[A need for prompt response makes this one of three 'early' postings re:
ALA Annual.]
From: ferguson_at_columbia.edu
Dear Heads of Collection Development at ARL Libraries:
In an effort to learn about the degree to which online books currently
have value in the scholarly community, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
granted Columbia University funding for the Online Books Evaluation
Project, a joint effort of the Columbia Libraries, Academic Information
Systems, and several publishers.
At this point, a Project team here at Columbia wants to explore the
concept of online books with ARL collection development librarians, to
learn about their perceptions of the benefits and pitfalls that online
books might have for their libraries and scholars.
I would be most grateful if a subgroup of you could join the project
team for a discussion of these issues over dinner on Sunday, June 28th,
at the ALA meetings in Washington, D.C. This dinner will take place at
the Washington Convention Center, from 6:30 - 8:30. Mary Summerfield, a
staff member here at Columbia, is coordinating this activity will let
you know of the exact location when you confirm your interest in
participating. Please send her an e-mail indicating your interest in
taking part (summerfield_at_columbia.edu).
If you cannot attend yourself, please nominate one of your key book
selectors to take your place. We hope to have a group of about 14 for
the discussion: the first 14 ARL heads of collection development to
respond affirmatively (e-mail to Summerfield), will receive
confirmations. If insufficient collection development heads respond, we
will draw upon the list of other nominees. Each participant, in
addition to dinner, will receive a gratuity of $100.
We look forward to a lively, thought-provoking discussion and hope that
you will be able to join us. If you are interested in the progress of
the Project to date, you can find copies of various reports and papers
on our web site:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/digital/texts/about.html
Best regards,
Tony
Received on Thu Jun 04 1998 - 10:53:56 EDT