ALCTS Network News v2n18 (November 26, 1991) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v2n18 ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 2, Number 18 November 26, 1991 In this issue KEY ACTIONS BY THE ALCTS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE COGNOTES WANTS YOUR INFORMATION STANDARDS UPDATE ELECTRONIC POSTCARD FROM RLMS CHAIR COA HEARING ON "STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION" DRAFT ************************************************************************** KEY ACTIONS BY THE ALCTS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The ALCTS Board of Directors Executive Committee met in Chicago on November 9-10, 1991. The Committee took the following actions on behalf of the ALCTS Board of Directors. * Reviewed preliminary factors to be used in preparation of the budget for the 1993 fiscal year; * Discussed plans for future regional institutes, including the idea of mini-institutes within a regional conference; * Reviewed plans for a combined president's program and membership meeting at the summer conference, and discussed plans for the 1993 president's program which will build on the 1992 program's themes of the electronic revolution; * Agreed to review the Duplicates Exchange Union process; * Discussed proposals regarding no-conflict times for members to attend exhibits and the ALA Membership meeting; * Decided to announce the names of the ALCTS 1992-93 vice-presidential candidates before midwinter in the ALCTS Newsletter and AN2 and publish the slates of candidates in AN2 before midwinter so the membership would have a chance to talk with them; * Directed the ALCTS Office to compile a semi-annual report on the division's preservation activities and discussed other ways in which ALCTS could be responsive to its charge from the ALA Council to implement the ALA Preservation Policy. * Agreed to distribute the division roster in different configurations this year and next to save the cost of reproduction and distribution; * Charged the Organization and Bylaws Committee to review the name and charge of the Technical Services Costs Committee; * Decided that the ALCTS Executive Committee would continue to be the editorial board of AN2; * Agreed to continue for this year holding separate national library reporting sessions in their topical discussion groups, but to hold the LC and National Libraries Reporting Session on Friday afternoons in conjunction with the Technical Services Directors of Large Research Libraries Discussion Group; * Decided to refer to the Publications Committee the question of how to publicize the right of first refusal for papers or speeches arising out of ALCTS programs. ************************************************************************* COGNOTES WANTS YOUR INFORMATION The editors of COGNOTES, the ALA conference daily, have agreed to experiment with listing discussion group topics during the Midwinter Meeting. The listings will run on the day of the meeting. They will be limited to a title or statement of topic, up to 15 words. Please list the time, location (if you know it) and date of the discussion group meeting. This is a one-time only pilot project; the editors will determine whether it is feasible to continue it for the summer conference. Send your listings to Pier London, Conference Services at the ALA Headquarters. ************************************************************************* STANDARDS UPDATE Price Indexes A draft revision of the American National Standard for Price Indexes (ANSI/NISO Z39.20-199X) has been issued and is available for comment from the National Information Standards Organization (NISO). This standard provides criteria for developing price indexes to measure periodic changes in the average list price of library materials and criteria for interpreting price changes using units smaller than volume or title. This recent revision includes the following changes: A new section giving criteria for interpreting price changes, specifically price per page, price per thousand words, and price per character; Updated and rewritten definitions; and Elimination of the section on microfilm rates. All interested persons are invited to participate in the review of this draft standard. The review period will end January 31, 1992. Standard Address Number ANSI/NISO Z39.43-199X, Standard Address Number for the Publishing Industry (SAN) is now available for comment from NISO. The proposed standard is a revision of 1980 American National Standard Identification Code for the Book Industry. The purpose of the standard is to provide an unambiguous identifier for each address used within the publishing industry. Three major changes are incorporated in this revision: The title is changed to "Standard Address Number for the Publishing Industry" to more accurately represent the scope of the standard. The scope is expanded to include book and journal manufacturers. This change responds to the fact that electronic data interchange standards are under development for communications between members of the publishing industry and book and journal manufacturers. A method for implementing the SAN in international