ALCTS Network News v2n09 (September 30, 1991) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v2n09 ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 2, Number 9 September 30, 1991 In this issue LC TO CONDUCT REVIEW OF REVISED CATALOGING PRIORITIES AND LEVELS OF CATALOGING SYSTEM RLG ENHANCES ITS OFFLINE RETROSPECTIVE CONVERSION PROGRAM SERIALS MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE REGISTRATION ABOUT TO CLOSE ALCTS SERIALS SECTION COMMITTEE TO STUDY SERIALS CATALOGING ARE YOU MISSING AN ISSUE OF AN2? DOROTHY McGARRY WINS SLA JOHN COTTON DANA AWARD _ NEW DIRECTOR ANNOUNCED FOR ALA OFFICE FOR ACCREDITATION ************************************************************************** LC TO CONDUCT REVIEW OF REVISED CATALOGING PRIORITIES AND LEVELS OF CATALOGING SYSTEM During the fall of 1989 the Library of Congress reviewed its internal system for assigning cataloging priorities to newly acquired monographs, serials, and microforms. In February 1990 the Library's Management Team approved a new revision of the Library's Cataloging Priorities and Levels of Cataloging System; most parts of this new system were implemented by the end of September 1990. When this new system was implemented, it was decided that an evalautive study would be made at the end of the first full year of use. >From October 1 to December 31, 1991, the Library will conduct a review of the system, including the involvement of LC staff and its major constituents to determine what effect, if any, these changes have had on the access to LC records during the past year. Users of LC data who wish to submit comments or questions on this issue should contact Glen Zimmerman, Director for Technical Processes Research, Collections Services, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540 (202-707-2810). ************************************************************************* RLG ENHANCES ITS OFFLINE RETROSPECTIVE CONVERSION PROGRAM The Research Libraries Group, Inc., (RLG) announces the availability of BRCON 2, an enhanced version of its PC-based offline batch retrospective conversion program. The enhancements, which are a direct result of requests by current and prospective BRCON users, allow users to add more local bibliographic information to records, to select records containing non-Roman scripts, and to access more help features. With BRCON 2 (like its predecessor, BRCON), users create files of brief search records on a DOS diskette. The files are then uploaded and matched against the RLIN database. When a match is found, the system automatically derives a new cataloging record for the user's library. Libraries do not have to be users of RLIN itself to take advantage of BRCON 2. "We are pleased to have incorporated these changes into BRCON 2," states Gregory Whitfield, BRCON 2 product manager. "BRCON was designed to be simple to use, and I think BRCON 2 retains this simplicity while adding greater flexibility. East Asian and Hebrew libraries especially will be interested in being able to select records containing vernacular script." More specifically, the BRCON 2 new features include: * Three user-selected fields for recording local bibliographic information in the MARC tag range of 015 to 899. This allows, for example, a system control number (035) to become part of the derived record. * The ability to select records containing non-Roman script (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, or Arabic). This is an important feature for libraries that want to include vernacular scripts in addition to romanized transliterations in their catalog records. BRCON 2 is the only offline retrospective conversion service that provides records containing vernacular scripts. * New help features, including random access to records and online explanations of all fields and function keys. "The ability to add user-selected fields enables users to customize BRCON records to fit local specifications," comments Melinda Reagor, head of copy cataloging and coordinator of retrospective conversion at Rutgers University Libraries. "For example, the ability to add a system control number (035 tag) will be particularly useful for libraries seeking to upgrade existing local brief records that contain a standard 035 tag." ************************************************************************* SERIALS MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE REGISTRATION ABOUT TO CLOSE The deadline for registering for "Serials Management: Shaping a Changing Environment" is fast approaching. This one-and-a-half day institute is planned for October 25-26 in Chicago. It is designed to help attendees gain an understanding of the components of the serials industry, to learn from others' experience, and to develop management strategies to be used within their libraries. Intensive small-group sessions will concentrate on aspects of the serials environment and on strategic planning. If you have not yet registered, please call 800-545-2433, ext. 5032. Registrations can be taken over the phone. ************************************************************************* ALCTS SERIALS SECTION COMMITTEE TO STUDY SERIALS CATALOGING Report on meetings at Annual Conference by Taemin Park The ALCTS Serials Section Committee to Study Serials Cataloging held two meetings during the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Atlanta on Sunday, 30 June 1991 and Monday, 1 July 1991. Sylvia Martin, chair of the committee, reported on progress made on the current year's objectives and specific plans for next year, which include to keep abreast of electronic publishing developments, to become more involved in the discussion of communication formats (specifically the MARC format for Holdings