Library Juice 5:9 - Library Juice is now a book and a blog

Library Juice 5:9 - March 7, 2002

Contents:

Sanford Berman's original cataloging to be decommissioned
ALA Council slate addition
LISNews interviews ALA Presidential Candidates
Article on cataloging as a career
The Top Librarian Personalities on the Web
BIBLIO-BUILD
Reference Services Review 30:1
Shy Librarian - Spring 2002 issue free on web
Info Career Trends - Call for Contributors
Free Online Scholarship (FOS) Newsletter
Cultural Policy Listserv
Preserving the artifact
The Overdue (cartoon)

Quote for the week:
"I can't have information I know would be of interest
to someone and not share it."
-Sanford Berman

Homepage of the week: Hilary M. Leon
http://homepages.luc.edu/~hleon1/index.html
________________________________________________________________________top

1. Sanford Berman's original cataloging to be decommissioned
[SRRTAC-L:7714] Bad news
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 18:54:59 -0800
From: Rory Litwin <rlitwin[at]earthlink.net>
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
Reply to: srrtac-l[at]ala.org
Folks, Sandy Berman called me today and left a message on my answering
machine that contained some bad news. The list of user-centered original
subject headings created by him and his staff over two and a half decades
at Hennepin County Library is now going to be replaced in the catalog by
straight LC subject headings, or something close to that. In Sandy's
words, "The curtain is coming down." No hardcopy of the authority file
currently exists, and there is no reason to expect that the administration
at HCL (which forced Sandy into retirement) will take steps to preserve it.
Sandy's ideas about user-centered cataloging live on in the books and
articles that he has written.
Sandy is saddened by today's news but says he has been expecting it for a
number of years.
The energy that Sandy and his staff put into making the HCL catalog easy to
use was undoubtedly a help to many library patrons in the Minneapolis area
over the years, but it is a shame that it won't continue. Perhaps the at
least some of the principles behind it will yet be adopted by other
cataloging departments.
A good place to learn more about Sandy and his work is at the web site put
together by Madeline Douglass and hosted by the ALA archives. The URL is:
http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/ead/ala/9701040a/berman/sanford.htm
Rory Litwin
--
======================================
Rory Litwin, writing to you from home
rory[at]libr.org - http://libr.org/rory/
Registered Linux user #88673
"An eye for an eye makes the whole
world blind." --Gandhi
..........................................................................

[SRRTAC-L:7715] Re: Bad news
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 21:47:04 -0500
From: kmccook[at]tampabay.rr.com
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
Reply to: srrtac-l[at]ala.org
Jenna Freedman organized bringing Sandy to USF and it
was the most excitement about bibliographic issues I'd ever
seen. I've forwarded this to our school list of 400+. I'm
without words.
- Kathleen de la Peña McCook
kmccook[at]tampabay.rr.com
University of South Florida, Library & Information Science
A Librarian at Every Table
http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/a-librarian-at-every-table/
..........................................................................

[SRRTAC-L:7716] Re: Bad news
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 21:42:34 -0600
From: Al Kagan <akagan[at]uiuc.edu>
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
Reply to: srrtac-l[at]ala.org
This is truly disgusting. What about sending a joint letter of
protest signed by the Action Council members to the all of the County
Commissioners?
..........................................................................

