ALCTS Network News v13n01 (March 3, 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v13n01.txt ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 13, Number 1 March 3, 1997 In this issue REPORT OF THE ALCTS TASK FORCE ON META ACCESS REGISTRATION OPEN FOR FOUR ALCTS PRECONFERENCES IN SAN FRANCISCO WATCH FOR INFORMATION ON TWO ALCTS FALL INSTITUTES REGISTRATIONS CONTINUE FOR ALCTS SPRING INSTITUTE IN NASHVILLE CCS WEBSITE NOW UP UPDATED CRL WEB PAGE AVAILABLE ************ REPORT OF THE ALCTS TASK FORCE ON META ACCESS Having held two meetings and an open discussion, the Task Force on Meta Access submitted a draft of its final report to the ALCTS Board. The Task Force focused on what the library community can contribute to the "big picture" of providing bibliographic access to electronic/digital resources. While there are many players in the world of metadata and meta access, it is important that ALA, libraries and library organizations participate proactively in defining solutions to what are complex problems. The Task Force identified seven areas important to the library community and in each case, reflect needs identified by library players already involved in creating access to electronic/digital resources. They are: 1) Establishment of permanent and unique names for digital resources, 2) Promotion of a coherent view of metadata from the library perspective, 3) Accommodation of metadata in different formats in local library systems, 4) Management of metadata records for storage, retrieval and display, 5) Education of librarians and library staff, 6) Development/continuance of partnerships with players external to the library community, and 7) Monitoring of the environment for new developments. In our final report, which we will be sending to the ALCTS Board in March, we will make recommendations for action to the ALCTS Board. The Board has already approved one recommendation, that ALCTS have representation at a coming meeting on metadata registries at UC-Berkeley in July 1997, which will bring together researchers and practitioners from many communities including database research, standards, digital libraries and database vendors. The minutes and final report of the Task Force will be posted on our web site at http://www.lib.virginia.edu/alcts/. Over 2,800 people have accessed the site (also referenced on the IFLANET site at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/II/metadata.htm and from the ALCTS home page. Join your colleagues in finding out more about the world of metadata and meta access. --Jennifer Younger, chair ALCTS Task Force on Meta Access ************ REGISTRATION OPEN FOR FOUR ALCTS PRECONFERENCES IN SAN FRANCISCO Electronic brochures and registration forms are now available for the four ALCTS preconferences to the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. You can access them through www.ala.org/alcts.html or gopher.ala.org. Print brochures are available from the ALCTS office (ymclean@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5032). The preconferences were previously announced in AN2 v12_no19 (Jan. 2, 1997) and v12_no17 (Dec. 13, 1996). Registrations are being accepted for: The Acquisition Section's advanced Business of Acquisitions preconference, titled Rethinking and Transforming Acquisitions on June 26 and 27. The Cataloging and Classification Section's Demystifying Subject Cataloging of Electronic Resources on June 26 and 27, 1997. The Preservation and Reformatting Section's Scanning for Beginners on June 27. The ALCTS Research and Statistics Committee's Making Statistics Work for Your Library--Without Pain on June 26. ************ WATCH FOR INFORMATION ON TWO ALCTS FALL INSTITUTES Brochures will be on their way in the next few weeks for two ALCTS institutes to be held in October. October 17-18 the Serials Section will offer a basic institute for staff with no or limited experience with electronic journals. This event will be held in Baltimore at a site to be determined. Print and electronic brochures will be available by mid-April. October 23-25, ALCTS and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA, formerly RASD) will cosponsor Virtually Yours: Models for Managing Electronic Resources and Services. This institute, to be held at the Ambassador West Hotel in Chicago, will explore the reconceptualization of collection development and public services on a digital environment; it is geared to experienced collections, public services, and administrative staffs in academic or public research libraries. An electronic brochure is now available through the ALCTS homepage at www.ala.org/alcts.html or the ALCTS gopher at gopher.ala.org. ************ REGISTRATIONS CONTINUE FOR ALCTS SPRING INSTITUTE IN NASHVILLE Registrations are continuing for Seizing the High Ground: (Re)Creating Technical Services with Smart Machines and Networked Librarians is the title of an ALCTS institute to be held as a preconference to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) national conference in Nashville. The institute is scheduled for Friday, April 11, and the conference runs from April 11 through 14. This institute was previously reported in AN2 v12_no15 (Dec. 9, 1996). For further information on the preconference, or to register, visit the ALCTS homepage at www.ala.org/alcts.html or the gopher at gopher.ala.org, or contact Yvonne McLean at ymclean@ala.org (800-545-2433 ext. 5032). The ACRL conference, titled "Choosing Our Futures," will be April 11-14, 1997. More than 175 sessions will be offered. The keynote speaker will be Cornel West, one of America's most celebrated academics and a professor of philosophy of religion and Afro-American studies at Harvard University. Registration materials are available on ACRL's homepage at http://www.ala/acrl. ************ CCS WEBSITE NOW UP The ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section website is now ready for public view on the ALA home page. It includes the roster and charge of all committees, discussion groups and task forces, the CCS 1995/96 annual report, CCS Executive Committee minutes, resources for catalogers and some committee documents. The files currently reside on a server at the University of Virginia and will be maintained there by CCS Executive Committee Secretary Susanne Glass, until they are migrated to the ALA server this spring. Because the URL for the CCS page will change from the current site to the ALA site, bookmark the ALCTS homepage (http://www.ala.org/alcts.html) and then make the link to CCS (or other information on the ALCTS homepage).. All requests for revisions, additions and links should go through Susanne, who will coordinate the updates with the ALA webmaster. Send your comments, suggestions and requests for mounting documents to srg@virginia.edu. ************ UPDATED CRL WEB PAGE AVAILABLE Current information about the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) now is available on the Web at wwwcrl.uchicago.edu. A new feature of the expanded web site, updated on February 3, is that all of the area studies microform projects administered by CRL also have web pages, some of which are linked to ongoing work in preservation and access: the Cooperative Africana Microform Project (CAMP); the Latin American Microform Project (LAMP); the Middle East Microform Project (MEMP); the South Asia Microform Project (SAMP); the Southeast Asia Microform Project (SEAM); and the Slavic and East European Microform Project (SEEMP). The area studies project pages include descriptions of the purposes of the projects, bylaws, and meeting minutes. The LAMP page links to the digitized images of Brazilian presidential reports from 1830-1889, a file of material indexed in the Subject guide to statistics in the presidential reports of the Brazilian provinces, 1830-1889, compiled by Ann Hartness. The web page includes CRL historical background, staff directory information, member lists, descriptions of collections and services, and bibliographies of CRL holdings. The web page links to CRLCATALOG, the online public access catalog. The lists of more than 5,800 foreign newspapers, accessible by geographic or title entry, are continually updated as CRL makes additions to this collection component. The What's New page will be updated weekly with news items about CRL events, membership meetings, and web site developments. ************ 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; Carol Chamberlain, 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. ************ an2 v13_no1