October means a number of things to various people. It can signal that one’s kids have made it through one month back at school. It can mean that Halloween, Thanksgiving and the December holidays are on the way, and that the year will be over soon. It also means that we are preparing for the Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia.
An energetic, dedicated leadership team is poised to develop the vision embodied in the ALCTS Strategic Plan. The Organization & Bylaws Committee (O&B) is reviewing the association’s structure to determine how we should look, organizationally, to meet—and anticipate—the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s members.
One of the most frequently asked questions that come to me in email (or even in person) is how to be appointed to an ALCTS committee. Not surprising, since that is maybe the most visible way a member can serve the association.
September 14, 2007
Dear Colleagues:
Earlier this year, following a recommendation from the Budget and Finance Committee, the ALCTS Board voted to increase membership dues by $10 a year. Effective September 1, 2007 personal dues will be $65 and institutional dues will be $75.
Ninety percent of ALCTS’ revenues are derived from three sources: membership dues, publications, and continuing education programming. Membership dues provide 45 percent of the revenue while publications and continuing education together account for another 45 percent. The remaining 10 percent consists of income from royalties and donations which varies a great deal from year to year. Income from dues is used entirely to support administrative services and the general operations of the association, whereas revenue from publications and continuing education support development and expenses for those areas.
The decision to raise dues was based on a detailed analysis of revenues and expenditures and on an expected 3 percent increase in administrative costs over the next three years. The additional funds generated by the dues increase will be earmarked, first and foremost to offset inflation and support the association’s administrative services. They will also be used to establish a solid foundation for new initiatives and project development in support of the strategic plan.
Timely, targeted, affordable continuing education is the highest priority for ALCTS members and the FY2008 budget reflects this emphasis and commitment. The Education Committee is hard at work to fast-track new courses using up-to-date delivery mechanisms. Seminars, symposia, workshops, programs and publications are in development. By renewing your membership, you will guarantee the association’s fiscal health and enable us to explore and develop the entrepreneurial and creative ideas the members expect.
I know that there is stiff competition for your membership dollars, so when you receive your 2008 membership renewal, I hope you will choose ALCTS. In order for ALCTS to provide high quality member services and flourish as the “dynamic leader and authority for principles, standards, best practices, continuing education, and new developments in the selection, management, and preservation of all information resources” your membership is vital.
With thanks for your continued support,
Pamela
October means a number of things to various people. It can signal that one’s kids have made it through one month of being back at school. It can mean that Halloween, Thanksgiving and the December holidays are on the way, and that the year will be over soon. It also means that we are preparing for the Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. This issue of ANO contains a preliminary listing of Midwinter meeting events, including discussion and interest group topics. Please note at this time that room assignments for Midwinter have not been finalized, and that information is not available at this time. Program descriptions in this issue will note day and time, and room assignments will be provided in the December issue of ANO. Additionally, the Midwinter Wiki is available at http://wikis.ala.org/midwinter2008/ to assist with your conference planning.
Here are highlights from this issue:
I extend thanks to those individuals who contributed to this issue, and welcome your submissions and suggestions for future issues.
Contact Mary Beth Weber, ANO Editor
Halloween is nearly here, the room reservation deadline for Midwinter has come and gone and reservations for Annual have been announced (the deadline is November 9). After a low-key summer, we are now in full fall mode!
During our discussion on leadership and change at the ALCTS Board of Directors meeting last June, I mentioned a little book called Our Iceberg is Melting by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). The authors, distinguished management consultants, created a fable to illustrate the stages of organizational change in which the characters come to grips with and finally embrace the need for change.
They developed a straightforward “Eight Step Process of Successful Change” (p. 130–31). If you read the book (it will not take long), you will realize that ALCTS has already embarked on what I call “the continuum of change.” We are at a critical point in our history. In order to be effective and relevant in the years to come, it is essential that we examine our current structure, develop new channels of communication, and vest our leaders with the responsibility, and concomitant authority, to move the organization forward.
An energetic, dedicated leadership team is poised to develop the vision embodied in the ALCTS Strategic Plan. The Organization & Bylaws Committee (O&B) is reviewing the association’s structure to determine how we should look, organizationally, to meet—and anticipate—the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s members. The Leadership Development, Education, Membership, Program and Publications Committees are developing an array of educational opportunities using a variety of technologies and exploring ways to make ALCTS more relevant to its diverse constituents. I have asked the section chairs and all the division level committee chairs to develop an outline of annual activities and to provide the ALCTS Executive Committee with regular quarterly status reports. This oversight will strengthen our structure and allow us to keep the focus on planning and implementation.
Recently I alerted you to the increase in personal and institutional dues. (See On the Dues Increase: A Letter from ALCTS President Pamela Bluh.) The additional revenue generated by the dues increase will support the association’s administrative operations, allow us to expand the continuing education, programs and publications our members desire, and provide seed money for entrepreneurial initiatives. Your continued financial support is essential in order for ALCTS to thrive organizationally and programmatically, and to continue to advance along the continuum of change.
While I am often impatient to see progress, I realize that effective change takes time (and sometimes we are at the mercy of external influences over which we have little or no control). Nevertheless, I am optimistic that in the next few months the framework of a new organizational structure and culture will begin to emerge.
I look forward to receiving your comments.
Contact Pamela Bluh, ALCTS President
As I started to think about this article, I decided to veer from the path I have been down with my last many articles and turn to something more practical. So here is a reprint, slightly edited, of an article I wrote in June 2006. The second part will follow in December. –CW
Now is the time to begin to think about volunteering for a committee. At Midwinter, the Leadership Development Committee holds its Volunteer Forum on Saturday morning at 10:30. This is a great chance for you to meet and talk with the new appointing officers: the ALCTS President-elect and the Section and CRG Chairs-elect.
One of the most frequently asked questions that come to me in email (or even in person) is how to get appointed to an ALCTS committee. Not surprising, since that is maybe the most visible way a member can serve the association. Volunteering is not very hard. Getting appointed is somewhat harder and can be the source of much frustration and bad feelings. So in this first installment about volunteering, I am going to talk about committees, both division and section.
Volunteering and then getting appointed to a committee is a time-honored way to serve ALCTS, add some useful entries to your resume, get to know people, and maybe launch an association volunteer career that will lead you to committee chairpersonships or higher office. The hardest part I have observed (and know first-hand from my own experience) is getting that first appointment. ALCTS, by and large, has many more such opportunities than any of the other divisions, save ACRL. Still we cannot accommodate, in any given year, every one who desires a position. The appointing officers (the President-elect and the Section and CRG Chair-elects) try very hard to do so, despite the perception to the contrary.
Yes, it is true that many committee positions go to more experienced members. Many times there are reasons for this; in some cases there is no reason. In some more cases, there is not anyone who wants to be appointed to a particular committee and the appointing officer relies on colleagues to fill those slots.
Let us take a look at some committees in regard to getting that appointment. The committees I have chosen illustrate specific requirements that are useful in order to get an appointment to and serve on that committee. It is only a sampling.
CCS Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access, better known as CC:DA. This is without a doubt the most requested committee in ALCTS. The reasons are many but its prominence in the revision of the cataloging rules and its stature in the cataloging community go a long way to make it so. The people who are appointed to CC:DA have many years of experience in cataloging and rule interpretation. To be frank, it is probably not the committee to which a newly minted MLS will be appointed. CC:DA members are a virtual who’s who in ALCTS leadership and among the more influential catalogers.
Subject Analysis Committee of CCS or SAC. SAC, along with MARBI, are two other cataloging related committees that are highly sought. Like CC:DA, these committees require many years of experience and specific knowledge. The other sections have their popular committees, too.
The Division level committees often are overlooked because ALCTS members tend to think and act on their volunteering at the section level first thereby almost ignoring the really rich possibilities of serving on a Division committee. The Division committees are sometimes replicated in varying degrees at the section level and some are unique to the Division level. Here are a few.
The Publications Committee has responsibility for overseeing and managing the ALCTS publications program. It is sometimes believed that vast years of experience in publications is required to serve. Although that might be useful, there are members of the committee who do not have many years of publishing experience, but rather possess other traits that make them valuable, such as a critical eye, good evaluative skills, expertise in an subject area, and the like. The Program Committee also fits this category.
The Leadership Development Committee is one of those committees that members often forget, yet is instrumental in providing leadership training to just not ALCTS but to all of ALA. The requirement: be thoughtful and willing to work to develop such programming. The members vary greatly in experience and years of service. The International Relations Committee is one more such example.
