ALCTS Network News v11n13 (May 8, 1996) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v11n13 ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 11, Number 13 May 8, 1996 In this issue TOPICS SOUGHT FOR TALK TABLES AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE PRESERVATION TOPICS SUBJECT OF TWO ALCTS PROGRAMS ASSESSING AND EVALUATING OUTSOURCING ON PROGRAM SCHEDULE AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE LAST CALL FOR WORST SERIAL TITLE CHANGE OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS MENTOR PROGRAM FOR NEW ATTENDEES IN NEW YORK CITY NISO OPENS WWW HOME PAGE TSCHERA CONNELL NAMED RECIPIENT OF 1996 LAPT RESEARCH AWARD ***** TOPICS SOUGHT FOR TALK TABLES AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE ALA Conference Services is soliciting topics for talk tables at Annual Conference. There will be 20 talk tables available on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from 12:30 to 2:00. The tables, which each seat 10 people, will be located in the Special Events Room Foyer right outside the cafeteria so people can talk over lunch. If you have a topic for discussion, notify Karen Whittlesey at the ALCTS office by Friday. May 10 (kwhittlesey@ala.org). Information needed is: the topic title as you would like to have it on the table sign, your first and second choice of days, and the name of the person who will facilitate the discussion. This is an opportunity for a successful new venue for Conference. ***** PRESERVATION TOPICS SUBJECT OF TWO ALCTS PROGRAMS The Photographic and Recording Media Committee of PARS is offering a program titled "The Silent Future? Current Practice and Proposed Standards for Preservation of Audio Materials" at Annual Conference. Cosponsored by the ALCTS AV Committee, this program is scheduled for Saturday, July 6, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Preservation of audio materials is a developing field attempting to cope with both analog and digital technology. Few guidelines and standards exist for the use of either. This program will outline current practices and guidelines. Practitioners will describe preservation projects and discuss how they decided on specific methodologies given the lack of standards. The program will conclude with a discussion of ongoing work to develop standards and a call to action. On Sunday, July 7, 9:30-12:30 p.m., the PARS Intellectual Access Committee and the ALCTS Digital Resources Committee are offering "Digital Preservation: Building an Access Infrastructure." With libraries using new and evolving scanning technologies to reformat a wide variety of texts and images, new cataloging models are needed to support a national program of digital access and preservation. Two speakers will present experiments using SGML catalog records and linked multiple versions to describe complex digital resources. Additional presentations will focus on issues pertinent to national coordinated programs, discussing the information digital library implementers need to assess the quality, usefulness and permanence of digital resources. ***** ASSESSING AND EVALUATING OUTSOURCING ON PROGRAM SCHEDULE AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE The ALCTS Commercial Technical Services Committee is holding a program titled "Creative Outsourcing: Assessment and Evaluation" on Tuesday, July 9, 9:30-12:30 p.m. How effective is outsourcing as a management tool? Does it meet library expectations? What else happens because a library outsources? Technical services administrators, library managers, planners, and staff can hear four speakers assess and evaluate their libraries' outsourcing in technical services. These case studies range from the familiar to the innovative in acquiring records, cataloging and processing, and HTML mark up and authority control for electronic journals. Attendees will receive a bibliography covering more case studies and trends. ***** LAST CALL FOR WORST SERIAL TITLE CHANGE OF THE YEAR NOMINATIONS May 15 is the deadline to nominate candidates for the Worst Serial Title Change of the Year award and its associated awards. Qualifications for the award include frivolous title changes for no apparent reason and producing no advantage; unnecessary change of an old, respected title; repeated changes, the latest being no better than earlier ones; and the "Snake in the Grass" or "Et too Brute?" category for library publications. The title change must have occurred since January 1, 1995, to be considered. Supply a complete citation for each change, including title, number, and date of last issue with old title; title, number, and date of first issue with the new title; and the publisher's name and address. Photocopies of relevant pages or cataloging printouts are useful as verification. Send nominations to John Radencich, chair, Worst Serial Title Change of the Year Committee; internet: