ALCTS Network News v13n07 (April 9, 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v13n07.txt ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 13, Number 7 April 9, 1997 In this issue ELLEN GOODMAN TO KEYNOTE ALCTS PRESIDENT'S PROGRAM BRITISH LIBRARY, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, AND NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA ACHIEVE MAJOR MILESTONE IN FORMAT HARMONIZATION REGISTRATION FEE CORRECTION SUPPORT STAFF IN OREGON SPONSOR ACQUISITIONS CONFERENCE C. SUMNER SPALDING DIES ************ ELLEN GOODMAN TO KEYNOTE ALCTS PRESIDENT'S PROGRAM ALCTS President Carol Chamberlain has selected nationally syndicated Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist and author Ellen Goodman to present the keynote address at her President's Program in San Francisco. Goodman, a social commentator whose perspectives on our society are insightful, thought-provoking, and intelligently considered, will speak on how to prepare the future leaders of our profession at a time when information technology is having a dramatic impact in all areas of librarianship, thus changing our roles and leading us in new directions. The title of the program is Ellen Goodman on Librarians in Society: How Can We Change Our Ways but Keep Our Ideals? Her topic draws directly from the interests and goals which Chamberlain enunciated for her presidential year, the professional training and development of the future leaders of our profession. Two nationally respected librarians will respond to Goodman's presentation: James Neal, Director, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, and Toni Carbo, Dean of the School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. The ALCTS President's Program will be held on Monday, June 30, from 10:00 to 12:30, immediately following the ALCTS membership meeting and awards presentation at 9:30. The site will be announced when determined. ************ BRITISH LIBRARY, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, AND NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA ACHIEVE MAJOR MILESTONE IN FORMAT HARMONIZATION The British Library (BL), the Library of Congress (LC), and the National Library of Canada (NLC) have reached a major milestone in the harmonization of their MARC formats. Agreement has been attained on full harmonization of USMARC and CAN/MARC. In addition a technical meeting held at LC in January 1997 made significant progress on alignment with UKMARC. The benefits of a harmonized format include easier and more efficient record exchange between the users and producers of MARC records, elimination of the need for conversion programs, andpotential reductions in the expense of format maintenance and documentation. Whereas full harmonization of USMARC and CAN/MARC has been accomplished, the three libraries recognize that UKMARC must retain certain features of particular value to the UKMARC user community, and therefore full harmonization is not achievable in the short term. Partial alignment is being pursued immediately with full harmonization as a long term goal. Meetings of representatives of the BL, LC and NLC were held in Washington on December 2, 1996 and February 18, 1997. It was agreed that over the next few months, LC and NLC will formulate mechanisms for the coordination and approval of future format development as well as determine a schedule for implementation. To facilitate the continuation of the harmonization process with UKMARC, a MARC Harmonization Coordinating Committee was also established. The committee is interested in the following developments: Coordination of new developments in the UKMARC and harmonized USMARC and CAN/MARC formats; Seeking further opportunities for harmonization of the two formats; Ensuring that future development of the formats takes into consideration other international standards. Exploring the impact of changing technology on MARC formats. In addition, a technical panel will meet regularly to discuss issues relating to the formats. Associate Librarian of Congress Winston Tabb noted: "The MARC Harmonization Coordinating Committee will promote future opportunities for format convergence and ensure that future developments will continue to bring the formats closer together. The complete harmonization of USMARC and CAN/MARC into a single format is a signal achievement which will facilitate record exchange throughout the United States and Canadian bibliographic communities and beyond." Adds Ingrid Parent, Director General, Acquisitions and Bibliographic Services at the National Library of Canada: "Although there are many benefits of format harmonization, perhaps the most significant is the potential for reducing the cost of cataloguing. The elimination of format differences across national boundaries will increase the pool of catalogue records available to libraries for copy cataloguing and resource-sharing activities." Stuart Ede, Director of Acquisitions, Processing and Cataloguing at the British Library, welcomed the progress made, saying: "It was always going to be difficult, given the philosophical differences between UKMARC and the North American formats, to achieve full harmonisation in the short term. What we have achieved is a balanced outcome: on the one hand, coordinating development across the Atlantic; on the other hand, preserving the underlying compatibility of UKMARC with other national and international formats, which will facilitate co-operation with European partners as well." For further information, contact Sally McCallum, chief, Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Library of Congress, LM639, Washington, D. C. 20540-4102 (phone: 202-707-6237; fax: 202-707-0115; eMail: smcc@loc.gov) ************ REGISTRATION FEE CORRECTION The registration fees for the ALCTS preconference Scanning for Beginners were incorrectly reported in the April issue of American Libraries. The correct fee for ALA personal members is $180. ************ SUPPORT STAFF IN OREGON SPONSOR ACQUISITIONS CONFERENCE The Oregon Library Association Library Support Staff Round Table is sponsoring The Simple Art of Selling a Book with keynote speaker Kathleen Weible and presenters Scott A. Smith (Blackwell's), Richard Brumley (Oregon State University), and Judi Chien (Willamette University). In this hands-on workshop, participants will be transformed into companies, given financial data, and asked to develop business plans. That work, and subsequent discussion, will help participants better understand the complexities of the business decisions vendors face. Although the presenters' experience is in book acquisitions, any library staff that deals with vendors - whether for books or AV, document delivery, online services, office furniture or supplies, etc. - will benefit from this look at life on the other side. This session is based on "Prioritizing Firm Order Costs and Vendor Services," which Smith & Brumley presented at the 1995 Feather River Institute (See _Library acquisitions: practices and theory_, v.20,no.1, p. 57-63). The conference is Friday, July 18, at the Airport Sheraton in Portland For more information, contact Jey Wann at 503-378-4198 ext. 248 or email her at jey.a.wann@state.or.us. ************ C. SUMNER SPALDING DIES C. Sumner Spalding, general editor of the first edition of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR) died in Baltimore on March 8. He was 85. Spalding, an accomplished church organist, choir director, and composer, as well as librarian, joined the Library of Congress in 1940 as a music cataloger. His subsequent positions included assistant chief and chief of the Catalog Maintenance Division, and chief of the Serial Record and Descriptive Cataloging Divisions. On his retirement in 1975 he was assistant director of the Processing Department in Cataloging. Spalding took a leave of absence from 1964 to 1966 to edit AACR, for which he received the Margaret Mann Citation. ************ 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_no7