Archives of Canada (L&AC) online catalog. AMICUS includes headings from the Canadian Subject Headings (CSH) list and French subject headings from the Répertoire de vedettes-matière (RVM). In her presentation: "Navigating Bilingual Subject Headings in AMICUS"; Pam Armstrong (L&AC) described the generation of references between equivalent terms from CSH and RVM using the 7XX fields of authority records. Representatives from four vendors of library management systems briefly discussed the current state and future enhancements to the use of subject references in their systems. The representatives were: Shelley Hofstetler, Endeavor (Voyager); Michael Kaplan, Ex Libris (Aleph); Claudia Conrad, Innovative (Millennium); and Berit Nelson, Sirsi (Unicorn). International Standard Bibliographic Descriptions (ISBDs): Do we still need them?Rachel Wadham, Brigham Young University In a program offered by the ALCTS Networked Resources & Metadata Committee, four speakers discussed the topic from several points of view. John Byrum (Library of Congress) described the origins and purpose of the ISBDs: for thirty years ISBDs have been the accepted standard to facilitate interchange of bibliographic records from different sources. The ISBDs have been translated into twenty languages and have been internationally applied. Byrum indicated that currently the major controversy is whether prescribed punctuation is needed at all. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has reviewed the ISBDs in their entirety several times, and despite this controversy has recommended against eliminating punctuation. Glenn Patton (OCLC) then described how the ISBDs have been integrated into cataloging codes, including AACR2 and the codes used in France and Italy. Patton indicated that IFLA's current priorities are to study how the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) terminology can be used in the ISBDs. Olivia Madison (Iowa State University) discussed the results of IFLA's study to look at the purpose and roles of the bibliographic record, with a focus on user needs and requirements. As a result, a working group developed FRBR. Many organizations and systems are currently examining how FRBR will impact the future of bibliographic control. The final speaker, Lynne C. Howarth (University of Toronto) discussed putting the ISBDs in metadata. An IFLA Working Group on Metadata Schemes has been formed to study this issue. After the analysis of ten metadata schemes, the ISBDs, and FRBR, the working group identified a core of ten metadata elements that are schema independent. The working group will also develop guidelines about when to use metadata records and to discuss the relationship between metadata and other descriptive standards. Metadata Harvesting: Using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol to Expose the Deep WebNorm Medeiros, Haverford College Sponsored by the ALCTS Networked Resources & Metadata Committee, this program drew approximately 125 attendees to hear presentations from three speakers: Thomas Krichel, economist and faculty member at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science; Tim Cole, Mathematics Librarian & Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Jeff Young, Consulting Software Engineer for the OCLC Office of Research. The panelists discussed, in both theoretical and technical terms, the role of the OAI's Protocol for Metadata Harvesting in supporting information retrieval. Krichel's presentation, "Open Archives and Open Libraries," introduced the audience to the data repository model, as illustrated by the RePEc data archive. He discussed the changing nature of scholarly communication, and specifically the impact the open source movement has had in this arena. He implored the audience to be more imaginative, entrepreneurial, and collaborative in their work. Cole's presentation described in a more technical manner how both data repositories and service providers use the protocol. He reminded the audience that good metadata is the foundation of good retrieval; that the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting is not a magic bullet. He emphasized the role of the protocol as being interoperability at the metadata level. Tim highlighted his work at the University of Illinois, and touched on some of the OAI-compliant tools being developed, including the DSpace digital repository, Endeavor's ENCompass system, and OCLC's ContentDM application. Young's presentation focused on OAICat, an OCLC open source project designed for OAI repositories. Jeff noted OCLC's involvement in the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations project, an OAI-compliant initiative. Jeff discussed the use of PURL redirects to ensure URL accuracy. He described the pieces of an XML record, and the links to various component parts such as thesauri, registries, and schemas.
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Ms.
Lancaster confessed to a life-long love affair with libraries and her
lively, thought-provoking presentation was laced with references to and
memories of libraries and librarians. Her enthusiasm was ably matched
by the remarks of Jessica Albano, a Gen Xer librarian from the University
of Washington. Ms. Albano spoke about her experiences as a young librarian
seeking to balance the demands of the organizational culture while giving
voice to her individuality. Her talk was energetic and a perfect complement
to Ms. Lancaster's presentation. 
The
key to a successful work environment depends on collaboration. With a
diverse workforce and an equally diverse customer group, it is essential
to keep in mind the value that each individual brings to the workplace.
Ms. Chute chose a quotation from the American poet Wendell Berry to convey
the importanceof communication in the workplace:"� when a community
loses its memory, its members no longer know one another. How can they
know one another, if they have forgotten or never learned one another's
stories, if they do not know one another's stories, how can they know
whether or not to trust one another?" 