radencic@servax.fiu.edu (or call him at 305/348-3785). ***** MENTOR PROGRAM FOR NEW ATTENDEES IN NEW YORK CITY Are you a student or a new librarian planning to attend the American Library Association's annual conference in New York City in July? Would you like to have a mentor at the conference, someone to talk to or to help you acclimate? Are you a seasoned conference attendee who would like to share your experience with a student or a new professional? If you answered YES to any of these questions, the Conference Mentor Program is for you! The Mentoring Committee of the New Members Round Table (NMRT) is sponsoring this project to help make new attendees feel at ease at a conference whose size can often be overwhelming and intimidating. Who is a mentor? A mentor is an experienced and trusted advisor. Within the context of ALA conferences, it is someone who can help a new librarian or a library science student negotiate a path among the numerous meetings, programs, exhibits and acronyms. Mentees, or proteges (those being mentored) may be library science students, new librarians, first-time conference attendees, or anyone who would like to feel more comfortable attending the annual conference. The only qualification for being a mentor is to have a sincere interest in helping someone get the most out of the conference. This involves being a good listener, a thoughtful advisor and a role model. Mentors should expect to meet a least once with their mentees during the conference to answer questions, give guidance or just to listen. More contact during the conference, or, even afterwards is encouraged. Mentors can be from any ALA division or affiliate group in order to show mentees the many opportunities for involvement in ALA. In order to participate, request a form from Dora Ho, AP520@lafn.org or phone to (818) 766-7186 by May 31, 1996. Mentors and mentees (protoges) will be matched based on the information provided. Mentors will be responsible for contacting mentees before the conference to arrange a meeting. Submitted by Betsy Simpson, NMRT Mentor Committee ***** NISO OPENS WWW HOME PAGE The National Information Standards Organization, the leading developer of technical standards for publishers, information services, and libraries, has launched a home page on the World Wide Web. The URL is http://www.niso.org Through the NISO home page you can gather information on NISO, contact NISO's officers, learn what new standards are in development, and view the NISO Press Catalog which lists over one hundred standards and other publications. One special feature is the list of NISO's seventy Voting Member organizations with hot links to each member's home page. Using the hot links you can easily reach each member's home page and learn more about their programs and products. To make it easier to be involved in NISO, forms are also included for suggesting new standards projects and joining NISO. ***** TSCHERA CONNELL NAMED RECIPIENT OF 1996 LAPT RESEARCH AWARD Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory (LAPT) has announced that Tschera Harkness Connell is the recipient of the 1996 Research Award for her proposal, "Effects of Series Authority Control for Acquisitions." Connell is Assistant Professor at the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science. The study "grew out of the 1993 proposal from the Library of Congress to discontinue the series authority work. [A subsequent decision was made in Fall 1994 that LC would continue to provide added entries and series authorities.] This study will address such questions as to what extent (if any) will eliminating series authority control increase the potential for duplicates in the acquisition process? Specifically, the issue will be examined in the context of approval plans. Is it possible that the series control is monitored sufficiently by the vendors for purposes of preventing unwanted duplicates?" To quote one of LAPT's reviewers, "This is an original area and breaks new ground, looking at a valuable combination of variables in an area of emerging importance." Another reviewer indicates that "it addresses an issue of importance to all libraries, and can provide data that may influence LC policy/practice." submitted by Carol Pitts Diedrichs Editor, Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory ***** 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 (kwhittlesey@ala.org); 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, send an e-mail message to listproc@ala.org with the only line of text being "subscribe an2 [your name]" (without quotation marks). Back issues of AN2 are available through the listserver. To find out what's available, send the following command to listproc@ala.org: "index an2" (without quotation marks). Send questions about membership in ALCTS to the ALCTS Office, alcts@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. *****