ALCTS Annual Reports for 2004/2005

• Division
• Acquisitions Section
• Council of Regional Groups
• Cataloging and Classification Section
• Collection Management and Development Section
• Serials Section

   Division Annual Report

Carol Pitts Diedrichs, ALCTS President 2004–2005

As articulated in its Strategic Plan for 2001–2005, the mission of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) is to provide leadership to the library and information communities in developing principles, standards, and best practices for creating, collecting, organizing, delivering, and preserving information resources in all forms. ALCTS strives to provide this leadership through its members by fostering educational, research, and professional service opportunities. Of the many objectives included in the ALCTS Strategic Plan, the division focused during 2004–2005 on three: strategic planning, organization and education.

Strategic Planning

With ALA very engaged in the creation of its ALA Ahead to 2010 Strategic Plan, ALCTS extended the time frame on its existing Strategic Plan through 2006. This approach will allow the division to develop its next strategic plan on the same timeline as the ALA 2010 plan. As initial steps, the division hosted a planning retreat of its leaders during the 2004 Annual Conference in Orlando. This afternoon session was facilitated by Maureen Sullivan and was informed by a survey of ALCTS leaders conducted in advance of the retreat. The survey asked three questions:

• What is ALCTS doing right that it should continue doing?
• What is ALCTS not doing well or not doing that it should be doing?
• What areas, issues, and/or activities should ALCTS focus on in the near future?

This survey and the planning retreat also providing the grist for our Planning Committee to continue development of our 2006–2011 Strategic Plan. Our goal is to approve the plan at the Midwinter Meeting 2006 for implementation on July 1, 2006.

In concert with ALA’s Advocacy Plan, ALCTS has taken more active steps to represent policy issues of interest to our members. In particular, we have endorsed policy statements from partner organizations such as the Association of Research Libraries. We anticipate increased focus on this area in the coming year.

Organization

At the 2004 Annual Conference in Orlando, ALCTS gave careful attention to its financial health and the need for increases in dues and subscriptions to Library Resources and Technical Services. It had been 10 years since the last increase in ALCTS dues. Despite intensive efforts to contain costs, we had reached a point where existing services and products would begin to suffer without additional support. The ALCTS Board, therefore, determined that an increase in dues was required to ensure the health and continued development of ALCTS. After more than 3 years of strategic and tactical planning experience, our plans and services for members were well formed and in high demand. For example, our venture into Web-based continuing education has been highly successful, with waiting lists for each offering. In order to develop new courses, additional development funds were needed. Once new content is developed, staff support for technology and instructors are needed. These are the sorts of high-quality member services we wish to maintain and expand. At the Orlando meeting, the ALCTS Board approved the following increases effective September 1, 2004:

Personal members of ALCTS continue to receive their LRTS subscription as part of their membership fee.

Education

Continuing education is a key service provided by ALCTS for its membership. Success in this arena has spanned the spectrum of regional institutes, preconferences, conference programs, and web-based fundamentals courses. The delivery of continuing education must evolve and be re-examined on a regular basis.

The financial success of this program is fundamental to the health of the division.

Beginning in 2005, ALCTS adopted a new concept for preconferences. Preconferences continue to span the two days before the beginning of the ALA Conference, usually Thursday and Friday. However, the days are now divided into 4 segments––Thursday morning, Thursday afternoon, Friday morning, and Friday afternoon. Individual attendees continue to purchase a full day of content but they can now “pick and choose” among the 4 offerings. For example, an individual might be interested in segments offered on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Another individual might prefer Thursdays afternoon and Friday afternoon, leaving him free to attend a committee meeting on Friday morning. This new approach has proven successful and has provided considerable flexibility for division members.

Building on the sustained success of the Fundamentals of Acquisitions Web course, active work by our Education Committee and the individual sections of the division has resulted in plans for new content in the “fundamentals of” series of Web courses. Watch for the Advanced Fundamentals of Acquisitions, Fundamentals of Collection Development and more in the coming months.

ALCTS’ Council on Regional Groups (CRG), one of six sections within ALCTS, is a unique entity. It is composed of members who are actively involved in regional groups in the area of technical services and collections. Over the past year, CRG’s role in the division has been enhanced including the creation of a continuing education committee. This committee will enhance the division’s efforts in providing regional training opportunities in concert with these affiliated groups.

