ALCTS Network News v10n13 (October 26, 1995) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v10n13 ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 10, Number 13 October 26, 1995 In this issue ** MIDWINTER MEETING REQUEST REMINDER ** ALA OLPR DIRECTOR MYERS RETIRES TO JOIN PEACE CORPS LSTA-LIBRARY/MUSEUM AMENDMENT PASSED IN SENATE MELVIL DEWEY MEDAL NOMINEES SOUGHT CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS FOR AUTHORITY CONTROL CONFERENCE NASIG HORIZON AWARD SEEKS NOMINEES ************************************************************************** ** MIDWINTER MEETING REQUEST REMINDER ** Any committee, discussion group, or task force chairs who have not submitted a Midwinter Meeting request form should do so now. You may send e-mail to yvonne.mclean@ala.org, or fax her at 312-280-3257, or call her at 800-545-2433 ext. 5032 with the information if you'd like her to fill out the forms for you. ALA Conference Services begins making meeting room assignments next week. ************************************************************************* ALA OLPR DIRECTOR MYERS RETIRES TO JOIN PEACE CORPS Margaret Myers, director of ALA's Office for Library Personnel Resources, retired effective October 13 after 21 years of service. She will leave in early November for a two-year Peace Corps assignment in Botswana, where she will help to develop community libraries. "Margaret has provided counsel and personal assistance to thousands of librarians, library workers and potential librarians," said ALA Executive Director Elizabeth Martinez. "She has recruited many, helped many, and tirelessly and thoughtfully responded to the needs of our members and friends. In many ways, she has been the voice for librarians in speaking for equal pay and status for women." Martinez described Myers' decision to join the Peace Corps as "another step in a career of courage and commitment. I and countless more ALA members wish her all the best." Myers received the first ALA Equality Award in 1984 for her leadership in promoting equal opportunities for women and minoritites. She is the author of several articles about library education and human resources. "It has been energizing to work with ALA members in addressing important issues such as pay equity and fair employment," Myers said. "I will miss this national network of colleagues and friends, and I will probably be calling on them for help from Botswana." Myers served as director of the Office for Library Personnel Resources since 1974 and was part-time executive secretary for the former Library Education Division from 1974-78. Her responsibilities included the Placement Center at ALA conferences, the Library Personnel News newsletter and recruitment activities such as the "Each One, Reach One" campaign. She was staff liaison to several ALA committees and roundtables, including the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship, the Committee on Education (COE) and Committee on Pay Equity. Before joining ALA, Myers was an assistant professor and placement director at the Rutgers Graduate School of Library Science in New Brunswick, N.J. She holds a bachelor's degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., a master's degree in social work from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and a master's degree in library science from Rutgers. ************************************************************************* LSTA-LIBRARY/MUSEUM AMENDMENT PASSED IN SENATE The Library Services and Technology Act was passed by the Senate as an amendment to S.143, the Workforce Development Act, on October 11. The amendment, sponsored by Senators Claiborne Pell (D-RI) and James Jeffords (R-VT), passed by voice vote and consisted of the library and museum portions of S.856. The provision passed by the Senate includes the full LSTA proposal, with only minor modifications, as developed by ALA and other library groups to update and replace the expiring Library Services and Construction Act. In addition to the state-based LSTA, the amendment includes a national leadership program in library science, and joint library- museum projects. Both the House and Senate have now given bipartisan approval to renewal, although in different forms (S.143 and H.R.1617, which includes a Library Services and Technology Consolidation Grant), of the LSCA as a Library Services and Technology program. -- Compiled by Derry Juneja for the ALCTS Legislation Committee ************************************************************************* MELVIL DEWEY MEDAL NOMINEES SOUGHT The Melvil Dewey Medal is one of the oldest and most prestigious of the ALA awards. It is given to individuals or a group for recent creative professional achievement of a high order, particularly in those fields in which Melvil Dewey was actively interested. While many correctly associate Melvil Dewey with cataloging and classification, he was also a leader in library management, library training, and the tools and techniques of librarianship in general, which means nominees can be drawn from all of these areas. As chair of this year's award committee, I encourage each of you to take a few minutes to reflect on the accomplishments of your colleagues and to choose from among these persons the one or two most worthy of nomination. Then request the nomination form and specific instructions from Daphne Whitehead, Assistant to the Associate Executive Director for Member Programs and Services, ALA. Her electronic mail address is daphne.whitehead@ala.org