Organization & Bylaws Committee. No one usually volunteers for O&B. Boring, you may say. This is one for the governance junkies out there. Process is good on this one. Here are a few more committees that are not real flashy that you might not think about: Planning (yes, even though we just went through a whole planning process, the work goes on) and maybe Fundraising (you really have to like to ask people for money), and probably Budget & Finance (you need to know what a budget is and be able to read financial statements).
There are many, many more committees.
So here are some ways you can improve your chances of landing a committee appointment and why I am writing this now rather than in August.
Fill out a volunteer form and submit it. More importantly, fill out the form completely. You would be surprised how many forms we get with only the person’s name, contact information and one committee preference. There is space for you to tell us about yourself. Use it. Remember that the appointing officers may not know you.
Go to the Volunteer Forum on Saturday at Midwinter. This is a great chance to meet and greet the appointing officers.
Write to the appointing officers and let them know that you are interested. Certainly do not overdo it, but it helps for them to know in what you are interested. It also helps to discuss with them what openings exist.
Do not turn down an appointment for a committee you did not list. There are openings on every committee. There are committees for which there are few volunteers. The appointing officer may be asking you to accept one of those positions.
Do not be disappointed if you do not get your preferred committee the first time around. Remember my examples. Be flexible. See #4.
If you are new to ALCTS, have not held an appointment in many years, want to jump to a new section, or want to move to a division committee, seriously consider accepting an Intern position. This is a great way to get appointed as a regular committee member in the next cycle.
Go to the committee meetings and introduce yourself to the chair. Then mention that in your volunteer form. This works. It happened more than once this year that a person did just this and was appointed to that very committee.
With very few exceptions, we do not do the “pay your dues” thing in order to get you on a committee. It is not really “pay your dues,” but more that we need a particular type of knowledge and experience. This is a past, current, and probably future misconception. But as we all know, perception IS reality.
Finally, if you do not hear from the appointing officers about your volunteer form, let us know. That includes me.
Not to belabor a point, if you have questions, need help or advice, or just want to discuss a committee appointment, you can contact any of the appointing officers or me.
Contact Charles Wilt, ALCTS Executive Director
Editor's Note: If you would like to submit a report on any of these conferences for publication in ANO, please contact the editor, Mary Beth Weber mbfecko@rci.rutgers.edu.
ALCTS sponsors representatives to seven sections of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions annual meeting (named World Library and Information Conference beginning in 2003): Acquisition and Collection Development, Bibliography, Cataloguing, Classification and Indexing, Knowledge Management, Preservation and Conservation, and Serial Publications. We regret that reporters were not available to cover the Knowledge Management and Serials Section activities.
Acquisition and Collection Development / Bibliography / Cataloguing / Classification and Indexing / Knowledge Management / Newspaper Group / Preservation and Conservation / Serial Publications
IFLA’s Acquisitions and Collection Development Section again enjoyed a productive series of meetings during IFLA’s 73rd World Library and Information Congress, held in Durban, South Africa, August 18–24, 2007. Durban’s International Convention Centre, which is one of the leading conference venues in Africa, provided a very convenient and accommodating site for the conference. Fortunately, there was no need to travel to sites away from the Centre for regular IFLA programs and committee meetings. The city of Durban, situated on the Indian Ocean, is quite an attractive urban environment but not one without problems for a small number of conference attendees. While the issue of security was addressed as a concern prior to the conference, and may well have contributed to a reduced level of registrants, it became a very personal issue for perhaps two dozen delegates who were victims of mugging or robbery at locations away from the Conference Centre. Even so, 3,100 delegates were registered for the Congress, with a record number of 1,100 coming from the African continent, and 400 of these from the host country.
The general conference highlight was the Opening Ceremony with South African themed story telling, dance and music surrounding welcoming remarks from various local and national dignitaries. IFLA President Alex Byrne delivered an excellent address. The Keynote Address delivered by Justice Albie Sachs, a Judge on the Bench of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, was absolutely mesmerizing. He was a former prisoner of the apartheid regime before going into exile and then returning to South Africa as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the ANC. Should IFLA ever make a full-length video of his presentation available, it will make for memorable viewing.
A very good attendance of approximately 180 people was present for the Section’s well-received “Open Program,” held on Tuesday afternoon, August 21. The theme was “Collection Description Models-Next Generation Initiatives.” Speakers from Finland, Scotland, and the United States addressed issues of collection description, collection management and cooperative collection development, respectively. Glenda Lammers of OCLC, and a new member of the Standing Committee of the Acquisition and Collection Development Section, presented the last paper mentioned.
The Standing Committee of the Acquisition and Collection Development Section held its standard two meeting during the course of the conference. This was both an election year in IFLA as well as the beginning of term for new members of Standing Committees. In addition to Glenda Lammers, mentioned above, new American members of the Standing Committee include Judith Mansfield (Library of Congress), Julia Gelfand (University of California Irvine) and Sha Li Zhang (University of North Carolina, Greensboro), who coincidentally is the new Chair of the ALCTS International Relations Committee. Nadia Zilper (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Lynn Sipe (University of Southern California) are continuing members of the Standing Committee. Sipe was also elected incoming Chair of the Standing Committee for the remaining two years of his term.
The Standing Committee addressed a standard range of issues over the course of its two meetings, including determining key elements for a revised Strategic Plan for 2008–2009, as required by IFLA. Additional volunteers were solicited to help move the committee’s draft Guidelines for Electronic Resources closer to online publication. Judith Mansfield volunteered to lead a subcommittee to draft a set of gift guidelines, something that has been on the committee’s radar for the last few years. The decision was made to hold the next midterm meeting of the Standing Committee in Guadalajara, Mexico in March 2008, with the exact dates pending. A collection development workshop with Mexican colleagues will be held the day before the committee’s working meeting. It is likely that the Section’s Open Programme at IFLA 2008, in Quebec, will have the theme of “In and Out (of Copyright): Contrasting Perspectives on Digitization of Library Collections.” A call for papers will be forthcoming in November. The Section will be co-sponsoring, with the Document Delivery and Reference Sections, a satellite meeting in Boston prior to the Quebec conference on “Rethinking Access to Information: Evolving Perspectives on Information Content and Delivery.”
In addition to being elected Chair of the Standing Committee Lynn Sipe was also elected Chair of the Division V Coordinating Board, to which the Standing Committee reports. In this latter capacity one automatically serves as a member of IFLA’s Professional Committee and the IFLA Governing Board. He will attend his first formal meeting of the Professional Committee and the Governing Board at IFLA headquarters in The Hague the first week of December.
The 2007 IFLA Annual Conference, with the theme “Libraries for the Future: Progress, Development, and Partnerships,” was held in Durban, South Africa August 18–24, 2007. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish are the IFLA working languages at the conference. More than 3,000 librarians from 106 countries gathered in Durban. Among them, 1,100 participants were from African countries, and more than 400 participants were from South Africa. It was a wonderful experience to be able to meet and network with many librarians from Africa during the conference.
IFLA Acquisitions and Collection Development Standing Committee held two meetings during the conference, at the beginning and the end of the conference, which allowed us to participate in as many conference programs as possible.
Pentti Vattulainen, Committee Chair/Treasurer, presided at both meetings. At the election session, Lynn Sipe and Corrado di Tillio were elected as Committee Chair and Secretary respectively. The committee’s documents, the Strategic Plan and Electronic Resources Guidelines, were reviewed and discussed prior to and during the meetings. A taskforce to develop the committee’s Gift Instructions was formed. Judith Mansfield, Library of Congress, will chair the taskforce. A draft of the instructions is due in March 2008 at the committee’s midterm meeting.
There was a proposal at the IFLA Governing Board meeting to add one division (Library Collections) to the IFLA structure that will be effective at the next election cycle. Glenda Lammers’ paper on using OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis as a tool for cooperative collection development was recommended and chosen to be included in the IFLA proceedings at the committee meeting.
The committee’s program for the meeting in Quebec, Canada in 2008 was discussed. A call for papers will be issued shortly. The committee’s midterm meeting will be in Guadalajara, Mexico, March 13-14, 2008. In addition to participating in the mid-term meeting, the committee members are invited to share their experience with librarians in Mexico during the meeting.
The committee organized three open programs at the conference. They were well attended. Question and answer sessions followed the presentations.
Glenda Lammers (United States) presented her findings on examining library holdings on the OCLC WorldCat database through the WorldCat Collection Analysis Service. Her project included the library holdings from the ten institutions of the Gauteng and Environs Library Consortium (GAELIC) in South Africa. The collection sizes vary among these institutions, from the smallest holdings of 16,000, to the largest holdings of 900,000. The findings and analysis should help the libraries within the consortium to make informed decisions on discarding old collections, acquiring new collections, preserving or digitizing collections, or moving certain collections to shared storage places.