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Acquisitions Section

Lisa German, Acquisitions Section Chair, 2004–2005

Changes in the Acquisitions Section of ALCTS mirror changes within our libraries. Program topics are shifting, preconference agendas are adapting to meet the needs of ALA members, the section membership is changing, and we are reaching out to those individuals who work in nontraditional areas, such as electronic resources librarians. I would like to thank the AS Section membership for electing me to serve as your chair, the hardworking committee members without whom the organization could not thrive, and my colleagues on the ALCTS Executive Board, from whom I have learned so much this past year. It has been a privilege for me to serve you.

Midwinter 2005 saw the merging of the Acquisitions Administrators Discussion Group with Acquisitions Librarians and Vendors of Library Materials Discussion group into the Acquisitions Managers and Vendors Interest Group. This brings together two discussion groups that were previously scheduled for 4 hours in the morning on Saturday or Sunday into one group that meets for a shorter time period. The interest group format provides more flexibility than a discussion group. The Gifts Interest Group is also thriving.

The Acquisitions section hosted several programs and a preconference at the Annual Conference. The “Opening a Can of ERMS (Electronic Resources Management Systems)” preconference was widely attended and received very good reviews. Much thanks to Paul Orkiszewski, Jack Montgomery, and all the members of the Acquisitions Organization and Management Committee for their superb organization. Under Sha Li Zhang’s capable leadership, the Research and Statistics Committee sponsored “Why Can’t Johnnie and Jane Get Published? Part 2, Research Methodologies” on Sunday in Chicago. Pt. 3 will follow at the 2007 Annual Conference. The Section also cosponsored “How to Assess Your Vendors’ Financial Viability” with the Serials Section.

One important role that the Acquisitions Executive Committee serves is to be a resource for the committee members. The members at large are working to liaise with the Section committees, and each member at large is working with two committees. Current at large members are Christa Easton, David Goldsmith, and Scott Wicks. Each has extensive ALA experience and can serve as mentors to the committees. Christa has been shepherding the initiative to bring a Web-based Advanced Acquisitions course to fruition. The Executive Committee is also working to institutionalize programming throughout the section’s committees and will be working with each committee in the coming year to establish a program planning schedule.

The Leadership in Library Acquisitions Committee selected Scott Wicks as the recipient of the Leadership in Library Acquisitions Award, which is sponsored by Harrassowitz. Scott represents a new generation of acquisitions librarians who seek new solutions to old problems. His knowledge of, and experience with, the delicate relationship between acquisitions, cataloging and collection development, plus his vision and determination, have led him to develop ITSO CUL, an innovative system that supports one-stop selection, ordering and processing of library materials.

I’m very pleased that Karl Debus Lopez is taking the reigns as Chair this year and that Trisha Davis will serve as Vice Chair/Chair Elect. We have a vibrant and growing section that is both collaborative and inclusive and I have enjoyed leading it this year.

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Council of Regional Groups

Cynthia Clark, Council of Regional Groups Chair, 2004–2005

The purpose of the ALCTS Council of Regional Groups (CRG) is to: (1) encourage and facilitate the activities of state and regional groups with a collections or technical services focus, and (2) to provide a forum for discussing common interests and concerns among the regional groups as well as with ALCTS. CRG maintains online directories of affiliated groups and their officers (CRG Directory of Affiliate Groups), and the names of individuals willing to serve as speakers for CRG affiliates without reimbursement other than expenses (Speakers’ Bureau). CRG also has a Web site and a discussion list.

CRG Committees

This past year, the Affiliate Relations and Speakers’ Bureau Committees updated their online directories. In addition, the Speakers’ Bureau Committee, with the support of the CRG Executive Committee, expanded listings in its directory to include non-ALCTS members.

Two new committees were formed and met for the first time. The Nominating Committee successfully assumed responsibility from the ALCTS Nominating Committee for presenting a slate of candidates for the offices of CRG Secretary and Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect. The Continuing Education Committee began forging ties with the ALCTS Education Committee, and began planning ways to help ALCTS meet the continuing education needs of the Affiliate Groups. In addition to the above, CRG engaged in activities that will:

1. Raise CRG’s profile within the ALCTS membership
2. Encourage use of CRG as a conduit for promoting ALCTS membership benefits and services to Affiliate Groups
3. Encourage use of CRG as a conduit to advise ALCTS on the needs of Affiliate Groups for continuing education and other types of programming

Raising CRG’s Profile

• An article about the Council of Regional Groups written by Chair Cynthia Clark was published in the ALCTS Newsletter Online, vol. 16, no. 2.
• An ad for the Speakers’ Bureau Directory was published in the ALCTS Newsletter Online, vol. 16, no. 2.
• Elaine Franco, CRG Vice-President/President-Elect participated in the ALCTS Leaders’ Volunteer Orientation.

