ACQNET v2n075 (August 10, 1992) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/acqnet/acq-v2n075 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 2, No. 75, August 10, 1992 ======================================= (1) FROM: Christian Boissonnas SUBJECT: Who's new on ACQNET today (13 lines) (2) FROM: Keith Stetson SUBJECT: Communications within ALCTS, ALCTS reorganization (29 lines) (3) FROM: Hannah King SUBJECT: Journal use statistics (17 lines) (4) FROM: Hannah King SUBJECT: Increases in binding (16 lines) (5) FROM: Anna Belle Leiserson SUBJECT: Australian vendors (25 lines) (6) FROM: Tove Rosado SUBJECT: Latin American approval vendors (22 lines) (7) FROM: Peter Stevens SUBJECT: Acquisitions annual reports (14 lines) (8) FROM: Emily Shen SUBJECT: ABBE Publishers Association, Washington, DC (8 lines) (1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: August 10, 1992 From: Christian Subject: Who's new on ACQNET today Amsa Didi Januarisdi Daniel R. Todd Student Collection Development McGill U. SLIS Tulane University Library E-mail: B7HV@MUSICB.MCGILL.CA E-mail: LB0HILF@MUSIC.TCS.TULANE.EDU Susan Helfert Shaw Acquisitions Librarian South Dakota State University Library E-mail: LI06@SDSUMUS.BITNET (2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 08:22 EST From: Keith Stetson (Fairfield University) Subject: ALCTS Organization The various documents presented in ACQNET 2:71 and 2:72 prompt me to bring up what I believe is a related topic overdue for discussion. Why not create an E-mail conference for each Board, Council, Committee, Task Force, etc., moderated by the elected members? Many individuals who are interested in the work of ALCTS and its various subgroups are either unable or disinclined to attend either of the national ALA conferences. Most libraries now have access to Bitnet or Internet, and those few who don't can surely enlist the aid of colleagues who do, or resort to a telefacsimile machine. I do not see one element of the ALCTS Missions Statement that would not be facilitated by more timely participation by a larger group of interested individuals. Richard Jasper notes in his July 24, 1992 letter to Lizbeth Bishoff that "Personally, I think encouraging member participation should be a major objective." Ms Bishoff writes in her reply that the goals for a new organizational structure include: > 1. Increase opportunities for meaningful participation for > ALCTS members. > 2. Reduce bureaucracy. > 3. Improve communication. I can't imagine an easier and more efficient way to achieve these goals than by conducting much of the business of the organization using E-mail conferences. (3) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 09:12 EDT From: Hannah King (SUNY HSC - Syracuse) Subject: Journal use statistics D Signori asked about collecting use statistics for journals. Though ours circulate, I don't think circulation affects our baseline statistics. What we do at the SUNY HSC Library at Syracuse is count re-shelving of journals on days selected by sampling. We don't count volumes only titles. When a title is re-shelved 6 times we stop counting and note date. At the end of the year I store the data in our serials database and note the quarter it was shelved 6 times. Then I can run off a report asking for those who were shelved 6 times in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters for 2 or more consecutive years. I also have the list of titles that never seemed to be used (as measured by re-shelving). Since we circulate journals I can also get circulation statistics, but these are usually far less than re- shelving statistics. One library also collects cards used to sign out journals over night or for two hours. (4) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 09:18 EDT From: Hannah King (SUNY HSC - Syracuse) Subject: Increases in binding Joyce Ogburn asked about increases in the # of books needing re-bind- ing. I wanted to share something I am finding as I weed our collection -- most of the paper bound books appear to be standing up as well or better than many of the hardbound volumes. I check each book for damage and record for techni- cal services the call number of those that will need to be repaired, so I examining all kinds of bindings. Books that suffer the most wear and tear are large volumes which are too heavy to hold in one hand. Also, if books are really packed onto a shelf, many of them become damaged because it is hard to pull the book out. Also, titles that are shelved horizontally and spine-up so the call number will be easily visible suffer a lot of damage. I have reconsidered my bias against paperbound books, but not my bias against spiral bound books. (5) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 11:06 CDT From: Anna Belle Leiserson (Vanderbilt University) Subject: Vendors for the Large and Not-So-Large I noted with interest the differences in the two responses about Australian serial vendors in vol.2:73 of ACQNET -- one characterizing Australian serials as a "mine field" and the other having consistent, high quality service from their UK/Commonwealth vendor. As a law library that is a separate processing unit from the main library, I would tend to agree with the "mine field" characterization. Over the years, we have noticed that we do not necessarily receive the same quality of service from some vendors that our main library does. We assume this is because of the size of our library and collection. The picture is not all bleak, though, for the smaller library. There are vendors who articulate and then follow through with a goal of servicing the more focused client. It makes sense that some vendors would be better adapted to large accounts, while others come along to "fill the gaps." From our perspective, it means, once again, there are no absolutes in acquisitions -- that we must constantly fine tune our vendor pool to our collection -- and that our knowledge cannot easily be translated into an expert system. Incidentally, in the case of Australia, we have had some success with Everett in London, who now can be reached over the Internet. (6) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 05 Aug 92 13:17:02 EST From: Tove Rosado (University of Connecticut) Subject: Latin American approval vendors I will give you what has been my experience at the University of Connecticut related to Latin American vendors In the 60's a vendor, Stechert and Hafner, N.Y. launched the ill-fated LACAP venture. Great idea, an approval program for all/most (?) of Latin America. However, it was proven that one vendor could not successfully deal with all of it. We have since then had 2 smaller plans with dealers. One for Argentina (with Garcia Cambeiro) and one for Mexico (with Books from Mexico). The Argentinean one was abandoned about a year ago on account of not adhering to the profile, etc. The Mexican one is working well, the owner Lief Adelson is American and understands what American research libraries collects. One of the problems that you will often encounter is that the Latin American vendor will only communicate in Spanish, which causes problems for the processing staff. To answer Lynne Brown's question, yes, I use a vendor in each country. No, I do not see that a plan can take the place of a live and Spanish speaking bibliographer. Obviously I need to qualify this statement assuming that you are concerned with the titles you add to the collection and the money you are expending on the plan. (7) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1992 11:21:42 -0700 (PDT) From: Peter Stevens (University of Washington) Subject: Acquisitions annual reports One way I have tried in the past to keep up with what other acquisitions librarians are doing is to try to exchange copies of annual reports. There is always the chance of stumbling on a good idea or two that can be recycled on this campus. At the very least, such reports can provide an idea of some broad trends or movements (towards or away from approval programs, etc) if you can see a number of them. Now that some of us are preparing such reports online, it should be possible to exchange such reports electronically--or to upload them into an electronic format. Are there other acquisitions librarians out there who would, like me, be willing to share such reports? (8) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 7 Aug 92 16:48:19 CDT From: Emily Shen (University of Texas - Arlington) Subject: ABBE Publishers Association, Washington, DC ABBE Publishers Association of Washington,D.C. is on our vendor's rejected list for "Books paid for and never received". Does anyone have problem dealing with this publisher? I do not want to prepay four books with $37.5 for each and end up with endless claiming. ******* END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 2, No. 75 ****** END OF FILE *******