ALCTS Network News v2n07 (September 16, 1991) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v2n07 ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 2, Number 7 September 16, 1991 In this issue LC RESPONDS TO DEACIDIFICATION BIDS FROM INDUSTRY CALLS FOR PARTICIPANTS ARL DIRECTORY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE NUMERICAL UPDATE ON ATLANTA CONFERENCE NEW WORK FROM SAUR ADDRESSES ACADEMIC SERIALS PRICES ************************************************************************** LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RESPONDS TO DEACIDIFICATION BIDS FROM INDUSTRY The Library of Congress has turned down offers from three industrial firms to undertake the massive task of deacidifying and thus preserving, millions of books in its collections. "None of the offers received could meet all of the technical and business requirements," said Gerald Garvey, the Library's deacidification program manager. "We wanted industry to carry out this task, and so far, they haven't been able to do it. We are sorely disappointed." Since the early 1970's, Library of Congress preservation specialists have been exploring techniques to preserve books printed on acid paper --that is, most books published since the mid-1800s. Thanks to the acid present in the paper, such books slowly disintegrate. As a part of a cooperative conservation program to preserve information in the most fragile books in the nation's libraries, the Library has been microfilming thousands of valuable books each year, a slow costly process, even as its specialists have tested chemical processes to remove the acid from books en masse. In September 1990, the Library issued a "request for proposals" from industry for deacidifying its book collections. The performance requirements were set after year-long Library consultations with conservators and preservation scientists from around the world. The Library solicited comments from industry; six firms responded with information on their various processes. The General Accounting Office reviewed the "request for proposals" before it was issued. The final request for proposals included requirements for toxicological and environmental safety, process efficacy and other preservation needs, the aesthetic appearance of treated books--as well as the firm's business plans and financial information. In addition, potential contractors (or "offerors") were required to treat a set of 500 books to confirm technical information contained in their proposals and to show conformance with the Library's specifications. The Library, via competitive process, picked an independent testing laboratory, The Institute for Paper Science and Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, to test the treated demonstration sets of books. Thus, the Library required that each would-be contractor demonstrate its ability to do the job. Although a half-dozen firms had shown interest earlier, only three firms applied for a contract. Data from the Institute's analyses were documented in a set of reports relating to extension of book life, alkaline reserve, appearance, odor, and other factors. (These data will be published, once permission is obtained from the offerors). In March of 1991 the 14-member Source Selection Evaluation Board, headed by Peter Johnson of Congress' Office of Technology Assessment, convened to evaluate the offerors' submissions. The Board evaluated written proposals submitted by the offerors, the data obtained from the independent testing laboratory, and first-hand information gained from site visits to the treatment facilities. Data collected from the 500-book demonstration sets was vital to the Board's conclusion that no offeror satisfied all the technical requirements of the solicitation. The Board submitted its findings to the Library in July 1991. Following extensive study of the Board report, the Library decided to cancel the procurement, and the offerors have been so notified. "The enormous challenge of preserving a substantial portion of the Library's collections from loss through acidic embrittlement remains," said James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress. "With the support of the Congress, the Library plans to continue efforts to identify and begin using viable, affordable, technically acceptable mass deacidification technologies for saving its collections." ************************************************************************* CALLS FOR PARTICIPANTS FOR... ... THE PROGRAM AT THE LITA NATIONAL CONFERENCE The ALCTS/LITA Retrospective Conversion Interest Group is planning a program for the 3rd LITA National Conference to be held Sept. 13-17 in Denver, Colorado. The topic of the session will be: "Retrospective Conversion Basics--What You Need to Do When You Plan for a Recon Project for Your Library." The program will emphasize the steps in planning, such as assessing the collection, studying options, evaluating different vendor services, providing for clean-ups, budgeting and selling the project to the administration and funding agencies. The RECON Interest Group is soliciting speakers who can address these topics. The program will have three presentations of about 20 minutes each. Volunteers should contact one of the co-chairs: Mitch Turitz (LITA), Serials Librarian, J. Paul Leonard Library, 1630 Holloway Ave., San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, VOICE: (415) 338-7883, FAX: (415) 338-6199, Turitz@SFSUVM.SFSU.EDU; or Daphne Hsueh (ALCTS), Cataloging Dept., Main Library, Ohio State University, 1858 Neil Ave. Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, VOICE: (614) 292-8114, FAX: (614) 292-7859, DAPHNE@OHSTMVSA.Bitnet ... THE FID CONGRESS IN MADRID The Organizing Committee for the 46th Conference and Congress of the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID) invites papers to be presented at its 1992 Congress which will take place in Madrid from October 22-30, 1992. The theme of the Congress is "New World in Information and Documentation" in commemoration of the meeting of two worlds and two civilizations. Sessions of the Congress will address subjects such as Information Policy, Information Science, Applied Information Technology, Information Processing and Products, Information Management, Business, Finance and Industrial Information, and Professional Development. The Organizing Committee invites papers in English or Spanish, the two official languages of the Congress, on any of the above mentioned subjects. Abstracts are due to the Organizing Committee by October 31, 1991, with the full text due by July 31, 1992. All correspondence should be addressed to: FID'92 Organizing