ALCTS Groups Announce Topics for Midwinter Meetings

The following announcements were received in time to be included in the newsletter.

The Creative Ideas in Technical Services Discussion Group provides a forum for discussion of issues within the field of technical services that are relevant to library staff at all levels, particularly those issues relating to the evolution of technical services as it affects and is affected by technology and greater interdependency among all library departments. At ALA Midwinter Meeting, the group will present the following topics for discussion on Sunday, January 26, 2003, 4:30–5:30 P.M.:

• AACR 2002 Amendments: How Will the Amendments Affect Cataloging and Processing?
• Collection Development in Acquisitions
• Aggregator Databases: Continuing Issues and Trends
• Merging Acquisitions and Cataloging Functions in Technical Service Departments
• Administrative Expectations of Technical Services
• The “Graying” of Technical Services

The Catalog and Classification Section Subject Analysis Committee will feature an update on the OCLC FAST project by one of the project team members during its meeting Sunday, January 26, 9:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M.

The Catalog and Classification Section Copy Cataloger Discussion Group will host a discussion of copy cataloging workflows on Monday, January 27, 2003, 9:30–11 A.M. While the meeting will include several scheduled speakers, plenty of time will be allowed for the broad participation of all attendees. This should be a great opportunity to share knowledge and experience with others in the field, especially for those that feel they have done something very innovative or lastingly effective with their copy cataloging procedures or for those who would like to ask for outside input on restructuring current workflows. Any and all are welcome and invited to participate.

The Serials Section Journals in Research Libraries Discussion Group will meet Saturday, January 25, 2003, 9:30–11 A.M. The topic will be “Serials Reviews Revisited.” We will talk about cancellation projects at our institutions—what are the rationales for cancellations, what was the workflow, the involvement of the user community, difficulties encountered and techniques for overcoming them, and so on. Cancellation projects are something that seems to happen in libraries in seven- to ten-year cycles, and we look forward to some useful discussions.