ACQNET v3n045 (April 26, 1993) URL = http://www.infomotions.com/serials/acqnet/acq-v3n045 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 3, No. 45, April 26, 1993 ====================================== (1) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: Who's new on ACQNET today (24 lines) (2) FROM: Jana Lonberger SUBJECT: Acq. profession, migration of tech. services jobs (82 lines) (3) FROM: Liz Chapman SUBJECT: Kluwer tables of contents and MARC records (19 lines) (4) FROM: Betty Oktay SUBJECT: _American Zoologist_ (24 lines) (5) FROM: Rosann Bazirjian SUBJECT: Routing professional literature (14 lines) (1)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: April 26, 1993 From: Christian Subject: Who's new on ACQNET today Olga Russov Lynette Roslyn Reilly Acquisitions Librarian Precataloguing Librarian Kennesaw State College Library RMIT Central Library E-mail: ORUSSOV@KSCMAIL.KENNESAW.EDU E-mail: RYLLR@MINYOS.XX.RMIT.OZ.AU Eric Lease Morgan Dawn E. Van Ark Systems Librarian Acquisitions Associate NC State University Libraries Hope College Library E-mail: MRSERIAL@MINERVA.LIB.NCSU.EDU E-mail: VANARKD@HOPE.CIT.HOPE.EDU Arline Ann Haenisch Taeock Kim Acquisitions Assistant Assoc. UL for Collection Management Elmhurst College Library Santa Clara University Library E-mail: ARLINEH@ELMHCX9.ELMHURST.EDU E-mail: TKIM@SCUACC.SCU.EDU Tai-ru Larry Chen Journals Librarian Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan) E-mail: AD30CTR0@ITRIB.ITRI.ORG.TW (2)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Apr 93 11:59:27 EDT From: Jana Lonberger (Georgia Inst. of Technology) Subject: Job transfer For those ACQNET readers who have been following the recent and sometimes heated discussion regarding the responsibilities of acquisitions librarians (and how we cope with them) ... I have another log to throw on the fire. A job ad for the Head of Serials Control at the Georgia Tech Library appeared in the March 31 edition of ACQNET. I am currently the Serials Control head - but only for a short time. Effective July 1 I will be transferring to the Reference Dept. here at Tech. I am sure that all my friends and acquaintances out there in ACQNET Land are wondering whether I've been fired, demoted, or met with some equally dire fate. I would like to go on record and state that not only did I initiate this transfer, I'm actually happy and excited about it. So the next time you see me, it's okay to offer congratulations instead of condolences! Now, you might ask, what in the world would possess a person with over ten years of experience in technical services to jump ship and move to the "front line"? Reading about how Joe Barker and others shoulder their considerable responsibilities as acquisitions or serials department heads was very comforting in a way. It's always nice to hear that you're not the only one muddling through as best you can! I, too, manage a large staff of mostly low-ranking, poorly paid, overworked nonprofessionals. Tech is a mid-sized academic library, which means that I have no "middle managers" to speak of who can take most of the day-to-day operational chores off my shoulders. We also have chronically high turnover; I always have at least some staff members who, although generally well-educated and energetic, are insufficiently trained to perform their duties without frequent guidance from me. In short, I'm basically a full-time operations manager, who has little time left for the non-administrative work I'm also supposed to be involved in. Like many of you, I spend many extra hours at work and at home trying to keep my head above water. And also like many of you, in the past three and a half years I have dealt with a major reorganization, implementing new serials control and acquisitions systems, and transferring our entire periodicals account from one vendor to another. Those of you who are in my shoes are probably shrugging your shoulders and saying, "SO WHAT? Don't we all do this?" It took me a long time to admit to myself that yes, this is what acquisitions and serials work is all about, BUT no, for me personally it wasn't what I wanted to be doing. In this line of work you have to really enjoy management (and in my particular situation, micro-management). I have come to the conclusion that, while I do not entirely loathe administration and management, I do not like it as a steady diet. I want to be more responsible for my own performance, and less responsible for the performance of others. I should mention that I have non-work related responsibilities as well - a husband in sales who has a totally erratic schedule, and a ten-year old who's into soccer and about to become a latch-key child. In my present position, I fall victim to the Superwoman Syndrome. I try to do it all yet feel I can't accomplish anything to my satisfaction. What I need is a job in which I can continue to contribute and grow professionally, yet still have some semblance of a life outside of work. Going back to an entry-level position in technical services is out - I've done all that before. So I opened negotiations with our library administration to explore other alternatives. They gradually convinced me that a transfer to Public Services (specifically Reference) was not only a viable alternative but a good opportunity for me. I'm being given the chance to broaden my knowledge in a lot of new areas, and at the same time I'll be able to apply skills I already possess. I'll serve as the library's liaison to several departments, thereby utilizing my collection development expertise. And Public Services is truly looking forward to using me as a "locator" of materials and "interpreter" of bibliographic, check-in, and order records. Who better than someone who's worked in cataloging, acquisitions and serials, and who's infinitely familiar with Technical Services' workflow and procedures? My ultimate goal is to become the library's "expert" in something I'm really good at, and working in Reference, if only temporarily, will afford me and the administration the opportunity to figure out what that something should be. The Georgia Tech Library is moving rapidly toward the "access" end of the acquisitions spectrum and away from "ownership". The lines between technical and public services are already becoming quite muddy in many libraries, and I think this trend will continue. I see my transfer as a natural evolution. So don't cry for me, folks - the name of the game is adaptability! P.S. If this metamorphosis doesn't work out, I'll just have to eat crow! (3)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1993 11:46:43 +0100 From: Liz Chapman (Oxford University) Subject: Kluwer tables of contents and MARC records I have had a letter from the Kluwer publishing group asking whether Librarians would be interested in receiving table of contents for books and full MARC records prior to publication. They propose to provide this information in machine readable form and are interested to know how or where they should provide it. They are already providing a ftp server for their electrical and computer science journals providing complete table of contents back to the first issues as well as ordering information and instructions for authors. In view of the recent comments on acquisitions librarians being ignored/ passed over by cataloguers in their efforts to set up bibliographic records I wondered if anyone on ACQNET had any comments for Kluwer? I would be happy to collate and forward them. On mentioning this to another publisher (Chapman and Hall - no relation) they were keen to follow. (4)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 1993 11:59:48 +0300 From: Betty Oktay (Vassar College) Subject: _American Zoologist_ The subscription price of _American Zoologist_ is going up from $133 to $400 effective with vol. 33 #1, 1993. I just checked the journal issue myself to confirm this information. Faxon kindly brought it to our attention with a notification dated April 21, 1993 and Jean Regan, Publication Services noted that the increase would NOT affect us until the 1994 renewal. I called a member of our biology faculty to share this news with him. He is a member of the American Society of Zoologists and already knew about this dramatic increase in the subscription. He then went on to explain the financial situation of the society. They changed their management staff due to a retirement and soon became aware of their debts - even have asked members to contribute $200 each to keep the Society in business, etc. For purposes of comparison it might be helpful to note that a related journal published by Academic Press, _Journal of Theoretical Biology_, costs $1600 per year. Explanations don't provide funds but they certainly help in deciding whether or not to continue a subscription. (5)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1993 13:10:56 EDT From: Rosann Bazirjian (Syracuse University) Subject: Routing professional literature We are trying to develop criteria for the routing of journal issues to library staff. At present, we have too many titles which are routed. This deprives the patron of recent journal issues, as the material can often take several months to complete the routing list and be forwarded to "Current Periodicals". Have any libraries developed criteria which have helped alleviate the problems associated with the routing of journals? ****** END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 3, No. 45 ****** END OF FILE ******