Committee, ICYT, Joaquin Costa, 22, 28002 Madrid SPAIN or e-mail: BIB.IC YT@BIB.CSIC.ES. The Congress of FID is held every two years and constitutes the most important international forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences on recent advances in the information field. ... NORTH AMERICAN SERIALS INTEREST GROUP, INC. The North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG) will hold its seventh annual conference from June 18-21, 1992, at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The 1992 conference will include a one-day joint session with the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP). The conference organizers invite papers treating any aspect of serials activities such as administration, acquisitions, cataloging, automation, binding, union listing, budgeting, publishing, and future developments. Topics addressing interrelationships between the various NASIG constituencies are of special interest, as are presentations on new developments and new paradigms for the dissemination and control of the serial literature. Individuals may also submit an abstract for workshops, which are sessions designed to develop ideas and techniques for managing any aspect of serials work. Titles and abstracts, to a maximum of 100 words, must be submitted by October 1, 1991 to Lisa Peterson, NASIG Secretary, University of California/LIBRARY, P.O. Box 5900, Riverside, CA 92517-5900; Phone: 714-787-4381; FAX: 714-787-3285; BITNET: peterson@UCRVMS. ... THIRD ANNUAL FEATHER RIVER INSTITUTE The third annual Feather River Institute will be held May 28-31, 1992, on the topic: The Evolution of Library Materials Buying Strategies and Acquisitions Tenets: From Gathering Plans to Philosophical Models. The organizers seek papers that deal with some aspect of what acquisitions librarians do, or, for our historical perspective, what we have done. For more information or to submit an abstract, contact Thomas W. Leonhardt, Dean of Libraries, University of the Pacific Stockton, CA 95211; (209)946-2434;TLEONHARDT@MADVAX.UOP.EDU. All abstracts or detailed outlines (no more than two pages, please) are due October 15, 1991. ************************************************************************* ARL DIRECTORY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE Submitted by Ann Okerson Responding to the library and academic communities increasing use of and interest in the burgeoning number of electronic publications, the Association of Research Libraries has published _Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Academic Discussion Lists_, compiled by Michael Strangelove and Diane Kovacs; edited by Ann Okerson. (Washington, DC: ARL, First Edition, July 1991. ISSN: 1057-1337). The ARL directory is derived from widely accessible networked files maintained by Strangelove and Kovacs. The directory points to these as the principal, continuously updated, and free-of-charge sources for accessing such materials. The directory has two parts, Journals and Newsletters, with sections on electronic journals, electronic newsletters (including this one), and Hypercard stacks and digest-newsletters (such as ACQNET); and Academic Discussion Lists and Interest Groups, arranged in four major areas (Social Sciences and Humanities, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Business and Miscellaneous Academia). There are 40 library science discussion lists included in Part II. The directory is available in three formats: paper, 180 pages; 3.5" diskette, DOS WordPerfect ; and 3.5" diskette, Microsoft Word (Macintosh). A Hypertext version in preparation by Peter Scott, University of Saskatchewan. Order from: Office of Scientific & Academic Publishing, Association of Research Libraries, 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036 USA. ALL ORDERS MUST BE PREPAID and are payable in U.S. Dollars only. Price: $10.00 to ARL members, $20.00 to non-ARL members; Outside the U.S. $25.00 (add $5 for air mail); Quantity discount of 10% available to non-members for orders of 5 or more copies. ************************************************************************* NUMERICAL UPDATE ON ATLANTA CONFERENCE The attendance figures for the Atlanta Conference were: Librarians 12,969 Exhibitors 4,795 Total: 17,764 Past attendance figures (included librarians and exhibitors): 1990 Chicago 19,584 1989 Dallas 17,242 1988 New Orleans 16,525 1987 San Francisco 17,500 1986 New York 16,318 1985 Chicago 13,769 1984 Dallas 11,191 1983 Los Angeles 11,005 1982 Philadelphia 12,819 1981 San Francisco 12,555 1980 New York 14,566 Over 15,000 complimentary passes to the exhibits were issued to information specialists, library business staff, teachers, students, architects, booksellers, and non-registered librarians. Total number of booths 1,318 Total number of exhibiting firms 893 ************************************************************************* NEW WORK FROM SAUR ADDRESSES ACADEMIC SERIALS PRICES SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION AND SERIALS PRICES, edited by Karen Brookfield, presents the proceedings of a June 1990 conference, organized by the British Library and the Standing Conference of National and University Libraries, which allowed speakers from both sides of the Atlantic to address this controversial subject. These proceedings reproduce the papers themselves, as well as present key points from discussions between speakers and delegates following each address. SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION AND SERIALS PRICES (New Providence, N.J. K.G. Saur, 1991; ISBN: 0-86291-478-7, Approx. 200 pages; $45.00) ************************************************************************* 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; Arnold Hirshon, President; Karen Muller, Executive Director. Editor: Karen Muller (u34261@uicvm); Editorial staff for this issue: Ann Okerson, Barbara Macikas, Ann Swartzell, and Andrea Wiley. 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 and requests for back issues should be sent to the editor at Bitnet address u34261@uicvm. To subscribe, issue the network command "tell listserv@uicvm sub alcts [your account] [your name]." ALCTS NETWORK NEWS is also available on ALANET through the PUBS menu or the command ALANET4. Send questions about membership in ALCTS to the ALCTS Office, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. 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 granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting or redistribution or translations, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions. *************************************************************************