CRG as a Conduit for Promoting ALCTS

CRG meets during the ALA Midwinter and Annual Conferences, and Affiliate Groups representatives are encouraged to attend. The CRG leadership and Affiliate Representatives renamed this meeting as the “CRG Membership Meeting,” and updated the meeting format to focus attention on the Affiliate Groups. The new format was promoted via the CRG listserv and debuted during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. The main agenda item was “How to Sponsor an ALCTS Continuing Education Workshop.” This topic was sponsored by the CRG Continuing Education Committee, and presented by Julie Reese, ALCTS Office.

CRG as a Conduit for Advising ALCTS

The Affiliate Relations Committee completed analysis of a survey of Affiliate Groups activities and programming. The analysis was distributed via the ALCTS Leaders listserv. Ideas and ways to provide the same kind of information on a routine basis are in development.

It’s been my pleasure this year to work with the CRG Officers and Committees, the Affiliate Groups, and the ALCTS organization.

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Cataloging and Classification Section

Sara Shatford Layne, Cataloging and Classification Section Chair, 2004–2005

Charge/Organization/Strategic Planning

• The charge of the Cataloging and Classification Section (CCS) is to “contribute to library service and librarianship through encouragement, promotion of, and responsibility for those activities of ALCTS relating to cataloging and classification of library materials in all types of institutions.” The CCS Executive Committee (CCS Exec) has proposed a revision of this charge, in order to clarify that the scope of CCS includes newer metadata standards (e.g., Dublin Core) as well as older metadata standards (e.g., AACR). The ALCTS Executive Board has referred this proposed revision to the ALCTS Organization and Bylaws Committee.
• In order to include a broader range of metadata stakeholders in discussions of cataloging standards, the ALCTS/CCS Task Force to Review CC:DA Representation (Olivia Madison, Chair) recommended changes to the liaisons’ policy for the CCS Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA). A subsequent ALCTS/CCS Task Force on Identification of CC:DA Representatives (Marty Kurth, Chair) made specific recommendations for changes in liaison relationships. The recommended changes will take effect in 2005–2006.
• The CCS Policy and Planning Committee (Diane Dates Casey, Chair) organized and held a successful forum at midwinter in Boston to gather CCS members’ thoughts for the ALCTS strategic planning process.

AACR3/RDA

• CC:DA (Mary Larsgaard, Chair) worked diligently with Jennifer Bowen, the ALA representative to the Joint Steering Committee for AACR (JSC), to review, collect opinions, and provide comments on a draft of Part I of a new cataloging code, AACR3. As a result of these comments plus those from other groups, the code is being substantially changed and has been given a new working title to reflect those changes: Resource Description and Access (RDA).
• The Chicago program “AACR3: The Next Big Thing in Cataloging” was very successful, with a preliminary estimate of 500 attendees. CCS will plan forums on the new code (now known as RDA) at the Midwinter and Annual Conferences through at least 2007.

Cataloging and Classification Standards (other than RDA)

• Two programs in Chicago presented information on standards other than RDA: “MODS and Metadata Interoperability” and “Cataloging Cultural Objects.” Both programs were well-attended.
• The CCS Subject Analysis Committee (SAC, Bruce Trumble, Chair) approved the report of its Task Force on Named Buildings and Other Structures, and continues to offer feedback on the FAST project. SAC also continues to review relevant NISO standards and proposed MARC21 changes.
• The CCS Committee on Cataloging: Asian and African Materials (Shi Deng, Chair) continues to monitor and advocate for changes to romanization tables, the use of Unicode and non-Roman scripts in integrated library systems, expansion of the MARC21 character repertoire, and cataloging rules appropriate for non-Roman materials.

