- Email: [email protected]
Highlights of the ALCTS AS Education Committee Program. The acquisitions workstation: resources and innovations
Pergamon
Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 95–132, 1999 Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 1464-9055/99 $–see front matter
ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE 1998
Highlights of the ALCTS AS Education Committee Program. The Acquisitions Workstation: Resources and Innovations The acquisitions workstation has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for us. Information is at our fingertips as we use the power of the Internet to easily communicate with vendors, publishers, and colleagues. The way we do business has radically changed. This program was designed to highlight some of the practical applications of the electronic resources available at our workstations as they affect daily acquisitions workflow and procedures. Three speakers addressed this subject from very different perspectives. David Nuzzo, Head of Acquisitions at the State University of New York at Buffalo, spoke of the importance of making the acquisitions workstation work for you. As the size of most acquisitions staffs decrease, it is important that libraries utilize the power of workstations to make workflow and procedures as efficient as possible. Nuzzo described some Quick Basic and Visual Basic programs he has written to maximize the efficiency of the desktop. With a simple DOS find command, he is able to search text files for specific vendors or words. Using a Quick Basic program, he is able to automatically assign a vendor based on preferred ISBN prefix, create bindery tickets, and produce new acquisitions lists. Using the Library of Congress Resource File and some simple programing, it is possible to send LC copy titles to circulation shelves within 3 days of receipt. Nuzzo stressed that just placing a powerful PC on a staff member’s desk is not effective if he or she can do little or nothing with it. We need to be innovative and pro-active in making the PC work for us. This will improve service to our users. Nuzzo’s presentation can be seen at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/acq/alapres/ Eleanor Cook, Serials Specialist and Assistant Coordinator of Materials Processing at Appalachian State University was the second speaker. She began the discussion by describing the workstation of the past. Bibliographic information was scoured from the various “red books,” LC Classification Schedules, Cataloging Service Bulletins, National Union Catalog, etc. Acquisitions librarians needed to “ferret” throughout the library in order to consult a variety of order files, Books in Print, publisher catalogs, and trade weeklies. Now, all of this information is available at our desktop workstations. Ordering, claiming, check-in, invoices, and binding are all done online and in one location. Cook described the benefits of being able to look at other library check-in records via telnet or through the library’s Web pages. She also described some of the strides made in the area of binding due to online capabilities. Using her binder’s software, she is able to FTP binding information to her binder shortly before pick-up. Cook also described the birth of ACQTALK, which is an alternative Web-based threaded discussion developed by ACQNET and AcqWeb. She described it as an interactive way for library staff to use the Internet to discuss items of mutual interest. ACQTALK can be reached at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/law/acqs/bb/index.html. Linda Brown, Coordinator of Collection Development at Bowling Green State University, began by describing her talk as part technical services, part public services. Her focus was on the 95
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ALA Midwinter Conference 1998
collection-development resources available to us on the Internet. She stated that we should incorporate these resources into our daily procedures, but also reach out to our constituencies. Some outreach possibilities available on our collection-development homepages are collectiondevelopment statements, other policies and procedures, the electronic order form, directories of subject selectors, new acquisitions lists, collection news, journal tables of contents, collection statistics, budget information, and other interesting facts. Brown showed the audience some collection-development homepages from the University of Notre Dame, California State University, Chico, and Bowling Green State University. She also described tools that our staffs can incorporate into their daily procedures, such as AcqWeb and T-POT. Brown provided some very useful information on specific Web resources that can identify and review other resources, such as: the Internet Scout Project out of the University of Wisconsin (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout), which provides an evaluative description of search engines and subject sites; BUBL Information Service (http://bubl.ac.uk), which is a catalog of selected resources from the United Kingdom; and the ARGUS Clearinghouse for Subject Oriented Internet Resource Guides (http://www.clearinghouse.net/), which are topical guides that identify, rate, and evaluate Internet-based information resources. PII: S0364-6408(98)00117-3
Rosann Bazirjian Assistant Director, Technical Services Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 Internet: [email protected]
The 7 (13) Habits of Highly Successful Approval Plan Managers: Report of the ALCTS Pre-Order/Pre-Catalog Searching Discussion Group Robin Crumin, chair of this discussion group, introduced the two speakers, Jim Baldwin, Associate Librarian and Resource Development Team Leader and Vania Goodwin, Associate Librarian and Acquisitions Team Leader, from Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. The meeting’s stated intent, as noted in the program announcement, was to share ideas about the habits of successful approval plan managers. Baldwin had produced an excellent handout with his 10 points upon which he elaborated for his talk. This report will paraphrase his comments to enable him to publish them in full if desired. Both speakers used helpful transparencies. Also, although Baldwin and Goodwin each spoke in turn, this reporter collapsed their remarks together. This approach shortens the paper and provides continuity for their point and counter-point comments from the perspectives of collection management and acquisitions.
