ACQNET v1n040 (March 10, 1991) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/acqnet/acq-v1n040 ACQNET, Vol 1, No. 40, March 10, 1991 ===================================== (1) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: Who's new on ACQNET today (18 lines) (2) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: ACQNET at 3 months (69 lines) (3) FROM: Erika Link SUBJECT: Proceedings of the NYC Conference on Labor (17 lines) (4) FROM: Judith C. Eannarino SUBJECT: Vendors in Greece and Israel, Foreign vendors (16 lines) (5) FROM: Ann Ford SUBJECT: Rare, OP dealers, and publishers catalogs (23 lines) (6) FROM: Ann Ford SUBJECT: Staff use of radio/cassette players (15 lines) (1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: March 11, 1991 From: Christian Subject: Who's new on ACQNET today Margaret Peeples Richard D. Hacken Head of Monographs Dept. Germanic Studies Librarian UC-Santa Cruz Brigham Young University E-mail: MARGINN@UCSCM.UCSD.EDU E-mail: LIBRDH@BYUVM.BITNET Guyla Houston Randy Olsen Acquisitions Librarian Brigham Young University Oklahoma State University Library E-Mail: LIBRJO@BYUVM.BITNET E-mail: LIBRGBH@OSUCC.BITNET Sheila Mangum Judith M. Brugger Head, Acquisitions Catalog Management & Authorities Libr. University of North Florida Cornell University Library E-mail: SMANGUM@UNF1VM.BITNET E-mail: J2MX@CORNELLC.BITNET (2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: March 10, 1991 From: Christian Subject: ACQNET at 3 months ACQNET is three months old today. It is worth spending a few minutes thinking about that. When we started we had not articulated very precisely what we expected from ACQNET. We, the 25 people who started it, felt the need for another communica- tion medium, but we didn't say it had to follow any particular format. I imposed the current format as my price for managing it, believing it shouldn't be yet another bulletin board with no controls. The format is one that I copied from the HUMANIST listserv, currently being run our of Brown University. I have received much positive feedback in the past 6 weeks, which suggests that ACQNET is meeting a need. Whether it is the need which we thought when we started, I don't know. Maybe it doesn't matter especially since our expecta- tions were so ill-defined. We now have 119 registered members. We are a fairly eclectic group: Library directors: 5 Systems/automation librarians: 3 Acquisitions librarians: 56 Heads of technical services: 13 Head of collection development: 15 Serials librarians: 6 Others: 21 We know that lots of other people read ACQNET, but we don't know who they are, or why. I would like to find out and I will prepare a questionnaire (short, I promise) that I will send out to try and determine our true readership. We wrote 167 items in these three months. Take out the ones from me as editor, that leaves 132 by 49 contributors, as follows: No. of postings No. of contributors 5 or more 6 2 - 4 23 1 19 This suggests a fairly widespread involvement of the membership. It seems to me unusually high, but I have no way of knowing. I wonder how it compares with other networks if comparisons are, indeed, possible. We have dealt, at least superficially, with a number of issues. I am not sure that we have completed the debate on any, with the possible exception of the Slavic procurement debacle, and that wasn't a debate. I'm not sure that it is appropriate to talk about a debate being completed in this context. It's more that a debate runs its course, at least for a while, and we go on to something else. I still would like to hear some more on the issues of acquisitions journals, the ALCTS reorganization, approvals, and vendor selection. One issue, I thought, would stimulate some discussion: Access versus ownership. It hasn't. I wonder why, especially since it is supposed to be such a hot issue right now. We have shown with the Slavic issue, and again today (see Vol. 1, No. 39 on the _Insectes Sociaux_ affair) that we fill an important place in the communica- tions chain: we can disseminate important stuff very quickly. I would like to know what people think of what ACQNET has become contrasted with their expectations when joining. For you people who read and are not members (or who used to read and have become members,) what is it that can induce (or has induced) you to become a member? I said, three months ago, that we were writing the book on electronic acquisi- tions networks. We still are, even if our first chapter is finished. I know as little now about ACQNET for the long-term as I did then. I hope many of you, members and readers, will help focus on that for a while. (3) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Mar 91 13:08:06 -0500 (EST) From: "Erika C. Linke" Subject: NYC National Conference on Labor Proceedings In December, 1990, Little, Brown purchased from Matthew Bender the _Proceedings of the New York University National Conference on Labor_ (ISSN: 0193-3418). For whatever reason, the subscriber list was not transfered from Bender to Little, Brown. What this means is that many of us have not received the latest volume of the proceedings and Little, Brown doesn't know we exist. The latest volume was released in December,1990 and is the 43d. To add insult to injury, Little, Brown will maintain a sole source option on the title. (I've registered a verbal complaint about this which I hope to follow up in writing.) To alert Little, Brown that you are a subscriber, call 1-800-331-1664. (4) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Mar 91 10:38:34 EST From: Judith C. Eannarino Subject: Vendors in Greece, Israel, and other countries If you have either approval plan coverage or a good dealer for scientific monographs from Israel or Greece, I would appreciate hearing from you. In addition, I am reviewing coverage of China, Korea, India, Canada, and African countries, and would enjoy comparing notes with anyone working with these regions. Please respond to me directly at jce@nlm.nih.gov. [I'm sure many of us would benefit from information about these countries, so feel free to respond to ACQNET as well. Ed.] (5) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 08 Mar 91 15:13 CST From: Ann Ford Subject: Rare, OP dealers and publishers catalogs We have maintained a file of rare book and OP dealers' catalogs for decades, filed alphabetically and occupying about 200 feet of shelving by now. The collection is very rarely used and we are at the point of disposing of all but a few select dealers, with the full cooperation of our Special Collections (includes Rare Books) librarians. In most cases BOOKMAN'S PRICE INDEX contains all of the information found in the catalogs. We'd be interested to know if others in acquisitions have worked on this as a problem and how they handled discarded catalogs. Are files available elesewhere if someone comes in and wants to see such a catalog (it does happen once in a while)? We have also kept U S and foreign publishers' catalogs, but they seem to arrive less reliably. The few times we have the occasion to look for one we never seem to have an up-to-date catalog for the right publisher. Maybe they are not considered a productive marketing technique anymore. Have others in acquisitions given up and with what result? (5) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 08 Mar 91 15:13 CST From: Ann Ford Subject: Staff use of radio/cassette players A few years ago we started to allow people to wear earphones and have beverages at their desks IF they were not working in a public capacity. We defined the two people who work at the entrance to the Monographic Acquisitions area as being in a semi-public area, so they are very discreet about beverages and may not wear earphones. But we have many many more people dropping in now that our orders and recent receipts are on OASIS (our NOTIS system). We have about ten requests per day in person or by phone, asking to have "rush" or "hold for information" added to orders or receipts. We have become a more public area, though we are not easy to find. ***** END OF FILE ***** END OF FILE ***** END OF FILE ***** END OF FILE *****