ALCTS Network News v4n15 (December 4, 1992) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v4n15 ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 4, Number 15 December 4, 1992 In this issue KEY ACTIONS OF THE ALCTS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON OBTAINING LC FILES PLANS FOR PROTEST OF COLORADO CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BUILD OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE COLORADO ISSUE NEW PUBLICATIONS ************************************************************************** KEY ACTIONS OF THE ALCTS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The ALCTS Executive Committee (Liz Bishoff, President; Arnold Hirshon, Past President; and Jennifer Younger, President-Elect) met November 13-14, 1992. The following actions were taken on behalf of the ALCTS Board of Directors. * Agreed to ask the Membership Committee to review OSTF report to explore the implications for membership and to new markets for ALCTS members consistent with our strategic directions. * Defined an outreach and membership development plan to address needs of library support staff. * Agreed that deficit spending for targeted purposes (e.g., recruitment at state conferences, implementation of OSTF report) is acceptable because that is the reason for having a fund balance. However, deficit spending should not be employed to cover regular and ongoing operating expenses. * Reviewed the current year budget to identify areas of significant change, beyond the salary savings due to the current vacancy in the ALCTS Deputy Executive Director and the Secretary positions. * Endorsed the Budget Assumptions for 1993-94 as prepared by staff as a working document for the preparation of the initial draft of the budget. * Directed staff to renegotiate with sponsors of the awards their assuming some fiscal responsibility for costs of citation preparation. * Agreed to appoint a planning committee for a series of regional institutes on Electronic Library Materials, with the first to be held in the fall of 1993. * Charged the Organization and Bylaws Committee to evaluate the Program Initiatives Committee. * Agreed that the entire slate of nominations would be published in AN2 in December and the ALCTS Newsletter in January (the next available issue). * Reviewed a preliminary plan to implement the ALA Preservation Policy prepared by a PLMS Executive Committee subgroup; in particular, PLMS will be encouraged to prepare specific action plans for the action-oriented proposals and to create "new homes" for the interested but currently uninvolved constituencies they want to tap into (e.g., public librarians, administrators). * Directed office to enhance procedures for using the portable membership promotion displays which are available for use at regional conferences. * Agreed to distribute report on the Leadership Breakfast to the Board with recommendation that the breakfast be repeated at Annual Conference. * Directed staff to add a line to the volunteer form asking, "Have you volunteered before?" * Agreed to place the OSTF-drafted Mission Statement on the agenda for the Board with the recommendation to approve. (This mission statement has appeared in AN2 (V. 4, no. 2), and will be in the next ALCTS Newsletter.) * Decided not to recommend expansion of either LRTS or the ALCTS Newsletter and to recommend that the Publications Committee discontinue its investigation of this issue. (The Executive Committee, at the fall 1991 meeting had recommended investigation, but that was prior to an update on the budget status of the division.) * Revised the "What to Expect at the Board" document to include a statement that the role of the Board of Directors is to funnel ALA issues to ALCTS when they relate to ALCTS in order to ensure input at the wider level. * Defined, in conjunction with the LAMA Executive Committee, the process for reviewing Shared Staffing, in accordance with the agreement, which defines a three-year review period. ************************************************************************* ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON OBTAINING LC FILES LC should report that the text files available on their FTP server "seq1.loc.gov", particularly the "Etext.workshop" files mentioned in the recent ALCTS newsletter, are in Wordperfect 4.2 (for the PC) format and one will need a translator to read them. LC could usefully provide them in "text" (ASCII) format or at least indicate what the format is for those without translators. Readers should also know that the main document mentioned (etext.workshop) is 150-250 pages long depending on what font and size is used; this may be prohibitive for some systems and may certainly cause one to think twice before FTPing it if you want hard copy. From: Peter Graham, Rutgers University Libraries ************************************************************************* PLANS FOR PROTEST OF COLORADO CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BUILD [Reprinted, with permission, from the SRRT NEWSLETTER, December 1992, Number 106.] Only days before this issue's deadline, Colorado voters passed an amendment to the state constitution specifically prohibiting laws which would provide equal rights to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Within