Data), to continue monitoring activities of the Bibliographic Control of Microform Masters and Multiple Versions Task Forces, and to follow the progress of the proposed shared pattern database and CONSER's involvement with it. At the second meeting, John Levy, representing Dorothy Glasby, LC Liaison to the Committee, reported on the progress of the whole book cataloging experiment at the Library of Congress. Levy also reported on the creation of a Production Week every third week of the month during which time no meetings take place, completion of OCLC PRISM training in the Serial Record Division, and the March 1991 load of the new CONSER master replacement file, containing 540,000 serial records. Mitch Turitz, liaison to CC:DA, reported on the work of the Task Force on Multiple Versions. Issues still unresolved by CC:DA include: definition of edition in view of new techniques developed for handling multiple versions; inclusion of the title and statement of responsibility in the version record; inclusion of edition statement in the version record; and definition of "unpublished" in AACR2 (this may need revision to treat reproducing agency as a publisher). He also reported on the proposed rule changes regarding uniform titles for serials and merging of bibliographic records in relation to reporting/maintaining local holdings and union listing. Anna Wang, Ohio State University, described her work in providing bibliographic access and holdings information for serial CD-ROMs and computer files. She noted the variety of problems when cataloging this type of material: no access to equipment, duplicate bibliographic records, lack of an electronic publishing standard, and inconsistent numeric and chronological data. Wang stressed that the system requirements field should be as detailed as possible so that other libraries may easily identify the correct bibliographic record within the network environment. [Editor's note: The full version of this report may be accessed through ALCTSERV. The next article has instructions on obtaining the ALCTS filelist. This report has the title SERIALS REPORT.] ************************************************************************* ARE YOU MISSING AN ISSUE OF AN2? Back issues of AN2, The ALCTS Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues (NSPI) v.1-37, volunteer forms, reports forms, and other important ALCTS documents such as the PVLR complaint form, are available through the listserver. To find out what's available, send the following command to LISTSERV@UICVM: send alcts filelist The ALCTS FILELIST contains the list of files with the EXACT filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue this command to the LISTSERV@UICVM: send filename filetype. For example, to retrieve the last issue of AN2, do one of the following: tell listserv@uicvm send an2 v2_no8 or send a note to LISTSERV@UICVM with the text send an2 v2_no8. ************************************************************************* DOROTHY McGARRY WINS SLA JOHN COTTON DANA AWARD ALCTS member Dorothy McGarry is the 1991 recipient of the Special Libraries Association John Cotton Dana Award. The Special Libraries Association John Cotton Dana Award recognizes exceptional service by members of the Special Libraries Association to special librarianship. In SLA, Dorothy was instrumental in the founding of the Committee on Cataloging and served as its first chair. In this capacity she represented SLA to the RTSD CCS CC:DA in 1987-88. She represents SLA to the IFLA Section on Classification and Indexing. McGarry has also been chair of the SLA Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics Division and is the Chair-Elect of the Science-Technology Division. In ALCTS Dorothy has served in a number of responsible ALCTS and Cataloging and Classification Section offices, including chair of the RTSD Book Catalog Committee, the Catalog, Form, Function, and Use Committee, and CCS CC:DA. Since 1971, McGarry has been Head of the Cataloging Division of the Physical Sciences and Technology Libraries at UCLA. ************************************************************************* NEW DIRECTOR ANNOUNCED FOR ALA OFFICE FOR ACCREDITATION Prudence Dalrymple, currently Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has accepted the position of Director, ALA Office for Accreditation. Dalrymple will become a part of the ALA staff officially on January 1, 1992. However, she will be able to work with the Office on a consulting basis during the Fall, attending the meetings of the Committee on Accreditation (COA) and the Standards Revision Committee and working with COA Chair, Charles Bunge, and with Jane Robbins, Chair of the Standards Revision Committee. In her announcement of the appointment, ALA Executive Director Linda Crismond said, "I am very pleased that Pru will be able to join the ALA staff at this crucial time in library and information studies education. I know I can rely on her experience in library education, her intelligence and thoughtful style to help move ALA and the entire field forward during the coming years." ************************************************************************* 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: Alex Bloss, Andrea Wiley, and Taemin Park. 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 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. 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 The ALCTS FILELIST contains the list of files with the EXACT filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue this command to the LISTSERV@UICVM: send filename filetype. 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. *************************************************************************