and her telephone number is 1-800-545-2433, ext. 3247. She will send you the nomination form (yes, nominations must be on this form), which when completed, you will send to me as the committee chair. If I can be of further assistance, contact me at younger.6@osu.edu or 614-292-6151. Recognizing the contributions of outstanding librarians not only honors the recipient(s) but also keeps all of us, ALA members and those in other walks of life, informed of what we can and do accomplish. I look forward to hearing from you. -- Jennifer Younger Chair, Melvil Dewey Award Jury ************************************************************************* CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS FOR AUTHORITY CONTROL CONFERENCE OCLC Online Computer Library Center is calling for proposals for a paper, a panel discussion, or a software demonstration for a conference on re-inventing authority control for the next decade. The conference will will be held March 31-April 1, 1996, in Dublin, Ohio. Proposals in one of the following five general areas will be considered: 1. Authority Control and Computers Can computers be used to re-engineer authority control to significantly reduce its costs and still ensure high-quality search results for end- -users? What is the optimal balance between human and computer resources? Other possible paper topics include the creation and use of machine-derived authority records; interactive authority control, and the application of artificial intelligence techniques to authorities processing. 2. Changing Environment for Authority Control Advances in computer and communications technology have made powerful computers with access to an ever-increasing array of information services commonplace in libraries. Does patron access to the Internet and WWW, to a multiplicity of national and international online catalogs, or to commercial online document delivery services affect the environment for authority control? What level of authority control is needed? What other changes in the library environment will motivate change in authority processes and procedures? Other possible topics include multi-authority environments, multi-lingual authorities, and how relationships between different types of authorities should be expressed and coded. 3. Authority File Characteristics and Use Information about the make-up and use of authority files is vital for the development of effective and innovative solutions to problems with authority control. Possible topics in this area include growth rates of bibliographic and authority files, rates and types of changes in records, and relative use of headings in bibliographic and authority files. 4. Use of Authorities in Information Retrieval What is the role of authorities in improving information retrieval effectiveness vis-a-vis natural language processing, ranked retrievals, and relevance feed-back techniques? Other possible topics include how authority data may be used to formulate effective search strategies, reveal relationships among controlled headings, reformulate unsuccessful queries (no hits, too many, too few), explain the nature and scope of controlled headings 5. Specific Aspects or Types of Authorities This category does not exclude topics suggested in the preceding categories but provides a place for papers that emphasize a particular aspect or type of authority control. For example, subjects, personal names, corporate names, uniform titles, series, classification. General inquiries about the conference, guidelines, and proposals should be sent to ac_conf@oclc.org. Proposals must be received by December 1. Include AC_CONF PROPOSAL in the subject line. Presenters will be notified by December 31, 1995. ************************************************************************* NASIG HORIZON AWARD SEEKS NOMINEES After November 15, applications will be available for NASIG's year-old award honoring new serial librarians. The Horizon Award provides travel and conference fees for NASIG's annual conference to be held June 20-23, 1996, at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. For further information on eligibility and the application procedure, contact Anne E. McKee, Chair, NASIG Horizon Award, The Faxon Company, by e-mail to mckeea@faxon.com or phone to 602-876-8228. The deadline for applications is January 16, 1996. ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ALCTS NETWORK NEWS (ISSN 1056-6694) is published irregularly by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association. Editorial offices: ALCTS, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; David Farrell, President; Karen Muller, Executive Director. Editor: Karen Whittlesey (u34261@uicvm); Editorial Assistance: Karen Muller, Shonda Russell. ALCTS NETWORK NEWS is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the division. News items should be sent to the editor at the e-mail address above. To subscribe, issue the network command "tell listserv@uicvm sub alcts [your name]." Back issues of AN2 are available through the listserver. To find out what's available, send the following command to LISTSERV@UICVM: send alcts filelist Send questions about membership in ALCTS to the ALCTS Office, alcts.office@ ala.org All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or education advancement. For other reprinting or redistribution or translations, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. *************************************************************************