transactions is added to the standard. All interested persons are invited to participate in the review of this draft standard. The review period will end January 31, 1992. Information Retrieval Application Service Definition A draft revision of ANSI/NISO Z39.50, Information Retrieval Application Service Definition and Protocol Specification for Open Systems Interconnection, is now available for comment from NISO. This proposed standard is a revision of ANSI/NISO Z39.50-1988. It specifies an Open Systems Interconnection application layer service definition and protocol specification for information retrieval consistent with the OSI Reference Model. Implementation of the Information Retrieval protocol allows an application on one computer to query the database of another computer. This revision incorporates major enhancements to the previous version, in two categories. First, the standard incorporates changes necessary to align the U.S. standard with its international counterpart ISO 10162/10163 (Search and Retrieve Service Definition and Protocol Specification) known as "SR." Second, the standard includes features to expand the standard's functionality. All interested persons are invited to participate in the review of this draft standard. The review period will end March 2, 1992. Electronic Manuscript Preparation Transaction Publishers and NISO are pleased to announce the publication of a major new national standard for preparation and markup books, articles, and serial publications on the computer. Developed by NISO as ANSI/NISO Z39.59-1988, Electronic Manuscript Preparation and Markup, this standard represents the first industry-wide application of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language, ISO 8879). The standard defines the format syntax of the application of SGML publication of books and journals. The standard achieves two goals. First, it establishes a standard way to identify and tag parts of an electronic manuscript so that computers can distinguish between these parts. Second, it provides a logical way to represent special characters, symbols, and tabulator material, using only the ASCII character set usually found on a standard keyboard. Electronic Manuscript Preparation and Markup (ANSI/NISO Z39.59-198 may be ordered from Transaction for $75 (prepayment or institutional purchase order required), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, phone: 908-932-2280. Discounts are available for purchase of multiple copies. The proposed standards listed in this article are each priced at $30 and can be ordered from: NISO, P.O. Box 1056, Bethesda, MD 20827. ************************************************************************* ELECTRONIC POSTCARD FROM RLMS CHAIR [Editor's note: As reported in the October 11 issue (AN2 V2_NO11), RLMS Chair Debra McKern has a six-month appointment as a Library/Book Fellow at the Mational Library of Egypt in Cairo. She has an e-mail account and sent this message. At her request, I have removed her e-mail address, as accessing the computer is difficult.] Date: Thu, 14 Nov 91 16:55 GMT From: DEBRA@****** Subject: greetings from Cairo! To: u19466@UICVM.BITNET Karen, I[m hooked up on bitnet through the American University in Cairo. I{m having QUITE an experience. It is far more depressing than I could ever have imagined. There are such contrasts... extreme poverty yet embassy balls. Sorry about the typing; I[m trying to use an Arabic keyboard. I can[t tell you how much I look forward to coming here to use bitnet. It[s a lifesaver; a touch of home and reality. Deb ************************************************************************* COA HEARING ON "STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION" DRAFT An open meeting of the American Library Association (ALA) Committee on Accreditation (COA) will be held on Sunday, January 26, 1992, from 8 to 10 p.m., during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio. The location of the meeting will be announced in the conference program. The COA Standards for Revision Subcommittee will discuss changes made to the preliminary final draft of the "Standards for Accreditation" in response to suggestions from the profession and to receive reaction to the preliminary final draft. Jane B. Robbins, chair of the COA Standards for Revision Subcommittee and director of the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, will preside. An opportunity will be provided for those attending to present comments and ask questions. Requests to present statements and written comments shuld be submitted by January 6, 1992, to COA Open Meeting, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. ************************************************************************* 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 Advisory Board: Arnold Hirshon, Liz Bishoff, and Ruth Carter; Editorial Assistance: Alex Bloss, 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 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, u34261@uicvm. 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, 50 E. Street, Chicago, IL 60611. *************************************************************************