ALCTS Discussion Groups Announce topics for Midwinter 2004

These announcements were received by the editor in time to be included; for room assignments, please check the Midwinter meeting schedule in this issue of the ALCTS Newsletter Online.

Division Level Discussion Groups
Automated Acquisitions/In Process Control Discussion Group (Sunday, January 11, 9:30-11 a.m.): The topic will be "Shifting Responsibility: Good, Bad, or Just a Fact a Life?" It seems to us that there has been a shifting of some responsibilities between libraries and vendors. Vendors are strongly encouraging ordering from their sites and discouraging traditional paper orders. Libraries are relying on vendors to halt duplication, especially libraries where selectors order directly without intervention by acquisitions units. Vendors are even incorporating library fund structures into their ordering process and supplying data files that create bib records, order records, adjust funds, and expend encumbrances. Are there other changes libraries have experienced? Are they good for both libraries and vendors? The meeting is planned to be a true discussion from all participants, but we have lined up discussion leaders from both libraries and vendors to "prime the pump". Join us for a living discussion of the shifting responsibilities in Acquisitions.

Heads of Technical Services of Medium Sized Academic and Research Libraries Discussion Group (Saturday, January 10, 9:30-11 a.m.): will discuss mission and goals statements for technical services. JoAnne Deeken (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) will speak on her institution's experiences first, followed by a general discussion that will be facilitated.

Publisher-Vendor/Library Relations Committee (Monday, January 12, 9:30-11a.m.): PVLR plans an open forum with a working title of "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Why Online Content Disappears." Representatives from LexisNexis, Ebsco, and Elsevier Science Direct will speak on a panel moderated by Rick Lugg of R2.

Scholarly Communication Discussion Group (Monday, January 12, 9:30-11 a.m.): "Two sides of the one coin: Scholarly communication systemwide and at the local campus: the UCSD experience." Dawn Talbot (Senior Associate, Digital Library Program Development, University of California at San Diego) will get our discussion started by describing how she acts as the UCSD campus liaison for eScholarship, the institutional repository for the entire UC system, while planning the implementation of D-Space as a solution for a digital asset management system for the UCSD libraries.

Acquisitions Section (AS)
Gifts and Exchange Discussion Group (Saturday, January 10, 9:30 to 11 a.m.): We will continue our discussion of the disposition of unwanted library materials, armed with the information that the online vendors Alibris, and Abebooks.com gave us in Toronto, and discuss the possibility of having print vendors address our group in Orlando. Please join our lively discussion and bring your knowledge, questions, expertise, concerns, and help us find a solution to a growing problem.

Cataloging and Classification Section (CCS)
Copy Cataloging Discussion Group (Monday, January 12, 9:30-11:00 a.m.): Judith Mansfield will present the LC update, and two discussion leaders will focus on copy cataloging training at each of their institutions. There will be ample time for questions and discussion.

Cataloging Norms Discussion Group (Saturday, January 10, 2:00-4:00 pm.): plans the following topics --

"Common Errors in MARC Records Prepared by LIS Students: What Does It Mean?" -- Sylvia Ellis, PhD, Library and Information Science, College of Education, University of Denver / Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Science, San Jose State University

Summary: Learning to catalog challenges both graduate students and library educators. This research study focuses on the identification of the most common errors among students and reviews selected cataloging texts in order to understand potential correlations between them.
"Batch Creation & Maintenance of MARC records for Aggregators in the Library Catalog" -- Lai-Ying Hsiung, Electronic Resources/Serials Librarian, University of California, Santa Cruz

Summary: The presentation will describe the strategy employed by the University of California, Santa Cruz, in the batch creation and maintenance of both monographic and serial MARC records for aggregator packages in the Library Catalog.
"The GMD in cartographic materials cataloging: is there a place for it?" -- Kimberly C. Kowal, Assistant Map Librarian, John R. Borchert Map Library, University of Minnesota

Summary: Many libraries have abandoned its use and OCLC and LC snubbed it long ago. Why then, is inclusion of the GMD for cartographic materials a subject of debate among libraries? This presentation will review relevant AACR2 rule changes, the issues involved, and the pros and cons of applying this much-contended subfield.

Map Cataloging Discussion Group (Sunday, January 11, 8-9 a.m): will have an "Ask a Map Cataloging Expert" session. Attendees are encouraged to bring specific map cataloging questions, and our expert panel will offer solutions. Currently, the scheduled experts are Mary Larsgaard and Nancy Kandoian.