Gordon Dunsire (Scotland) presented his concepts on landscaping the future for collaborative collection management. Dunsire identified a number of processes in which an end user must engage to obtain needed resources: i.e., entry, survey, discovery, and detail. The set of collections offered at the entry stage and subsequently amended by the user during the survey stage is known as an information landscape, according to Dunsire. He used the two examples, one from the Scottish Collections Network (SCONE) and the other from Co-operative Information Retrieval Network for Scotland (CAIRNS) to illustrate how metadata was used to support collaborative resources acquisitions, cataloging, access, and preservation activities.
Juha Hakala and Esa-Pekka Keskitalo’s (Finland) paper on “Description of Collections in Theory and Practice” briefly reviewed the RLG’s Conspectus in the United States, and the Research Support Library Program (RSLP) Collection Description Schema, a national initiative in the United Kingdom. The paper also reported on a Finnish collection mapping project sponsored by the Council for Finnish University Libraries. The Ministry of Education of Finland funded the project. The Dublin Core Collections Application Profile was used as the description format for this project. Due to the lack of standard collection identifiers, the National Library of Finland has sent a proposal to ISO to develop an international standard collection identifier. The group also recommended providing relevant data elements such as the collection title with multiple languages. As libraries in Finland are facing more demands from the government funding agency for efficiency and on an economy of scale, they will need to manage changes and to find better ways of delivering resources to their users through such initiative as the collection-level description project.
The next IFLA annual conferences will be held in Quebec, Canada (2008), Milan, Italy (2009), and Brisbane, Australia (2010).
The World Library and Information Congress and 73rd General Conference and Council of IFLA took place August 19–23, 2007 in Durban, South Africa. The meeting attracted 3,051 participants from 117 countries. Participants from the African continent numbered 1,463, of which 1,116 were from South Africa. This conference marked the end of the term for President Alex Byrne of Australia and the beginning of the presidential term of Claudia Lux of Germany, with Ellen Tise of South Africa beginning her term as President-Elect.
Unni Knutsen (Oslo University College) chaired activities of the Bibliography Section for the past two years with Beacher Wiggins (Library of Congress) serving as section secretary. Unni’s term as chair ended with this meeting. Section members elected Beacher Wiggins to serve as chair and Christian Lupovici (Bibliothèque Nationale de France) as secretary. Claudia Werner (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) continues as the Section’s Information Officer and Newsletter Editor.
During this conference, the section participated in two programs. The first, presented jointly by the National Libraries Section and Classification and Indexing Sections, was titled “Rethinking National Libraries in the Digital Age.” Speakers included Ingrid Parent (Library and Archives Canada), Maja ï¿Â½umer (University of Ljubljana), Beacher Wiggins (Library of Congress) and Patrice Landry (Swiss National Library). Find papers from the session online (see session 89).
The second program, titled “National Bibliographies—the African Landscape: Partnering to Enhance National Bibliographies in Africa” included a survey of the current state of sub-Saharan national bibliographies by Amadou Békaye Sidibé (Bibliothèque nationale du Mali), a history of the South Africa National Bibliography by Susan Battison (National Library of South Africa), a paper on the current status of the Namibia national bibliography by Paul Zulu (National Library of Namibia), and a paper on Library of Congress Nairobi Office’s work by Pamela Howard-Reguindin (Library of Congress). Find papers from this session online (see session 136). Find the usual survey of national bibliographies in the region where the IFLA conference is held posted on IFLANET.
Both the papers from the session and the survey report point to problems in funding the production of a national bibliography, in maintaining a regular publication schedule, in finding both appropriately trained staff and reliable infrastructure for the National Bibliographic Agency, and in making the transition to production of a national bibliography in electronic form. Discussions at the second of the section standing committee meetings touched on whether some kind of cooperative project among the sub-Saharan national libraries and the Africa, Bibliography and National Libraries Sections might be able to assist with these problems.
The section’s principal activity is working on the publication Guidelines for National Bibliographies in the Digital Age. A working group, chaired by Maja ï¿Â½umer, is completing work on these guidelines, which are designed both to give guidance on the inclusion of digital resources in national bibliographies and to guide national bibliographic agencies in transitioning printed national bibliographies to electronic form.
At its meetings during the Durban conference, members of the section worked on plans for programs at the Quebec and Milan conferences as well as a potential satellite meeting associated with the Milan conference.
Other activities of the Section are described on IFLANET in the section’s newsletter.
Future IFLA meetings are now planned as follows:
The World Library and Information Congress and 73rd General Conference and Council of IFLA was held in August 2007 in Durban, South Africa. Judy Kuhagen of the Library of Congress chaired the activities of the Cataloguing Section; Anders Cato of the National Library of Sweden was elected to succeed her as chair. The following officers were re-elected to continue in office: Ben Gu, National Library of China, as secretary; Bill Garrison, Syracuse University, as newsletter editor; and John Hostage, Harvard Law School, as information coordinator.
A topic of discussion at the Durban conference was the report of the fifth IFLA Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloguing Code (IME-ICC5). It was held in Pretoria, South Africa, August 14–15, 2007. This was the last in a series of regional meetings to draft a statement of international cataloguing principles that will serve as a guideline for rule makers. The participants in the previous meetings will prepare a final draft of the statement for review, and the statement will be submitted for worldwide review in 2008.
Barbara Tillett, Library of Congress, opened the program held by Division IV, Bibliographic Control. The Division members heard reports presented by Glenn Patton, OCLC, on the draft report on Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD), by Marcia Zeng, Kent State University, on Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Records (FRSAR), and by Ina Fourie and Marlene Burger of the University of Pretoria on bibliographic control in South Africa.
The program of the Cataloguing Section featured a report by Elena Esclano Rodríguez of the Biblioteca Nacional de España on the just-published consolidated edition of the International Standard Bibliographic Description; a report on cooperative cataloging in South Africa by Hester Marais of the University of South Africa; a report on the challenges facing libraries in most of Africa by Mary Adwoa Arkorful of the University of Education in Ghana; and a report on IME-ICC5 by Barbara Tillett.
The FRBR Review Group is chaired by Pat Riva, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. The group provides a place within IFLA for the support and development of the FRBR (Functional Requirement for Bibliographic Records) conceptual model. The Working Group on the Expression Entity has completed its work on a revision of that part of FRBR. The amendment will be sent to the Review Group and the Cataloguing Section for approval. The Working Group on Aggregates is studying the modeling of different categories of aggregates. The Working Group on FRBR/CRM Dialogue is continuing to work on an object-oriented model of FRBR.
Elena Escolano Rodríguez chairs the ISBD REVIEW GROUP. Now that the preliminary consolidated edition of the International Standard Bibliographic Description has been published, the group will focus on the first round of updates. There is still work to be done in harmonizing the provisions of the ISBD. The Material Designations Study Group is proposing that a content/carrier component be created in the ISBD. Exactly what form this will take is yet to be determined. The Study Group on Examples is continuing to collect examples to be published in a supplement to the ISBD.
The Working Group on Metadata for Digital Objects is continuing its work with a new name and a new charge. It will now focus on guidelines and recommendations for metadata. The chair is Erik Thorlund Jepsen of the Danish Library Agency.
The next World Library and Information Congress and 74th IFLA General Conference and Council will be held in Québec, Canada, in August 2008 with the theme: “Libraries Without Borders: Navigating towards Global Understanding." Future IFLA meetings are now planned as follows:
2009 – Milan, Italy
2010 – Brisbane, Australia
The IFLA World Library and Information Congress held in Durban, South Africa, will be remembered for many things, beginning with the warmth and hospitality of our hosts, including International Convention Center (ICC) and hotel staff. The ICC is itself an outstanding facility, capacious and attractive, but fortunately not so enormous as to require significant hikes between meeting rooms. The Opening Session was notable for featuring the "South African Mother of Books," Gcina Mhlophe, and an unforgettable keynote address by Justice Albie Sachs, a Judge on the Bench of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The Ministry of Arts and Culture showed great generosity in providing plentiful and efficient shuttle buses, as well as sponsoring the Cultural Gala. The Mayor’s Office deserves thanks, as well, for a most enjoyable and wonderfully catered Beach Party. At the same time, it true that there were real concerns for personal safety, so for most attendees there was probably less opportunity for independent exploration of a new city. Those interested in the numbers may find it significant that out of a total of 3,051 attendees (as of August 23), 1,463 were from Africa, and 1,116, well over a third, from South Africa itself. A total of 120 countries were represented.
