ACQNET v1n133 (December 10, 1991) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/acqnet/acq-v1n133 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 1, No. 133, December 10, 1991 ========================================== (1) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: ACQNET at one year (101 lines) (2) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: A challenge (46 lines) (1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: December 10, 1991 From: Christian Subject: ACQNET at one year This issue is different. It's my issue. I wanted to mark this anniversary in my way, making us think for a while about something else beside French vendors and other such problems that we've been considering. ACQNET at one year is worth thinking about for a few minutes. One year ago today is when I sent Vol. 1, No. 1 to the 25 or so people who had signed up for an Acquisitions Librarians Network. We are now 416, plus the untold numbers who read but do not subscribe to ACQNET directly. We are in 44 U.S. states and 7 other countries. We call ourselves all kinds of things: -- Acquisitions librarians (generic for any title in which the word "acquisi- tions" occurs: 148 -- Serials librarians (generic ... "serials"): 43 -- Collection management librarians: 34 -- Acquisitions and collection development librarians: 9 -- Acquisitions and serials librarians: 21 -- Serials acquisitions librarians: 6 -- Assistant directors (for collection development/technical services/ information resources in any combinations): 56 -- Directors/University librarians: 8 -- Bibliographic services librarian: 1 -- Music librarians: 1 -- Basque studies librarians: 1 -- User services librarians for Acquisitions/Serials: 1 -- Vendors: 13 and many, many, others. Even with grouping like titles together I have tallied 71 different job titles. I will leave to others, or another time, the task of figuring out what makes defining what we do so difficult. We come from large and small libraries, public, college and research, corpo- rate, law, medical, and from professional associations. The bottom line is that fewer than half of us can be pigeon-holed as acquisi- tions or serials librarians. And I used to feel isolated! It's time we re- draw this picture we have of ourselves as being alone on library islands. So our experiment is one-year-old. It has taught me much: -- That editing can be fun but isn't easy. Thank you, Editorial Board members. You have really helped me, even if it was only to clarify my own thinking. -- That there really are a lot of people out there whose opinions I value and whom I want to think of as my friends as well as my colleagues. -- That there is no such thing as an "acquisitions" problem divorced from its environment and of interest only to acquisitions librarians. -- That e-mail is revolutionizing our lives, both professional and social. If you don't believe that, just think of how many people you were in daily regular contact with before e-mail, and compare it to the present. -- That I really do love my profession and that, even though we knock it down a lot, it is a good and worthwhile profession. Many of you reaffirm that in your postings. ACQNET is one year-old. When we first started not one of us knew where we were going. We decided to stay as loose as possible and write the book as we went along. It was not long before I began to worry about the long-term future of this thing which is neither a list nor a newsletter, but still embodies both. I expressed two concerns in an editorial I wrote for _Library Acquisitions: Practice and Theory_, v. 15 (1991), p. 424. They are reprinted here with permission. The first is: "From the beginning I have though that ACQNET had to func- tion as a membership organization, that its long-term success rested in the willingness of the people who form the ACQNET community to invest enough of themselves to keep it going. I felt that if it survived or prospered only because I kept it going, it was not really a valid publica- tion ...." My second concern dealt with how people contribute to and use ACQNET: "The problem specific to ACQNET is also faced by many, if not all, voluntary membership organization: There is a large body of members that are invisible in that they rarely contribute to the organization by giving something of themselves. In ACQNET, these are people who don't write, and people who ask questions but don't give opin- ions. What separates ACQNET from traditional newsletters is the possibility of real dialogues, as happens on other lists or bulletin boards. It is also, I believe what makes ACQNET interesting. Without that, it becomes another source of information, albeit quicker and more helpful than many because it distributes information very quickly. People who answer others' calls for information, I believe, will soon tire or giving that information unless they also get something in return. That something is opinions and thoughts that stimulate their own thinking. I love to read, and learn from, posting by colleagues who have dif- ferent points of view on an issue. If ACQNET is going to survive as a forum for discussion, there needs to be more discussions in it." As we enter our second year I hope that the membership will see fit to address- ing these points and give the Editorial Board and me direction on making ACQNET the ultimate tool that it can be for our community. (2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: December 10, 1991 From: Christian Subject: A challenge I have been pondering this item for a long time. You will soon see why. I find it hard not to think about the profession when I am bombarded daily by thoughts and questions from colleagues. Before this year the "Profession" is something I thought about twice or three times a year, before and during conferences, and while reading the occasional article that dealt with the concept. No such luck anymore, even when I'm nowhere near a computer. Some of you will recall my mentioning spending a day this summer fishing on the Big Horn River in Montana. It was a glorious day, hot but not unpleasantly so, clear, in a breathtakingly beautiful part of the world on a river that could have been photographed by Ansel Adams. On that day I was aboard a boat with my Dad, my wife, and Gael Larr, the outfitter from Fort Smith, Montana, whose boat it was. Gael is a strong young man who has done many things in life. In this particular phase of his life he takes tourists down the river and builds log houses. He also asks questions, as the boat silently glides down the river, questions such as: "What do you do?" and "Why?" Then he listens to you and points the weaknesses and inconsis- tencies of your answers back to you. I mean he really listens, he's not just making conversation. After goading my father for a while about French politics he started in on me about librarianship. We parried back and forth, then he asked this question: "If you could change one thing about your profession, what would it be?" I gave a couple of answers including terms such as low self-esteem and wimpish- ness, and he promptly ripped those to shreds. The fact is, I couldn't answer intelligently. So I told Gael that I would think about it, then put the question on ACQNET and see what the profession thought. I haven't done it until tonight because I felt that I had to answer the question for myself first. And I have. More precisely, Joe Barker did in ACQNET 1:131(5) in the context of the _LAPT_ contents issue. He said: "Let's have some guts, take safe risks, and not look for problems we don't have to have." That's what I would change about our profession: We should be moderate risk- takers and not continue to invent reasons not to do things such as: someone might not like it, or, someone might sue us. How about you? What would you change? I must tell you that this issue and all answers to the question will be sent to Gael Larr. He and I already have a date for next July on the Big Horn River. ******* END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 1, No. 133 ****** END OF FILE *******