ACQNET v1n012 (January 16, 1991) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/acqnet/acq-v1n012 ACQNET, Vol 1, No. 12, January 16, 1991 ======================================= (1) FROM: Editor SUBJECT: New members, ALA reports on ACQNET (12 lines) (2) FROM: Richard Jasper SUBJECT: Acquisitions journals, ACQNET (84 lines) (3) FROM: Karen Muller SUBJECT: Impact of microfilming technology on collection development (10 lines) (1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM: EDITOR SUBJECT: New members, ALA reports on ACQNET DATE: January 16, 1991 This issue is going to 18 additional members. I had not been in the ALA exhibits area 5 minutes on Saturday before I picked up the first request to be part of ACQNET. To all of you, welcome. One item that came up at several meetings that I attended was the possibility of reading reports of ALA meetings on ACQNET. I know that I would like to write about some of the things that I heard, and I will, but that isn't the same thing. What do you think? (2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Jan 1991 09:08 EST From: Richard Jasper Subject: ACQNET, Acq Journals, Acq cetera While you were gazing upon your babbling brook in presumably not so frigid (else it wouldn't have been babbling, right?) upstate New York, I was enjoying the fellowship of family and friends in my hometown, Pensacola, Fla., which set new records in the departments of foggy, rainy, muggy and just generally icky. Of course, Pensacola usually *is* all those things this time of the year, but never for eight days in a row! Weather and travel aside, I think we need to consider the medium with which we're dealing, which is after all an electronic bulletin board (of sorts). As such, it certainly is more interactive than a scholarly journal. On the other hand, it is somewhat less interactive than a cocktail party. It allows for pauses and lulls that, in a cocktail party setting, would have to be filled with more cheese straws or (down here at any rate) completely inane comments like "how 'bout them hairy dawgs?" The point is that with an electronic bulletin board one should expect a fair amount of stopping and starting. Somebody throws out an idea that's been percolating for a long time, which, depending on how it strikes the other participants, generates a lot or a little conversation. Person X, who tossed idea # 1 into the pile, may have run out of discussable ideas for the nonce. But never fear: things will pick up again before too long, especially when the editor assumes the role of agent provacateur, as you have done so ably, readily and (dare I say it?) eagerly, Christian. Now as to why ACQNET, Against the Grain, and the Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues are wonderful creations: THEY'RE NEWSY! By which I mean to say that ACQNET, Against the Grain, and NSPI are chockfull (or becoming chockfull, in the case of ACQNET) of timely, interesting, practi- cal bits of information about what people in the field of acquisitions librari- anship of doing, thinking, seeing, pondering. And that's just great! In case you all hadn't noticed, acquisitions librarianship is dynamic. As a group, we're constantly grappling with changes in our purchasing power, the vendors and publishers with whom we interact, the means and rules/regulations by which we purchase/procure materials, as well as the types of materials to be ac- quired. We desperately NEED timely access to our peers' thoughts, insights, observations, experiences, fears, and expectations if we are to respond adequately to our changing environments. Electronic publications such as ACQNET and NSPI help meet this need, as does Against the Grain, which, if you think about it, functions more as a trade magazine than a scholarly journal. Scholarly journals can't really meet this need. They don't appear regularly enough, you can't get everything in, and it takes a long time for a response, generally in the quite limited form of a letter to the editor, to show up. And even if the scholarly journal was substantially larger and more frequent, its purpose would be ill-served by including items of the type we see in ACQNET, NSPI, and Against the Grain. After all, the scholarly journal's purpose is to report the results of in-depth research into observed phenomena, research which gives us some insight into or greater understanding of the things we see in the day-to-day world. The news source is "what's happening today"; the scholarly journal gives us a theory to explain and understand "what's happening today." Inasmuch as my background ... [This was followed by a second message from Richard. I didn't want to edit out its beginning and simply join it to the first at its proper place, so here it is. Ed.] Well, that's the problem with computers, isn't it? You go right along merrily, reveling in your punditry, then BLOOEY! You hit the wrong key and you're cut off in mid-thought. My concluding comments were to have been: Inasmuch as my background is daily newspaper journalism (i.e., reporting) and not scholarly research, I don't feel comfortable speaking to the relative merits and/or deficiencies of the existing scholarly journals in the field of librarianship and the subfields of acquisitions, serials, and collection management. Even so, it's quite obvious that they have both strengths and weaknesses. I am sure, however, that publications such as ACQNET, NSPI, and Against the Grain will in the long run help improve the overall quality of the scholarly journals in our field by providing, at long last, a desperately needed outlet for news and information exchange. With publications like this one, scholarly journals can be freed to concentrate on meaningful research. Richard Jasper, Head Acquisitions Department R.W. Woodruff Library Emory University (3) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 10 January 1991 10:22:06 CST From: "Karen Muller/ALCTS 312-280-5031" Subject: Impact of microfilming technology on collection development While waiting to be called into the jury room the other day, I did about 6 inches of professional reading. This included an article in the July 1990 C&RL entitled "The Electronic Revolution in Libraries: Microfilm Deja Vu." Inter- esting comments on how microfilm was supposed to change how we collected for libraries, etc. Recommended for "non-directed" (i.e. that which you don't *have* to do) professional reading!