The Classification and Indexing Section's program (Session 157) was titled “Partners for Subject Access to Bring Libraries and Users Together.” It was given during the final timeslot on Thursday morning, just before the Closing Ceremony. This scheduling caused a bit of concern, but in fact, nearly 200 people attended the program, a very respectable turnout given the total number of attendees. What is more, almost everyone stayed through the entire program (which conference-goers know is not a sure thing), with much informal discussion among speakers and audience members afterwards. Jonathan Further (University of California Los Angeles) and Sarah Hayman (Adelaide, Australia) presented two papers on user tagging, similar in content, but approaching the topic from different perspectives. James M. Turner (Université de Montréal) described a project for deriving index terms for the content of film shots and sequences from audio description text. The program concluded with a discussion of Indonesian geography, period and language notations in Dewey Decimal Classification, presented by L. Sulistyo-Basuki (Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia). Find these papers online.
The Section also participated in a joint program with the Bibliography and National Libraries Sections (Session 89), in which the Working Group on Guidelines for Subject Access by national libraries and national bibliographic agencies presented its interim report. The Working Group on Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Records (FRSAR) continued its work with two meetings, featuring lively and sustained discussion.
The WLIC will be held in Québec City in 2008, and will be a good opportunity for many North Americans who would like to find out more about IFLA to attend without a daylong plane flight. The Classification and Indexing Section will hold a program with the theme of “Classification and Indexing without Language Borders." A call for papers for this program will soon be made.
See the section’s home page, which features newsletters, annual reports, meeting minutes and other information.
We regret that there was no Knowledge Management report.
Hartmut Walravens, Staatsbibliotek zu Berlin, chaired the business meetings of the Newspaper Section with Edmund King of the British Library serving as secretary. The focus of the business meetings held on Saturday, August 18 and Friday, August 24, 2007 centered on the refinement of the Newspaper Strategic Plan for 2008–2009. The committee agreed to add several actions items to the Plan including: updating the United States entries on the Directory of Newspapers on IFLANET; developing a process of selecting newspapers in sub-Saharan counties with priority for preservation microfilming, working with the Center for Research Libraries to determine titles already on film; and to review the development of Resource Description and Access (RDA) and determine how they may affect future version of the Guidelines for Newspaper Cataloging.
Edmund King reported on the International Newspaper Collection Management “Printed and Digital Challenges” conference held in Santiago, Chile on April 3–5, 2007. The conference promoted good practices in newspaper collection, management and preservation, and was co-organized by the National Library of Chile and the IFLA Core Activity on Preservation and Conservation. One hundred seventeen delegates from eleven Latin American countries attended the event.
Plans for the upcoming spring 2008 newspaper conference were reviewed. The title of the conference will be “Old Issues, New Issues: Impact of Digital Technology upon Contemporary and Historic News.” The National Library of Singapore will host the event and it will be co-sponsored by the IFLA Core Activity on Preservation and Conservation and the IFLA Preservation and Conservation Section.
It was agreed that the theme for the Section’s 2008 Quebec program would be on Canadian ethnic newspapers. A call for papers will be publicized in fall/winter 2007. Papers from Canadian newspaper publishers are encouraged.
Hartmut Walravens announced that he has been in contact with the Russian Book Chamber in Moscow, and they expressed an interest in hosting the Newspaper Section’s spring conference in 2009.
The Section reviewed the International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON) report authored by Linda Ronan, Center for Research Libraries, and brainstormed on grant funding opportunities with ICON to improve access to African newspapers.
Three new Section committee members were recognized: Suzanne Kellerman, Jasenka Zajec, and Dolores Rodriguez Fuentes.
The report of the IFLA Professional Structure Committee was discussed. It raised issues such as the fact that the Section must secure additional members or risk a change in its status such as becoming a Special Interest Group or merging with another Section. After much discussion, the Section agreed to pursue additional members to keep its existing status as a Section.
On August 20, 2007, the Section held its Open Session on “African Newspapers: Access and Technology.” Four papers were presented, and Dale Peters, University of KwaZulu-Natal served as moderator. One hundred seven delegates attended the afternoon session, with a lively discussion following the speaker’s formal remarks.
Preservation issues were definitely on the agenda at the 2008 IFLA Congress in Durban, South Africa. The kick-off event was a Satellite meeting on “Mould, Integrated Pest Management and Dust in Collections” organized by Johannes Maree, University of Cape Town, South Africa for the Preservation and Conservation Section, IFLA Rare Books and Manuscripts Section, the IFLA Newspapers Section, and the IFLA Preservation and Conservation (PAC) Office. An audience of 120 learned from presenters from Great Britain, (Helen Lloyd and David Pinniger) the United States, (Diane Vogt-O’Connor) and case study speakers from France and the African continent. See the upcoming issue of International Preservation News for complete information.
In Durban, the Preservation and Conservation Core Activity presented a program on “Preservation of Audiovisual and Oral Tradition Archives” with a special focus on Africa. Five speakers presented a full range of projects from a New Zealand to South Africa collection connection to South Africa multimedia Project to Gabon and Namibia. The program showed the importance of digital projects to provide access to a wide variety of materials and stressed the importance of preserving materials. Another program also focused on preservation issues and was sponsored by the Asia & Oceania Section titled “Information Providers Coping with Disaster in Asia-Oceania.”
Standing Committee meetings completed the election of officers. Per Cullhed, Uppsala University Library, Sweden, is the new chair. Much of the meeting focused on program plans for the 2009 Quebec Congress, where a preconference in Ottawa, hosted by the Libraries and Archives Canada (LAC), will include opportunities to visit the LAC’s exemplary conservation facilities, as well as those of the Canadian Conservation Institute.
Lars Bjork, Head of Preservation at the Royal Library, Stockholm, continues as editor of the committee’s publication on IFLANET, First Do No Harm: A Register of Standards, Codes of Practice, Guidelines, Recommendations and Similar Works. Now a Word document, Bjork is moving forward to create a searchable database for ease in updating.
The Standing Committee will have an interim meeting in March 2008 at University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in connection with a COSADOCA training session.
The 2010 Milan World Library and Information Congress program and satellite meetings are already in the planning stages.
We regret that there was no Serial Publications report.
I entered the profession in the late seventies. Steeped in cataloging at UCLA’s library school, I naturally gravitated toward those meetings sponsored by RTSD, ALCTS’ predecessor, when I started attending national conferences. I followed the lead of a group of female catalogers from UCLA, who had an unsurpassed capacity to sit as observers through endless meetings. We would start with Big Heads, go on to CC:DA, drop in on the various subcommittees, hit Subject and maybe MARBI, then end up at the RTSD Board.
By the time I started working at Iowa State, I had drunk of the RTSD/ALCTS culture and was ready for an appointment to its Planning and Research Committee. Fortified by my developing relationships with active members of the association, I was later appointed chair to the same committee. I began cementing friendships that would carry me through another twenty-five years of service. Evidently I proved my worth enough to earn an appointment to CC:DA and then election to chair the Cataloging Section (and a trip to the Board as an ex-officio member). This was an era in the development of the Association when the clock was often stopped so we could continue meeting past its designated schedule. I well remember walking back to my hotel after midnight on many an occasion. Eventually the members decided to make me an honest man and elected me to the Board as a Director-at-Large in 2003.
I have barely scratched the surface of my ALCTS experience, but reflecting upon it leads me to several conclusions. One is that everyone needs a passion, and that passion will be rewarded with responsibility. Another is that relationships are the glue that hold the Association together. None of us work in isolation, and relationships are what propel us forward to new responsibilities. Finally, hard work is rewarded with more hard work. There is no lack of work to do in ALCTS, and anyone who wants the opportunity is able to contribute.
Life in ALCTS. One could make a career of it. . . .
The Collection Management and Development Section (CMDS) supports librarians with collection development and management responsibilities regardless of job title or type of library. See the CMDS web pages for a list of committees and leaders. During the past year CMDS members sponsored publications; presented a well-attended program and co-sponsored a preconference at Annual Conference; led numerous discussion groups and an ALCTS Forum at Midwinter Conference; and developed web-based course materials for continuing education. The Section is establishing, with funding from Coutts, an award for innovation in electronic resources management.
The Sudden Selector’s Guide to Business Resources by Robin Bergart and Vivian Lewis was published in 2007. The CMDS Executive Committee has endorsed proposals for other guides on LGBTIQ Studies and Literatures in English, with a total of six approved recently. Chaired by Harriet Lightman, Northwestern University, the CMDS Publications Committee is considering a Working Papers Series and is reviewing the outdated CMDS Guides for possible revision.