Awards and Resolutions

• The Margaret Mann Citation Committee (David Miller, Chair) selected Dorothy McGarry as the 2005 recipient of the Margaret Mann Citation, honoring her “. . . significant contributions to cataloging, mentoring and training of catalogers, and the improvement and adoption of standards.”
• CCS Exec drafted two resolutions, subsequently approved by the ALCTS Executive Board and ALA Council. One resolution commemorated 50 years of contributions to the Dewey Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee, and the other honored AACR volunteers.

Continuing Education

• In conjunction with the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC), CCS Exec formed a Joint PCC/CCS Committee on Continuing Education Training Materials (Ana Lupe Cristan, Chair) and a Joint PCC/CCS Task Force to Develop Series Training (Rachel Wadham, Chair).
• CCS-SAC formed a joint task force with PCC to provide training on Library of Congress Classification (Lori Robare, Chair).
• The CCS Committee on Education, Training, and Recruitment for Cataloging (CETRC, Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Chair) completed the first year of its mentoring program and began work on other initiatives.
• The CCS/PCC Task Force to Develop Name and Title Authority Training (Robert Maxwell, Chair) presented a preconference in Chicago that had over 100 attendees.
• CCS Committee on Cataloging of Children’s Materials (Oksana Kraus, Chair) presented a program in Chicago for school librarians, “Cataloging for School Librarians: It’s Child’s Play! Or Is It?” which attracted a number of novice catalogers in addition to those with more experience.

Publications

• Cataloging Correctly for Kids, 4th edition, was sent to ALA Publishing in the spring of 2005. Sheila Intner, the editor, worked with the Committee on Cataloging of Children’s Materials (Oksana Kraus, chair) to complete this important publication. The Committee is also working on a web publication, Resources for Catalogers of Children’s Materials.
• The Research and Publications Committee (Norm Medeiros, Chair) completed revisions of three essays for the Research Topics Web publication.
• CETRC (Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Chair) completed a revision of the Web publication “Training Catalogers in the Electronic Era.”

Discussion Groups

The seven CCS discussion groups (two of which are jointly sponsored with other ALA groups) presented varied and timely discussion topics at both Midwinter and Annual.

Appointments

CCS Exec nominated Lois Mai Chan for the newly formed IFLA Knowledge Management Section.

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Collection Management and Development Section

Larry Alford, Collection Management and Development Section Chair, 2004–2005

Larry Alford assumed the Chair of the Collection Management and Development Section (CMDS) following the resignation of Bonnie J. Cox in 2005. She had become Chair of the section in July 2004 after having served as Vice Chair in 2003–2004. She resigned unexpectedly for personal reasons during the fall. On behalf of the section, its members, and its executive committee, we thank Bonnie for her many years of service to CMDS and the library profession. CMDS would have benefited greatly from her stewardship as Chair for a full term, and she has been greatly missed.

Most of the substantive work of the section is done through its committees, whose chairs and members have worked hard to further the goals of the section this year. The committees continued to build on the strategic priorities identified by the past executive committee, including promoting publications, programs, and discussion groups as a way to provide continuing education and to address important collection issues.

Under the leadership of the Publications Committee, several new guides in the sudden selector series were approved. CMDS will continue to promote the writing of additional sudden selector guides, as well as other publications to assist new selectors in learning various aspects of collection management. The Administration of Collection Development Committee cosponsored with RUSA “Use Measures for Electronic Resources: Theory and Practice” at the annual conference. This committee has a number of ideas for future programs, including one on the impact of electronic resources on decision making systems and another on standards in collection building. The Education Committee and the Administration of Collection Development Committee are planning a program with the working title “Best Practices: Collection Assessment––What is an Adequate Collection of the 21st Century?” It will be designed to provide an overview of assessment methods used to evaluate collections in all formats. It is anticipated that this program, on a very top popular topic, may lead to a preconference, and possibly, future web courses. In addition, the Quantitative Measures Committee will review within the coming year both the committee’s name and, more importantly, its charge to change the emphasis to collection assessment.

Discussion groups are an important priority of the section and continue to be very popular. Section groups include the Collection Development Librarians of Academic Libraries, Collection Management in Public Libraries, and Collection Development Officers of Large Research Libraries are very popular forums for discussing issues related to building collections. Anecdotal reports suggest that many of these discussion groups are a primary reason why CMDS and ALCTS members attend ALA conferences.

