From: "Sally Loken" <lokens_at_oclc.org>
Conspectus Users Group Meets at ALA Midwinter
The OCLC/WLN Conspectus Users Group met on Sunday, January 24 at the
Sheraton Society Hill in Philadelphia during ALA Midwinter. Chair June
Pinnell-Stephens (Fairbanks North Star Library) introduced Sally Loken,
Manager of Automated Collection Assessment and Analysis Services at
OCLC/WLN, who reported on the merger, which was completed on January 1,
1999, and transition progress. Several development initiatives are
underway, including version 7.0 of the conspectus database software, a new
distribution medium for collection analyses, and analysis software that runs
on a library's or consortium's server.
Current library projects: Mary Bushing (Montana State University) and Sally
reported on their recent Conspectus workshops for librarians in Greece.
Cheryl Kugler and Linda Gunter from the Claremont Colleges discussed their
plans to improve collections significantly, thanks to a foundation grant
just received. Shirley Scott (Oregon State University) described the
collection assessment underway in Corvallis. June Pinnell-Stephens
distributed copies of the Alaska Library User Community Definition, which
uses the definitions of conspectus levels to describe the depth and scope of
anticipated user inquiries of electronic databases. The document is
available on SLED, the Alaska State Library's electronic doorway to
information: http://sled.alaska.edu.
Several librarians reported on publications they are working on. Dora
Biblarz (Arizona State University) happily announced the availability of the
Spanish version of the WLN Collection Assessment Manual, 4th Edition, which
was prepared by Dora with the assistance of Helen Ladron de Guevara Cox
(University of Guadalajara.) Mary Munroe (Northern Illinois University) is
working on the ALA Guide to the Administration, Organization and Staffing of
Collection Development. Mary Bushing and Joanne Anderson (San Diego Public
Library) are collaborating on ALA's new Guide to the Evaluation of
Information Resources, which will emphasize information in electronic
formats.
Next meeting: Sunday, June 28, 5-6:30pm in New Orleans, place to be
announced.
Received on Sat Apr 24 1999 - 14:28:16 EDT