The section sponsored a program at 2007 Annual Conference, “Collecting for Institutional Repositories: All the News that’s Fit to Keep.” Panelists offered practical advice for involving the campus in building an IR. The large crowd in attendance engaged in vigorous discussion following the presentations. CMDS will cosponsor with RUSA CODES a program at the 2008 Annual Conference on “Reviews Outside the Mainstream,” that explores review sources for web sites, electronic databases, genre fiction, graphic novels, alternative press publications, gray literature, and other formats.
At the 2007 Midwinter Conference, CMDS hosted a forum discussion on “E-Resources Use Data: Outsource or In-house?” The Section is planning a 2008 Midwinter Forum on the topic of collaborative selection of monographs. CMDS co-sponsored a preconference at the 2007 Annual Conference with the Acquisitions Section, “Workflow Analysis, Redesign, and Implementation: Integrating the Complexities of Electronic Resources in the Digital Age.”
Four discussion/interest groups meet regularly at the Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference for practitioners to discuss issues and strategies confronted by colleagues across the country. Groups target collection development librarians in general, academic libraries, and leaders of collection development in the largest research libraries. Recent discussion topics include global resources, the future of interlibrary loan, staffing and training for collection development in a multi-library environment, approval plans, use of the WorldCat Collection Analysis Service, vendor statistics for electronic resources, centralized weeding, and collection turnover rates. Reports from the Chief Collection Development Officers of Large Research Libraries posted to ALCTS CMDS web pages present a panorama of collection development initiatives and accomplishments across the United States and Canada.
The Education Committee is nearing completion of a web-based course developed by Peggy Johnson, Fundamentals of Collection Development. During 2007, the Collection Assessment Committee began work on a web-based course, Fundamentals of Collection Assessment. Other continuing education initiatives include completion of Core Competencies for Collection Development/Management Librarians by the Education Committee chaired by Ellen Safley, University of Texas at Dallas. The Administration of Collection Development Committee chaired by Sally Willson Weimer, UC Santa Barbara, worked on a web-based toolbox for collection managers covering deselection, training, assessment, digitization, and cooperative selection modeled on the Social Work Collectors Toolbox.
The collection development and management environment is changing rapidly. CMDS committees and participants in the Section’s activities are leading change through publications, programs, continuing education, and ongoing dialogue that stimulates energy and creativity.
The Subject Analysis Committee (SAC) Subcommittee on FAST of the Cataloging and Classification Section was established in the fall of 2004. Qiang Jin is the SAC Subcommittee on FAST Chair, 2004–2008.
The Subcommittee’s charge follows:
To explore the issues related to the implementation of the Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) subject heading schema and advise on: (1) the scope and suitability of the FAST vocabulary and syntax, (2) the FAST use of the MARC21 authority format, (3) adequacy of the FAST documentation, and (4) other relevant topics relating to the continuing development, maintenance, and implementation of FAST. The subcommittee should report on its progress at Midwinter and Annual Conferences and submit its final report by Midwinter 2008. SAC will examine the continued need for the subcommittee no later than 2008.
For the last three years, members of the SAC Subcommittee on FAST conducted several projects to evaluate the FAST project.
The results of the preceding three projects were presented at the program at ALA Annual 2006 titled “FAST–A New System of Subject Access for Cataloging and Metadata.”
The subcommittee members will examine a random sample of bibliographic records with all FAST facets in the fall of 2007. We will discuss issues concerning the sample with the FAST team at our meeting at ALA Midwinter 2008.
CRS committees are geared up and ready to start plans for the year. Working within the framework of the ALCTS Strategic Plan 2006–2011, members will receive assistance from the CRS Policy and Planning Committee to ensure that their goals are aligned to the larger organization, section and across committees. Committees will also receive assistance from Members-At-Large, and representatives.
Recent reports from committee chairs give a glimpse of what is happening:
The CRS Policy and Planning Committee have written a detailed document with guidelines to assist committees with planning. Geller states:
The Continuing Resources Policy and Planning Committee has reviewed the strategic plan and created this document to help each unit within the section achieve these ends. We ask that you and your committee or group read the materials provided and create a list of objectives and action items that will help achieve goals enumerated in the Strategic Plan. To help guide you through this process and to answer questions, a representative of the Policy and Planning Committee will attend your meeting during ALA Midwinter.
Co-sponsor 2008 annual pre-conference "Electronic Resources 101" also, 2008 program tentatively titled "Jumping the Fence: Merging Print and Electronic Serial Workflows."
Call for CSA/Ulrich's Serials Librarianship Award nominations have begun with a deadline of December 1, 2007.
Formerly called Union Lists, this committee is working to complete a resource list for the web site.
CRCC plans to hold two update forums: one at Midwinter and one at Annual. In addition, the CRCC RDA Task Force will continue to participate in RDA discussion by reading drafts and supplying comments to CC:DA through the CRS representative.
Education will co-sponsor a pre-conference for June 2008 entitled "Electronic Resources 101" and will co-sponsor a program on print serial preservation for June 2009.
A call for the "First Step Award -- Wiley Professional Development Grant” nominations have been issued, with a deadline of December 1, 2007.
The committee is working to provide nominees for the election slate.
Currently reviewing two documents submitted by the Education Committee: Syllabus for Serials Management (Print and Electronic) Final Draft (6-21-07), and the Syllabus for Serials Preservation and Archiving. Upon completion of review, these documents will be forwarded to the CRS Executive Committee for approval.
There will be a Serials Standards Update Forum at Annual 2008 and a mini version of the Update Forum at Midwinter.
The CRS Executive Board looks forward to assisting and working with the various committees.
Each year, ALCTS presents awards for technical services specializations, publishing, and professional achievement. Nominations and applications are currently being solicited for all awards. Find more information on all of these awards in a press release on the ALCTS web site.
This award was established to honor the memory of Paul Banks and Carolyn Harris, early leaders in library preservation. The award, $1,500 and a citation, sponsored by Preservation Technologies, L.P., is given to a professional preservation specialist who has been active in the field of preservation and/or conservation for library and/or archival materials.
Direct questions and nominations to Rebecca Ryder, Chair, Banks/Harris Jury, (859) 257-0500 ext. 2047. The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2007.
This award is given to the author(s) of the best paper published in Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS), the official journal of ALCTS. The winner will receive a citation and $250 from ALCTS. Papers published in volume 51 (2007) are eligible for consideration, with the exception of official reports and documents, obituaries, letters to the editor and biographies of award winners.
Direct questions and nominations to Randy Roeder, Chair, Best of LRTS Jury, (319) 335-6204. The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2007.
This award honors an author or a group of authors who have written an outstanding monograph, article or original paper in the field of acquisitions, collection development or related areas of resource development in libraries. Blackwell’s will donate a $2,000 scholarship to the United States or Canadian library school of the winning author’s choice. The scholarship will be given to a student concentrating in the acquisitions or collection development areas. Publications from 2007 are eligible.
Direct questions and nominations to Kathleen Brown, Chair, Blackwell’s Jury, (919) 515-7522. The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2007.
This award recognizes and encourages collaborative problem-solving efforts in the areas of acquisition, access, management, preservation or archiving of library materials. It recognizes a demonstrated benefit from actions, services or products that improve and benefit providing and managing library collections. The citation may be presented to two or more individuals or groups who have participated jointly in an appropriate achievement.
Direct questions and nominations to Gracemary Smulewitz, Chair, Citation Jury, (732) 932-7388, ext. X161. The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2007.
This award, a $1,500 grant and citation donated by YBP, Inc., recognizes contributions to library collections and technical services by a librarian with no more than ten years of professional experience who has shown outstanding promise for continuing contribution and leadership.
Direct questions and nominations to Eleanor Cook, Chair, Piercy Jury, at (828) 262-2786. The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2007.
Applications are now being accepted for the "First Step Award—Wiley Professional Development Grant," a cash award applicable toward travel costs for the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, June 27–July 1st, 2008. The purpose of the $1500 grant, donated by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is to provide librarians new to the serials field with the opportunity to broaden their perspectives and to encourage professional development in the American Library Association Conferences and participation in ALA/ALCTS Continuing Resources Section activities.
ALA members with five or fewer years’ professional experience in the serials field ho have not previously attended an ALA Annual Conference are eligible. Cash awards are applicable toward round trip transportation, lodging, registration fees, etc. Eligible applicants who have previously applied, but were not selected, are encouraged to re-apply.
Applications are due by December 1, 2007. Additional information is available on the ALCTS web site. Questions may be directed to Lori Osmus Kappmeyer, the award jury chair, (515) 294-4281.
