ALCTS non-English access report available for comment

Contact: Charles Wilt

Executive Director, ALCTS

312-280-5030

For Immediate Release

October 10, 2006

ALCTS non-English access report available for comment

CHICAGO - The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) is pleased to announce the availability of a report on providing access to non-English materials in libraries.

The report was the result of action introduced at the 2005 ALA Annual Membership Meeting and ALA Council on the topic.
The ALCTS Task Force on Non-English Access, chaired by Beth Picknally Camden, was charged in October 2005 by the ALCTS Board of Directors to review past and current activities in providing access to materials in non-English languages, and make recommendations for future actions by ALCTS and others.

The Task Force gathered information from ALCTS and American Library Association groups, the Library of Congress, the bibliographic utilities (OCLC and RLG), other library organizations, and library systems and authority vendors. The task force found that substantial activity has taken place over many years to address the complex issues associated with multiscript and multilingual access.
The Task Force report also includes recommendations for specific actions concerning technical specifications, cataloging guidelines, continuing education, communication, and staffing.
These findings and recommendations are summarized in the report of the Task Force available on the ALCTS web site:

www.ala.org/alcts.

If you are interested in commenting on the findings in the report, a comment form is also available on the ALCTS web site.
Comments should be submitted by December 1, 2006.

In order to further the discussion of this report and other issues related to non-English access, a discussion list has been established.
To subscribe go to the Non-English Access discussion list homepage:

http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/nonenglishaccess

Joan Aliprand will serve as Discussion Facilitator for this list.

ALCTS and its Catalog Form and Function Interest Group will sponsor a Forum on the topic at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle on Saturday, January 20, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Please plan on attending.

ALCTS is a division of the American Library Association.