a short time, the electronic networks were filled with messages from angry librarians and other calling for boycotts and other actions. A number of librarians are considering canceling their reservations for Midwinter in Denver. There is a question about whether absenting oneself from Midwinter, thereby having a direct impact on the Colorado economy, or attending and taking part in whatever protest activities there would be the most effective means of making oneself heard on this issue. Already a number of protest activities are being talked about--wearing some protest symbol, asking exhibitors to openly affirm their support of equal rights for ALL librarians, candle light marches. It is too soon to tell what the final menu of choices will be. It is important, however, that the various groups who are concerned about this, both within SRRT and outside it, coordinate their activities and work together to take full advantage of all of the energy that is bound to be released over the Colorado voters' decision. AC Coordinator, Stephen Stillwell, and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force Co-chairs, Karen Whittlesey-First and Roland Hansen, have already been in contact with one another, and they have been working with ALA Headquarters as well. Anyone with ideas should contact one of them. Plans will be announced in a number of ways, including the literature distribution bins at ALA registration. For those people who do choose to cancel plans to attend Midwinter, please write to your hotels telling them specifically why you are canceling. And while you're at it, send copies to the Colorado Office of Tourism, 1625 Broadway, Suite 1700, Denver CO 80202, and to the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, 1776 Lincoln Street, Suite 1200, Denver CO 80203. Just to be on the safe side, you might also send copies to the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, and maybe even the Governor's Office. Undoubtedly there will be a move to cancel the Midwinter meeting scheduled for Denver in 1998. If you can't be in Denver to let your voice be heard, please write to ALA Headquarters and let them know that you support canceling the 1998 plans for Denver. [Editor's note: SRRT reports that Literature Distribution Bin 23 will contain a flyer with the absolutely final information on the round table's plans for the Denver meeting. Readers wishing to offer suggestions to SRRT may e-mail them to Karen Whittlesley-First at whittles@hulaw1.bitnet.] ************************************************************************* OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE COLORADO ISSUE Reactions to and opinions about the Colorado Amendment are appearing on many lists. A list has been set up for people who are interested in discussion issues relevant to the passing of Amendment 2 in Colorado. This is: amend2-discuss There is also a list for people who are interested in information about the passing of Amendment 2 in Colordo. This is: amend2-info To subscribe to either list, send mail to: majordomo@cs.colorado.edu where the body of the message is: subscribe Administrative comments on either list may be sent to: amend2-mod@cs.colorado.edu ************************************************************************* NEW PUBLICATIONS Retrospective Conversion: History, Approaches, Considerations Haworth Press, Inc. has published Retrospective Conversion: History, Approaches, Considerations, edited by Brian Schottlaender. This guide is for library catalogers and technical services managers in the process of converting manual catalog records to machine readable form. It illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of the three conversion methods-converting in-house, contracting to a vendor, and a combination of the two-and covers the areas of cost, staff, time, and record quality for each. The hardcopy price is $24.95. ISBN 1-56024-328-7. LC# 92-19493. This monograph was published simultaneously as _Cataloging & Classification Quarterly_, Vol. 14, Nos. 3/4. Procedure Writing: Principles: Principles and Practices Battelle Press has published Procedure Writing: Principles: Principles and Practices, by Douglas Wieringa, Christopher Moore, and Valerie Barnes. It presents 44 principles of effective procedure writing, covering such topics as vocabulary, format, organization, emphasis techniques, and presentation of cautions. The cost is $34.95 + shipping. ISBN 0-935470-68-9. LC # 92-20325. To obtain an order form write: Battelle Press, 505 King Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201-2693; telephone 800-451-3543; fax 614-424-5263; Internet SHELDRIC@BATTELLE.ORG. ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* 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; Liz Bishoff, President; Karen Muller, Executive Director. Editor: Karen Muller (u34261@uicvm); Editorial Advisory Board: Liz Bishoff, Jennifer Younger, Arnold Hirshon; Editorial Assistance: Marie Rochelle, Tom Wilding, Alex Bloss. 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 name]." 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. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. *************************************************************************