This is a new award for 2008. The George Cunha and Susan Swartzburg Award has been established by the Preservation and Reformatting Section (PARS) to honor the memory of George Cunha and Susan Swartzburg, early leaders in cooperative preservation programming and strong advocates for collaboration in the field of preservation. The award acknowledges and supports cooperative preservation projects and/or rewards individuals or groups that foster collaboration for preservation goals. Any person or group is eligible for this award; membership in ALA is not required. The Cunha/Swartzburg Award is sponsored by LBI: The Library Binding Institute and includes a $1,250 grant and citation.
Direct questions and nominations to Evelyn Frangakis, chair, Cunha/Swartzburg Jury, (212) 930-0567 by December 1, 2007.
This award is presented by the ALCTS Acquisitions Section for contributions by, and outstanding leadership of, an individual to the field of acquisitions librarianship. The award consists of $1,500 and a citation donated by Harrassowitz. Winners will be chosen based on demonstrated leadership which has contributed significantly to improvements in acquisitions and achievement in the field of acquisitions through contributions to professional associations, literature, the education of acquisitions professionals and the advancement of the profession.
The application deadline is December 1, 2007. Direct questions and nominations to Lisa German, chair, Leadership Jury, (814) 863-5448.
This award is presented to a cataloger or classifier for outstanding professional achievement in the areas of cataloging or classification through publication, participation in professional cataloging associations, or valuable contributions to practice in individual libraries. The Cataloging and Classification Section administers the award, a citation and $2,000 to the library school of the winner's choice, which is donated by OCLC, Inc.
The application deadline is December 1, 2007. Direct questions and nominations to Ann Vidor, Chair, Mann Citation Jury, (404) 727-6833.
This award recognizes the contribution of a library leader who has demonstrated exceptional service to ALCTS and its areas of interest (acquisitions, cataloging and classification, collection management and development, preservation and reformatting, and serials). The award winner receives a citation honoring his/her contributions and a stipend of $3,000 generously donated by EBSCO. Nominees must be ALCTS members. Self-nominations will not be accepted.
Direct questions and nominations to Mary Case, Chair, Ross Atkinson Award Jury, (312) 996-2716. The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2007. Find more information on the ALCTS web site.
The Travel Grants (six to be awarded) make it possible for library support staff to attend the 2008 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. SAGE Publications donates six grants up to $1,000 to cover the expense of attending the conference, including airfare, three nights lodging and conference registration for each recipient. Library support staff who currently are employed in full-time support staff positions, with a minimum of three years of experience in an area of technical services (acquisitions, cataloging, collection development/management, preservation of library materials, or serials) who have not previously attended an ALA annual conference are eligible. Successful candidates are required to submit a brief report describing their experiences at the annual conference. The reports are published in the post-conference issue of the ALCTS Newsletter Online and also will be shared with the sponsor.
The application deadline is November 30, 2007. Find more information on the grant online. Direct questions to Manuel Urrizola, Sage Jury Chair.
This award is presented by the ALCTS Serials Section, and consists of a citation and $1,500 donated by ProQuestCSA. The awards are given for distinguished contributions to serials librarianship, including such activities as leadership in serials-related activities through participation in professional associations and/or library education programs; contributions to the body of serials literature; conduct of research in the area of serials; development of tools or methods to enhance access to or management of serials; and other advances leading to a better understanding of the field of serials.
The application deadline is December 1, 2007. More information on the grant is available online. Direct nominations and questions to Dana Marie Walker, Chair, Ulrich’s Jury, at (706) 224-2844 or dmariewalker@gmail.com or dwalker@couttsinfo.com.
The 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania January 11–16, 2008. The following is a listing of events scheduled to take place during the Meeting. Please note that meeting locations have not yet been determined and will be provided in the December issue of ANO. The Midwinter Wiki is available at http://wikis.ala.org/midwinter2008/.
The 2008 ALA ALCTS Midwinter symposium “Risk and Entrepreneurship in Libraries: Seizing Opportunities for Change” will examine the concept of risk taking and entrepreneurship in libraries in general, with a special emphasis on collections and technical services. Speakers from different types of libraries will describe how they have implemented innovative changes and managed their risks.
Confirmed speakers to date include:
Advance Registration Fees: (Register by November 30th) ALCTS Member: $199; ALA Member: $249; Non-Member: $299; Student/Retired: $99. Find registration information online.
ALCTS will present a workshop in conjunction with the Library of Congress entitled “Metadata and Digital Library Development.” The workshop is on January 9-10, 2008. Find more details on the workshop and registration information online.
This two-day workshop introduces practicing catalogers to metadata implementation considerations and processes in a digital library development context, using an applied, exercise-based context. The goal of the workshop is to prepare attendees to serve as metadata specialists in digital library projects. Topics covered will include: Data and functionality; Metadata conversion and mapping; Creating data workflows; and Digital library development teams.
This workshop is part of the Cataloging for the 21st Century continuing education series, which offers practicing catalogers instruction in bibliographic control practices that will help them continue to play a significant role in shaping library services in the emerging digital information environment.
The ALCTS Acquisitions Section Forum "New Roles for Acquisitions: Selecting and Harvesting for Institutional Repositories" will take place on Monday, January 14, 1:30–3 pm.
Electronic resources have forever altered the nature of work done by acquisitions librarians. Acquisitions librarians have taken on new and more complex roles with each step in the electronic resource movement. They have mastered the review and negotiation of license agreements, the acquisition of electronic journals and books, and, most recently, the maintenance of electronic resource management systems. The ALCTS Acquisitions Section is hosting a forum on the latest transformational change that has taken place in research libraries—the development of institutional repositories.
Karl Debus-López, National Agricultural Library and Trisha Davis, Ohio State University, will give brief presentations on how they have restructured their acquisitions operations to manage the selection and harvesting of content for their institutions' digital repositories. There will be ample time after their presentations for discussion and questions from the audience. We are interested in hearing about how you are absorbing work related to institutional repositories or anything else that is new and different into your libraries.
Contribute to the success and vitality of ALCTS while helping yourself grow professionally! Meet and collaborate with motivated colleagues who are focused on the critical issues facing technical services librarianship!
To find out more about the benefits of and possibilities for committee involvement in ALCTS, plan to attend the fifth annual ALCTS Volunteer Forum at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. The ALCTS Volunteer Forum is sponsored by the ALCTS Leadership Development Committee; forum venue TBA.
This is your chance to hear firsthand from the division appointing officers about the committee appointment process and opportunities for involvement. The presenters include ALCTS President Pamela Bluh and President-Elect Dina Giambi. Past events have included presentations by Chairs-Elect of the Acquisitions, Cataloging and Classification, Collection Management and Development, Preservation and Reformatting, and Serials Sections and the Council of Regional Groups, and the Editor of the ALCTS Newsletter Online ( ANO).
Submit an ALCTS volunteer application online today. For additional information about the forum, contact Heather Moulaison, Volunteer Forum Coordinator, Leadership Development Committee.
Join PVLR for their Open Forum “Who's Keeping Core?: A Look at Core Book Lists” on Monday, January 14, 2008, 8–10 am. Most librarians would agree that there should be a definable core of essential books. But how many would agree on how to define that core? This forum will explore the tension between the idea of a core and the actual practice of defining one. Core lists prepared by libraries and by others, such as review media, publishers, and vendors will be compared to determine how much overlap exists. The following questions will be raised: Was there, in fact, a definable core? How did the different groups go about defining their own version of “core”?
Please join us as we explore these questions and others, as we examine what has been one of the core beliefs of librarianship. Contact Amy McColl, Chair, PVLR Interest Group, for more information.
The Cataloging of Children's Materials Committee will meet Sunday, January 13, 1:30–3:30 pm. Members and visitors will discuss ideas for new directions and activities for the committee, with the publication of the 4th edition of Cataloging Correctly for Kids and several major ALA and AASL programs recently completed. For more information, contact Joanna Fountain, the committee chair.
Interested in learning more about international issues related to library collections, technical services and standards and ALCTS representation on IFLA Section Standing Committees? Join the ALCTS International Relations Committee (IRC) at its ALA Midwinter meeting on Saturday, January 12, 2008, 10:30 am-12:30 pm. Current ALCTS representatives to IFLA Sections will report on the August 2007 IFLA Conference which was held in Durban, South Africa, and will discuss what the IRC can do to facilitate their activities.
The ALCTS Membership Committee will be meeting on Sunday, January 13, 2008, 10:30 am–noon.
Highlights of the Committee's agenda are:
The Membership Committee welcomes suggestions for agenda items, questions, and comments. They may be sent to Natalie Sommerville, Membership Committee Chair.
The ALCTS CCS/MAGERT Cartographic Resources Cataloging Discussion Group will be meeting Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 8 am. Please join us in discussions on topics of interest to the cartographic community. For more information, contact Susan Moore, the discussion group chair.