HABITS Habit 1: Books Are Still Important Baldwin: Contrary to some rumors, the book is not an endangered species. Many readers still prefer the book format as witnessed by the success of book chains such as Borders and Barnes and Noble. As long as there is a need to access information sequentially, books really are an efficient medium. Goodwin: Approval plans to acquire books are here to stay. The first approval plans were actually offered back in 1966. In 1988, the Association of Research Librarians produced a SPEC
Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 95–132, 1999 Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 1464-9055/99 $–see front matter
ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE 1998
Highlights of the ALCTS AS Education Committee Program. The Acquisitions Workstation: Resources and Innovations The acquisitions workstation has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for us. Information is at our fingertips as we use the power of the Internet to easily communicate with vendors, publishers, and colleagues. The way we do business has radically changed. This program was designed to highlight some of the practical applications of the electronic resources available at our workstations as they affect daily acquisitions workflow and procedures. Three speakers addressed this subject from very different perspectives. David Nuzzo, Head of Acquisitions at the State University of New York at Buffalo, spoke of the importance of making the acquisitions workstation work for you. As the size of most acquisitions staffs decrease, it is important that libraries utilize the power of workstations to make workflow and procedures as efficient as possible. Nuzzo described some Quick Basic and Visual Basic programs he has written to maximize the efficiency of the desktop. With a simple DOS find command, he is able to search text files for specific vendors or words. Using a Quick Basic program, he is able to automatically assign a vendor based on preferred ISBN prefix, create bindery tickets, and produce new acquisitions lists. Using the Library of Congress Resource File and some simple programing, it is possible to send LC copy titles to circulation shelves within 3 days of receipt. Nuzzo stressed that just placing a powerful PC on a staff member’s desk is not effective if he or she can do little or nothing with it. We need to be innovative and pro-active in making the PC work for us. This will improve service to our users. Nuzzo’s presentation can be seen at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/acq/alapres/ Eleanor Cook, Serials Specialist and Assistant Coordinator of Materials Processing at Appalachian State University was the second speaker. She began the discussion by describing the workstation of the past. Bibliographic information was scoured from the various “red books,” LC Classification Schedules, Cataloging Service Bulletins, National Union Catalog, etc. Acquisitions librarians needed to “ferret” throughout the library in order to consult a variety of order files, Books in Print, publisher catalogs, and trade weeklies. Now, all of this information is available at our desktop workstations. Ordering, claiming, check-in, invoices, and binding are all done online and in one location. Cook described the benefits of being able to look at other library check-in records via telnet or through the library’s Web pages. She also described some of the strides made in the area of binding due to online capabilities. Using her binder’s software, she is able to FTP binding information to her binder shortly before pick-up. Cook also described the birth of ACQTALK, which is an alternative Web-based threaded discussion developed by ACQNET and AcqWeb. She described it as an interactive way for library staff to use the Internet to discuss items of mutual interest. ACQTALK can be reached at http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/law/acqs/bb/index.html. Linda Brown, Coordinator of Collection Development at Bowling Green State University, began by describing her talk as part technical services, part public services. Her focus was on the 95
96
ALA Midwinter Conference 1998
collection-development resources available to us on the Internet. She stated that we should incorporate these resources into our daily procedures, but also reach out to our constituencies. Some outreach possibilities available on our collection-development homepages are collectiondevelopment statements, other policies and procedures, the electronic order form, directories of subject selectors, new acquisitions lists, collection news, journal tables of contents, collection statistics, budget information, and other interesting facts. Brown showed the audience some collection-development homepages from the University of Notre Dame, California State University, Chico, and Bowling Green State University. She also described tools that our staffs can incorporate into their daily procedures, such as AcqWeb and T-POT. Brown provided some very useful information on specific Web resources that can identify and review other resources, such as: the Internet Scout Project out of the University of Wisconsin (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout), which provides an evaluative description of search engines and subject sites; BUBL Information Service (http://bubl.ac.uk), which is a catalog of selected resources from the United Kingdom; and the ARGUS Clearinghouse for Subject Oriented Internet Resource Guides (http://www.clearinghouse.net/), which are topical guides that identify, rate, and evaluate Internet-based information resources. PII: S0364-6408(98)00117-3
Rosann Bazirjian Assistant Director, Technical Services Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 Internet: [email protected]
The 7 (13) Habits of Highly Successful Approval Plan Managers: Report of the ALCTS Pre-Order/Pre-Catalog Searching Discussion Group Robin Crumin, chair of this discussion group, introduced the two speakers, Jim Baldwin, Associate Librarian and Resource Development Team Leader and Vania Goodwin, Associate Librarian and Acquisitions Team Leader, from Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. The meeting’s stated intent, as noted in the program announcement, was to share ideas about the habits of successful approval plan managers. Baldwin had produced an excellent handout with his 10 points upon which he elaborated for his talk. This report will paraphrase his comments to enable him to publish them in full if desired. Both speakers used helpful transparencies. Also, although Baldwin and Goodwin each spoke in turn, this reporter collapsed their remarks together. This approach shortens the paper and provides continuity for their point and counter-point comments from the perspectives of collection management and acquisitions.
HABITS Habit 1: Books Are Still Important Baldwin: Contrary to some rumors, the book is not an endangered species. Many readers still prefer the book format as witnessed by the success of book chains such as Borders and Barnes and Noble. As long as there is a need to access information sequentially, books really are an efficient medium. Goodwin: Approval plans to acquire books are here to stay. The first approval plans were actually offered back in 1966. In 1988, the Association of Research Librarians produced a SPEC