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Serials Section

Lauren Corbett, Serials Section Chair, 2004–2005

Author credit for this report goes to the Chairs of the Serials Section Committees.

Honors and Awards

Dan Tonkery, Vice-President of Business Development, EBSCO Information Services, was the winner of the 2005 Bowker/Ulrich’s Serials Librarianship Award.

Jennifer Arnold, Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian, Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), was the recipient of the 2005 First Step-Wiley Professional Development Grant.

Maggie Horn presented a final salute to the Worst Serials Title Change Award at the ALCTS President’s Award Ceremony. Last year was the award’s thirtieth anniversary.

Programs

The Education Committee (Daisy Waters, Chair) organized the program “How to Assess Your Vendors’ Financial Liability,” which was attended by an estimated one hundred people. Comments by attendees confirmed that the program was timely and beneficial, offered an opportunity to better understand the vendor/librarian role, and emphasized the importance of actively protecting the financial health of one’s library/institution.

The Education and the Acquisitions Committees co-sponsored the program, “Innovations in E-Journals Management” with the ALCTS Electronic Resources Interest Group and the Acquisitions Section Organization and Management Committee.

Two program proposals for Annual Conference 2006 originated in the Serials Section:

1. “Serials Standards Update Forum,” which was chaired by Wen-ying Liu for the SS Committee to Study Serials Standards and
2. “Publisher Packages in the E-World: New Roles for Libraries, Publishers and Agents,” which was chaired by Gary Ives for the SS Acquisitions Committee.

Publications

Virginia Taffurelli and Daisy Waters updated the document “Syllabus for Serials Collection Management and Acquisitions Teaching and Training.”

Betty Landesman is updating the document “Syllabus for Serials Collection Management, Records Systems, and Preservation Teaching and Training.”

ALCTS Publications approved the proposal for a complete revision and expansion of the original print Serials Acquisitions Glossary as a Web publication. The Glossary Subcommittee (Jim Millhorn, Marie Seymour-Green, and Janet Hulm) of the Acquisitions Committee (Sandhya Srivastava, Chair) sent the finalized version of the glossary to the ALCTS office for inclusion on the ALCTS website prior to the Annual Conference. An Access database includes terms from the older book version and the electronic supplement. The Glossary will be updated twice yearly.

ALCTS Publications approved the proposal for revision and republication of the “Guidelines for Handling Library Orders for Microforms.” The Acquisitions Section gave permission to the Serials Section Research and Publications Committee take responsibility revision of the manuscript. The expected completion date for the revised manuscript is June 2006.

Other Committee Activities

The Committee to Study Serials Standards (Scott Opasik, Chair)
Voted to change its name to the Serial Standards Committee.

Continuing Resources Cataloging Committee (Cathy Weng, Chair)
Regina Reynolds reported on recent Library of Congress and ISSN/NSDP activities. Les Hawkins reported on recent CONSER activities. Kevin Randall reported on CC:DA discussions and decisions. Two major presentations were:

1. Defining an “access level” catalog record for remote access electronic resources (presenter: David Reser, Library of Congress) and
2. the Serial super record, version 2.0 (Frieda Rosenberg, UNC - Chapel Hill).

The activities presented by the Committee at the Annual Conference achieved Goal 1 (Standards), Objectives 2-4, Goal 2 (Best Practice), Objectives 1-4 and Goal 5 (Interaction and Information Exchange), and Objective 2 of the ALCTS Strategic Plan, 2001–2005.

Policy and Planning Committee (Ann Doyle Fath, Chair)
The section’s discussion groups will be contacted to inform them of the process for becoming Interest Groups.

Research and Publications Committee (Bob Alan, Chair)
The Committee discussed the possible publishing proposal for biographical essays on individuals who have had significant impact on serials work. The suggested title is “Serial Industry Pioneers.”

The Research Libraries Discussion Group (Laura Kane McElfresh, Chair)
and the
Journal Costs in Libraries Discussion Group (Gary Ives, Chair)
The two groups met at the Annual Conference.

Union Lists of Serials (Allen Ashman, Chair)
Cathy Kellum reported on the many OCLC union list changes which include: the demise of Passport, the creation of union listing functionality in Connexion (browser), the conversion of OCLC holdings records, automatic routing of interlibrary loan requests, batch loading of holdings records, fee structures, training issues, and changes in offline products.

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