The Cataloging and Classification Research Discussion Group will meet on Saturday, January 12, 10:30 am–noon in Philadelphia. Speakers are invited to discuss current and/or recently completed research in the area of cataloging and classification. Those interested in participating as speakers may contact Robert Ellett, the discussion group chair at (757) 443-6405.
ALCTS CCS Cataloging Norms Discussion Group invites speakers for its meeting at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, Saturday, January 12, 2008, 1:30–3:30 pm. Presentation topics should be of current interest to catalogers, cataloging managers and administrators.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to: evolution, definition, and functions of the catalog and cataloging norms; emerging concepts and implementations of "next generation catalogs"; RDA; FRBR; cataloging in hybrid and digital libraries; changes in basic cataloging work and catalogers' responsibilities; changes in catalogers' workflows; emerging perceptions of cataloging quality; how end users' expectations and behaviors affect cataloging norms; metadata records and elements in different contexts; and the impact of web norms on cataloging norms from the perspectives of web developers and catalogers.
Presentations should be approximately 15–20 minutes in length. Time will be allowed for questions and answers. Speakers are encouraged to lead discussions.
Send abstracts of proposals to co-chairs Tatiana Barr or Lihong Zhu by October 30, 2007.
The ALCTS/CMDS Collection Development Issues for the Practitioner Interest Group will meet Sunday, January 13, 2008, 1:30–3:30 pm. The group will discuss collection development topics as they affect the individual selector. Topics are yet to be determined, but may include: selection strategies, approval plans, aggregator packages, institutional repositories, cancellation projects, format duplication, electronic books, fund allocations, data gathering, training and mentoring, budgeting, allocation formulas, collection analysis tools, consortial purchasing, collection promotion and outreach, and related issues. For more information, contact Brian Quinn, the interest group chair.
The ALCTS Collection Development Librarians of Academic Libraries Discussion Group provides a lively forum for conversation and exchange of ideas on topics related to all aspects of collection development and management in academic libraries. Topics are chosen by consensus by participants before the meeting date. Please discussion group chair Debi Smith with any topics you may wish to have discussed. Join us at Midwinter 2008 on January 12, 1:30–3:30 pm.
The ALCTS Copy Cataloging Discussion Group (CCDG) is a forum to discuss copy cataloging in terms of standards, procedures, workflows, problems, and the discovery of library materials. The Midwinter topic is “Copy Cataloging from Different Perspectives: Public, Academic, and Research Libraries.” Following the presentations, the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions on copy cataloging workflows in academic versus public libraries. The CCDG will meet on Monday, at 10:30 am, immediately following the meeting of the Cataloging Management Discussion Group. For more information, contact Isabella Marqués de Castilla, the discussion group chair.
The topic for the Midwinter meeting of the Electronic Resources Interest Group is “Making E-Resources Management More Manageable: RECORDS.”
Central to the workflows and management of e-resources are bibliographic records. While there is now a general, well-established workflow for e-journals, which are for a large part represented by standard CONSER records in most systems such as Serials Solutions & SFX, the same is not true for e-monographs and integrating resources (databases). Proposals have been made to guide the creation of records for e-monographs by publishers and vendors. There are also proposals in the making for a provider neutral IR-record. Where are we? What are publishers and vendors doing in this area? After all, source and quality of records impact our decisions, workflows, and management of e-resources.
For more information, contact Luiz Mendes, Chair, at or Jennifer Lang, Vice-Chair.
The ALCTS CCS Heads of Cataloging Discussion Group will meet on Monday, January 14, 8–10 am during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. In addition to discussing topics of current interest, the Group offers an opportunity to share vacancy announcements with audience members.
The meeting topic is: “Interaction—How Do Cataloging Departments Cooperate with Other Departments in the Library?” Speakers representing various types of libraries will discuss internal cooperation, and the impact the cataloging department’s activities have on the work and functions of other departments in the library (Acquisitions, Circulation, ILL, Reference, Systems).
If you would like to submit a presentation proposal, or to request more information about the program, please contact Marlena Frackowski (Chair), or Dustin Larmore (Vice Chair/Chair Elect).
The ALCTS NRMIG Networked Resources and Metadata Interest Group welcomes proposals for informal presentations at its meeting during the ALA Midwinter Conference in Philadelphia on Sunday, January 20, 2008, 8–10 am. Presentations and discussion topics should focus on current practices, tools, or research affecting networked resources and metadata.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to: best practices; metadata schemas, content standards, and controlled vocabularies; crosswalking and interoperability; metadata harvesting; search engines; metadata display and user interfaces; technical and preservation metadata; visual resources metadata; institutional repository metadata.
Presentations should be roughly 15–25 minutes in length. There will be an opportunity for general discussion following each presentation. To submit a proposal, please send Erin Stalberg or Joanna Burgess a brief description of your proposed topic.
The Out of Print Discussion Group will discuss "How to Run a Successful Library Book Sale." Come and join in a discussion about how some of the best library book sales in the country manage to create a fun and profitable book sale. Discussion will range from how to manage donations and tax deductions for donors to how to manage the book sale in an era of scanners and online book dealers. Book sales are also a great way to celebrate book. Of particular importance will be discussion about how to use the sale to create goodwill for the library in the community. For more information, contact John Riley, the discussion group chair.
The PARS Small to Mid-sized Discussion Group will meet on Sunday, January 13, 2008, 1:30–3:30 pm. The group will discuss preservation issues that affect small to mid-sized libraries. Participants will be allowed up to five minutes to present a question to the group for open discussion, regarding preservation issues in their libraries. This meeting will also try to identify a specific topic for in-depth discussion at annual conference. For more information, contact Scott Reinke, the discussion group chair.
The ALCTS Scholarly Communications Interest Group will meet on Monday, January 14, 2008, 1:30–3:30 pm during the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting. Please come and be part of the lively discussion on current topics in Scholarly Communications. For more information, contact Cynthia H. Krolikowski, the interest group chair.
The Workflow Efficiency Discussion Group (formerly the Pre-Order and Pre-Catalog Searching Discussion Group) provides a forum to discuss and analyze techniques, new developments, problems and technological advances in the workflows associated with the evaluation, selection, acquisition and discovery of library materials and resources.
Interested participants will be allowed up to five minutes to present a question or challenge related to workflows for a lively discussion among other group members. Librarians, materials vendors, ILS vendors, publishers, and other interested parties are invited to attend what will truly be a discussion group, focused on sharing library workflow challenges and the strategies that can be used to improve them.
Those interested in participating may contact Bob Schatz, the discussion group chair, 1-800-263-1686.
President Leslie Burger established the ALA Participation Task Force to develop recommendations for expanding member opportunities, particularly for the next generation of leaders, to participate in their association in meaningful ways. Each ALA Division was asked to submit one name to serve on the task force. From the names proposed, two were to be selected to represent the divisions. Keri Cascio, one of two ALCTS-sponsored Emerging Leaders for 2007, has been selected to represent ALCTS. Congratulations to Keri!
The second division representative to the task force is Judy Nelson, YALSA immediate past president.
ALA President-elect Jim Rettig is seeking applications and nominations for appointments to 2008–2009 ALA-Allied Professional Association (APA) committees. Appointments take effect at the conclusion of the 2008 Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA.
Slots on the following committees will be filled: Certification Program, CPLA Certification Review, Promotion and Fundraising, Publishing, Salaries and Status of Library Workers, SirsiDynix ALA APA Award for Outstanding Promotion of the Salaries and Status of Library Workers Jury. Find the committee charges online.
Applicants must complete and submit the electronic 2008–2009 ALA-APA Committee Volunteer Form. Individuals may serve on ALA-APA committees even if they are concurrently serving on up to three ALA committees. Committee appointees will receive appointment letters after the 2008 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.
Nominations should be submitted no later than Monday December 3, 2007. Questions concerning appointments can be directed to ALA President-Elect Jim Rettig or Jenifer Grady, ALA-APA Director.
The ALA Office for Diversity is seeking volunteers with research experience to serve on the Diversity Research Grants Advisory Committee, a subcommittee of the ALA Committee on Diversity. The Diversity Research Grants program was established in 2002 to promote research to address critical gaps in the knowledge of diversity issues within library and information science. The Diversity Research Grant consists of a one-time $2000 annual award for original research and a $500 travel grant to attend and present at ALA Annual Conference. Three topics are chosen annually and three grants are awarded each year. Find more information about the program online, including past recipients and evaluation criteria.
Individuals interested in serving on the Diversity Research Grants Advisory Committee may contact Karen Brown LeTarte, Director, Office for Diversity and Spectrum.
The Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award recognizes outstanding achievements (including risk-taking) in the areas of library automation, management, or development and research. The award is sponsored by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA). The deadline for nominations is December 7, 2008. Find complete details on the ACRL website.
Current members of ALA's New Members Round Table (NMRT) can apply to receive a grant, sponsored by 3M Library Systems, to cover expenses to attend the ALA Annual Conference, June 26 to July 2, 2008, in Anaheim, CA. To join NMRT, visit the ALA home page and follow the "Join/Renew ALA" link to add to your ALA membership. The application deadline is December 15, 2007. Read accounts of the experiences of last year's winners online.
The application form and additional information are available online. For further information about the grant, please contact: Kate Hahn, Chair, 3M/NMRT Professional Development Grant Committee, (702) 992-2802.
Samuel Lazerow was a major contributor to the advancement of information technology at the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Agriculture Library among others. He ended his career as Senior Vice-president at the Institute for Scientific Information.
The Samuel Lazerow Fellowship for Research in Collections and Technical Services in Academic and Research Libraries fosters advances in collections or technical services by providing fellowships to librarians for travel or writing in those fields. Research projects in the compilation of bibliographies will not be supported by this fellowship. Past recipients include Jimmie Lundgren, Betsy Simpson, Jeffrey Beall, Karen Brown LeTarte, Katharine Farrell, and Karen Schmidt.
The award is sponsored by the Association of College and Research Libraries and consists of $1,000 cash and a citation donated by Thomson Scientific. The submission deadline is December 7, 2007. See the ALA web site for more information. Direct questions and nominations to the award committee chair, Richard Bradberry, (310) 860-3849, or to Megan Griffin, 1-800-545-2433, ext. 2514; (312) 280-2514.
ALA is accepting nominations for the 2007 Bogle Pratt International Travel Fund, sponsored by the Bogle Memorial Fund and the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science. The $1,000 award is given to an ALA member to attend their first international conference. The nominee must have been an ALA member for one full year. The deadline for nominations is January 1, 2008.
The Bogle Pratt International Travel Fund award is given in recognition of Sarah Comly Norris Bogle, a prominent U.S. librarian who made notable contributions to children’s librarianship, international library service, and library education.
Application forms are available online, or by contacting the International Relations Office at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 3201; intl@ala.org.
Nominations should be sent to: International Relations Office, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St, Chicago, IL 60611-2795, fax: (312) 280-4392; intl@ala.org.
Effective immediately, the American Library Association (ALA) and Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA), have agreed that FOLUSA will provide executive management for the Association of Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA) for a period of twelve months ending August 31, 2008, with the expectation that FOLUSA and ALTA will seek to combine into an expanded division of the ALA on August 31, 2008. Find more details online in an ALA press release.
The IFLA-World Digital Library Working Group on Digital Library Guidelines is collecting suggestions from the profession which will be used to prepare a chapter on metadata decisions for the Digital Library. The guidelines will be developed for use by libraries and other cultural institutions worldwide. Input is currently being solicited via an online survey. The survey seeks to investigate different issues, levels, and concerns regarding metadata and controlled vocabularies that need to be addressed in the guidelines. More information about this research is available from Marcia Zeng.
The IFLA Cataloguing Section invites proposals for the section's programme in Québec. The session topic is "Sharing Standards: Cooperation with Other Actors." The section is seeking papers on the cooperation and the sharing of standards and metadata between publishers, museums, archives and others.
Send a detailed abstract (one page or at least 300 words) of the proposed paper and relevant biographical information of author(s)/ presenter(s) by December 15, 2007 to Anders Cato, Chair, Cataloguing Section. Note that proposals should be for items that have not been previously published elsewhere.
Successful proposals will be identified by January 31, 2008. Full papers are due by April 15, 2008 and should be no longer than twenty pages.
The 2008 North Carolina Serials Conference Program Planning Committee invites proposals and suggestions for presentations on any aspect of the serials industry or serials management. These topics are of particular interest:
Proposals are welcome from all members of the serials profession, including faculty and library staff in all types of libraries, plus publishers, vendors, and systems developers. Students are also encouraged to submit proposals. Submit proposals by email in a document attachment to Beth Bernhardt. The submission deadline is October 31, 2007.
The conference theme is “What’s in a Name? From “Serials” to “Continuing Resources,” and will take place April 10–11, 2008 at the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The Planning Committee for the Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge is seeking proposals on all aspects of library acquisitions and collection management. The submission deadline is December 30, 2007. Submit proposals of 200 words or less to Richard Brumley. Check the web site for additional information on the Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge.
The Electronic Resources & Libraries (ER&L) Conference Program Planning Committee invites proposals for the Electronic Resources & Libraries 2008 Conference in March 19–21, 2008, with preconference sessions on March 18. The conference will take place at the Global Learning and Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Presenters receive a 25 percent reduction in registration cost.
Find conference track descriptions on the event web site. The deadline for proposals is November 1, 2007. Please direct questions about proposals to Bonnie Tijerina or Elizabeth Winter. Please direct questions about preconferences to Xan Arch. Conference details are available on the conference web site.
ALCTS Newsletter Online (ISSN 1523-018X) is published six times a year by the American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. It is an official publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS), a division of the American Library Association. It replaced the ALCTS Newsletter (ISSN 1047-949X) in December 1998. Subscription price: ALCTS Newsletter Online ( ANO) is published free of charge to anyone with Web access. Business manager: Charles Wilt, ALCTS Executive Director; Send manuscripts to the editor, Mary Beth Weber, ANO Editor , Technical & Automated Services, Rutgers University Libraries, 47 Davidson Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854-5603; phone: (732) 445-0500; fax: (732) 445-5888; Assistant Editor: John Chapman, Managing Editor: Christine Taylor, ALCTS President 2007–2008: Pamela Bluh.
Back issues (to volume 10) are available online in the ANO Archive. ALCTS Newsletter Online is indexed in H. W. Wilson’s Library Literature.
Effective in volume 15, the ALCTS Newsletter Online accepts advertising. See Advertising in ANO.
Contributors and authors are encouraged to read the ANO Editorial Policy, which includes the content submission schedule, purpose, and scope.
Copyright © 2007 American Library Association.
All materials in ANO subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be downloaded and printed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, transmission, or translating, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions, 50 E. Huron St, Chicago, IL 60611; 1-800-545-2433.
(revised Dec. 2002, effective with volume 14, 2003)
The primary purpose of the ALCTS Newsletter Online is to report the news and activities of ALCTS and its members, and to be the voice of the association.
ALCTS Newsletter Online is issued in six numbers per annual volume. ( Note: The frequency was changed to quarterly by a board motion at the Annual Conference in New Orleans in 1999, and changed to six issues per year in 2003.)
Issues appear on approximately the 15th of each even-numbered month. To be notified when a new issue has been posted, sign up online. To change your notification address, email Christine Taylor.
The primary focus is news and reports about the activities of the association, its groups and its members, such as:
For more information on ALCTS awards, publications, upcoming programs, committee and discussion group activities, and regional workshops, see the ALCTS Web site (www.ala.org/alcts).
A secondary focus is reporting activities of interest to the membership relating to practice and developments in the fields of library collections and technical services, such as:
Feel free to submit news releases. ANO does not accept articles about commercially sold products.
The editor will coordinate with the ALCTS Board of Directors and the ALCTS Publications Committee regarding the general contents of each issue, as well as with the ALCTS office staff (Executive Director and others) regarding current ALCTS priorities. The editor will attempt to keep reports concise yet complete so that all members can follow the activities of ALCTS. The editor also will strive for complete coverage of the full scope of ALCTS activities and interests.
Content is due no later than the first day of the month of publication. Issues are posted on approximately the 15th of the month.
Follow these guidelines and procedures for preparing submissions for ANO:
| EVENT | SUBMISSION DEADLINE | ISSUE(S) |
|---|---|---|
| Midwinter Committee Reports | February 1 | February |
| Midwinter Interest/Discussion Group and Liaison Reports | February 1 | February |
| Announcements for Annual programs, preconferences, and interest/discussion groups | April 1 | April, June |
| Volunteer requests: Program reporters for Annual | April 1 | April, June |
| Volunteer requests: ALCTS Booth | April 1 | April, June |
| Volunteer Forum | April 1 | April, June |
| Section Chair Annual reports | July 31 | August |
| Annual Committee Reports | July 31 | August |
| Annual Interest/Discussion Group and Liaison Reports | July 31 | August |
| SAGE Support Staff Travel Grant reports | July 31 | August |
| IFLA reports | October 1 | October |
| Announcements for Midwinter programs, preconferences, and interest/discussion groups | December 1 | December, January |
| Volunteer requests: Program reporters for Midwinter | December 1 | December, January |