Collection Management and Development Section (CMDS)
Collection Development Librarians of Academic Libraries Discussion Group (Saturday, January 10, 2-4 p.m.): The topic will be collection management writ large-from selecting and licensing electronic resources, to working cooperatively with faculty, students, vendors, and other libraries. The presenters will describe their experiences in these areas, and offer the audience the opportunity to comment, to provide feedback, and to discuss ways we can improve both our local and our collective efforts to build collections that best suit our users' needs.

WIN/WIN: GETTING THE DEAL YOU BOTH WANT! -- Even in this time of intense need and desire for access to electronic information, getting a consortial purchase completed while meeting the needs of libraries and publishers is a challenge. This presentation will describe the recent consortial arrangement between EPSCor/ESIG libraries and Marcel Dekker, Inc. We will discuss the process from both sides of the fence and provide some insights into a successful library/publisher relationship. (Lisa Bowman and Peggy Cooper, Boise State University; Miriam Gilbert, Marcel Dekker, Inc.)

LEAVING LAS VEGAS: SERIALS CANCELLATIONS AT THE UNLV LIBRARIES -- Faced with escalating subscription costs and a mid-year budget cut, the UNLV Libraries were forced to conduct a serials cancellation project in the spring of 2003, the third serials cancellation in 5 years. This presentation will describe the 2003 Serials Assessment Project at the UNLV Libraries, highlighting elements designed to maximize faculty and student participation. Using the library's web site and Excel files that enabled users to easily rank journals, combined with excellent communication and marketing efforts by UNLV's subject librarians turned a difficult collection development situation into a positive experience. (Reeta Sinha and Cory Tucker, University of Nevada, Las Vegas)

MAKING COLLECTIONS DECISIONS: HOW CAN WE GET THE INFORMATION WE NEED? -- From e-resource management to serials cancellation to off-site shelving to the daily selection routine, collection managers find themselves working with limited data. Many libraries are gathering "extra" data, particularly for e-resource and serial cancellation decisions. ILS vendors are working on some solutions but seem generally to be as behind as libraries are in developing the tools they need to do the work. Approval vendors are providing additional functionality for routine work but once libraries have it some of that added functionality is stripped from the record. The only solutions seem to be some kind of cooperative work (for example the Web Hub) but cooperative work has challenges. This presentation offers a number of examples of efforts to gather information, proposes a mapping alternative, and asks for feedback. (William Wheeler, North Carolina State University)

Preservation and Reformatting Section (PARS)
PARS Discussion Group (Sunday, January 11, 4:30-5:30 pm.): Two of the topics are preserving 19th century publishers bindings, and designing and outfitting conservation labs. Slides of books from the bicentennial poster "Preserve Ohio's Book Heritage" will be shown by Ann Olszewski (Cleveland Public Library). Heather Kaufman (MIT Library) will talk about the planning and construction of the new, ergonomically designed conservation lab at MIT.

Preservation Issues in Small to Mid-Sized Libraries Discussion Group (Sunday, January 11, 8:30-11:00a.m.): Previously, institutions designed conservation laboratories within existing library space to address the preservation needs of a library or archive. Today, many institutions are constructing conservation laboratories off-campus and often times in association with remote storage facilities to accommodate growing programs, state-of-the-art equipment, and to alleviate some of the space issues within the library. This discussion group will address the advantages and disadvantages of designing new conservation laboratories in tandem with off-site remote storage, existing models of institutions that have already built new conservation labs, and what other approaches are being investigated in designing new conservation facilities. A moderator will ask a panel representing various institutions to address several questions and then the discussion will be opened up to all attendees.

The panel will feature:

Winston Atkins, Preservation Officer at Duke University will provide insight and discuss the situation regarding his library and facilities.
Jake Nadal, Head of the Preservation Department at University of Indiana will address how his department serves their library system while located within an off-campus remote storage facility.
Thomas Teper, Head of Preservation at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne will discuss the planning of a new lab in the remote storage facility, however, their operation may be different because the preservation operations will be split between the remote storage facility and the Main Library.
Claire Q. Bellanti, Director of US Southern Regional Library Facility and UCLA Library and Pat Smith-Hunt, Head of Preservation at Ohio University will discuss how preservation functions within a cooperative storage facility.