[MEMBER-FORUM:2917] Re: Bad News [ALACOUN:7059] Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:7714]
Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2002 22:42:43 -0500
From: "Maurice J. Freedman" <freedman[at]wlsmail.org>
To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org>
Cc: Better Salaries & Pay Equity <SALARIESTF[at]ala.org>, ALA Member Forum
<member-forum[at]ala.org>, SRRT LIST <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>, Progressive
Librarians Guild <plgnet-l[at]listproc.sjsu.edu>
Reply to: member-forum[at]ala.org
Dear Colleagues,
Everything that follows is an expression of my personal views on the matter
discussed. It in no way reflects upon or in any way should be identified
with any employer or association with which I am affiliated.
According to an e-mail from Rory Litwin to the SRRTAC-list, Hennepin County
Library is expunging the work of Sanford Berman from the HCL catalog.
To many people, Sandy's work represented what cataloging could be: a
response to the world around us that would maximize access to the
library's resources while at the same time exhibiting sensitivity and
respect for the people, places, things, events, and phenomena to which he
and his colleagues at HCL endeavored to provide access so nobly and well.
While the whole sorry story was unfolding a few years ago, I wrote
something about Sandy that I would like to share with you. I took it from
Katia Roberto's 'zine about Sandy where it resides in the ether. (I also
commend to your attention the piece immediately preceding mine on the same
'zine page.)
http://www.sarcastra.net/sandy/zine5.html
This is what I wrote:
"I've been in the library profession since 1965. There are a number of
things I've done that I'm proud of. One of the best professional decisions
I made as head of technical services at the Hennepin County Library was to
hire Sandy Berman as Head Cataloger. This gave Sandy, until Hennepin's
recent and permanent grotesque shame, a secure platform from which he
could provide librarians everywhere an inspired and brilliant example of
how cataloging can serve people rather than degrade and insult them, and
one must not omit, he demonstrated that cataloging
actually can help people find what they are looking for.
"We had good times back then. Professionally and politically we shared the
same agenda, and Hennepin had the resources to support the wonderful
things that Sandy and the cataloging staff were doing, as well as the
technology tasks that Jerry Pennington (the assistant head of tech
services and super computer person) and I tinkered with that incidentally
facilitated the cataloging changes that Sandy made.
"The irony and ludicrousness of HCL's malevolence toward him and his
work--despite Hennepin's protestations to the contrary--is that HCL is
getting $100,000 in royalties from the database created under his
leadership and direction.
"Following is an e-mail message I sent to Chris Dodge, a cataloger at
Hennepin, on the prospect of Sandy's leaving HCL; Sandy had not yet
resigned.
'It is crucial that Sandy not see himself as the victim that they subdued,
but the shining example for everyone of what was possible, what everyone
talked about, but what he actually did--and those miserable monsters were
too venal and craven to appreciate and recognize the gift they had.
'They are the losers and Sandy always will be the winner--he has created a
legacy of ideology, principles, practice, and hundreds of thousands of
living and breathing cataloging records. In sum this record of achievement
will transcend the lilluputian thugs at HCL who are messing with him and
the fools who support them, either for their current actions or for the
policy of slavish adherence to LC, all sense and sensibility be damned.
'When I left Hennepin in 1974, Sandy said it was the end of Camelot. Well,
when Sandy goes, it is going to be the end of brilliance, innovation and
social responsibility in cataloging for the world. I mean no disrespect to
all of you who have labored with him to create the grand record of
Hennepin cataloging, but it is hard to see how any individual person or
group of people will be able to impact so very many different aspects of
our overall professional mission.
'God, it sounds like an obituary or as if I am convinced he is leaving.
'Sorry for the ventilating, but I feel so sad and angry. I also hate to see
him treated so badly. He is so strong in ideology and principle, but he's
also extremely sensitive and I'm sure badly hurting on the personal level.
For that matter I can't imagine any human who could survive such a nasty,
vicious and totally inhumane onslaught without feeling some pain.'
"[This was followed by a couple of other remarks that concluded the
message.]
"He has two wonderful children, Jill and Paul, a lovely daughter-in-law,
Kristi, and [two] delightfully cute and smiley granddaughter[s], Jasmine
[and Camille.] I wish him the joy of his loving family, friends and his
colleagues of the library profession whose lives he has so enriched.
"Sanford, have a wonderful retirement, but don't go away.
"Love,
"Mitch Freedman, Hennepin County Library, 1969-1974"
"I'll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places..."
Mark Rosenzweig wrote:
> Forwarded.
> Please protest this act of vandalism, of intellectual contempt and of
> social injustice as it manifests itself in our microcosmic library
> world.
>
> Mark Rosenzweog
> <snip>
..........................................................................

[SRRTAC-L:7719] Re: Bad news
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2002 09:05:01 -0600
From: Katia Roberto <kroberto[at]lib.siu.edu>
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
Reply to: srrtac-l[at]ala.org
At 06:54 PM 3/5/02 -0800, you wrote:
>The energy that Sandy and his staff put into making the HCL catalog easy to
>use was undoubtedly a help to many library patrons in the Minneapolis area
>over the years, but it is a shame that it won't continue. Perhaps the at
>least some of the principles behind it will yet be adopted by other
>cataloging departments.
I will momentarily put on my cataloging hat and point out that other
libraries do use the Hennepin subject authority file for their cataloging.
Not too many of them, but they do.
Oh, and I would explain why accepting LC records in lieu of all the extra
work the Sandynistas did is a crying shame, but Sandy has already explained
that on many occasions over the years.
Sigh.
Katia
..........................................................................

Re: Bad news
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 10:03:59 -0500 (EST)
From: Steven Harris <harris[at]aztec.lib.utk.edu>
To: Rory Litwin <rlitwin[at]earthlink.net>
Cc: "plgnet-l[at]listproc.sjsu.edu" <plgnet-l[at]listproc.sjsu.edu>
I don't have great hopes of convincing HCL to keep the user-friendly
headings (or even much interest in fighting them to see that it happens),
but I wonder what it would take to get HCL to download the authority file
and save it in some way, or give it to an archive of some kind. Has
anybody ask about that? Could we make inquiries along those lines. Aside
from being a shame that the library is abandoning those headings, it would
be a great loss of intellectual capital if we don't have a record. Our
history will be a lot less rich if we don't figure out a way to save those
headings!!! What should we do?
--Steven Harris
..........................................................................

Re: Bad news
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 07:29:36 -0800 (PST)
From: Dan Tsang <dtsang[at]lib.uci.edu>
To: Steven Harris <harris[at]aztec.lib.utk.edu>
Cc: Rory Litwin <rlitwin[at]earthlink.net>, <plgnet-l[at]listproc.sjsu.edu>
When I was at Temple University in 1978, we got a fiche set I believe of
Sandy's headings. But a digital copy would be important, one could post
somewhere online. I'm trust someone at HCL is preserving this, if not
officially then unofficially...
But good idea to find out.
Daniel C. Tsang
Bibliographer for Asian American Studies,
Economics, Management, & Politics
Social Science Data Librarian
Lecturer, School of Social Sciences
380 Main Library, University of California
PO Box 19557, Irvine CA 92623-9557, USA
E-mail: dtsang[at]uci.edu; Tel: (949) 824-4978; fax: (949) 824-2700
UCI Social Science Data Archives: http://data.lib.uci.edu
WWW News Resource Page: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/netnews1.htm
KUCI Subversity Show, 88.9fm Webcast: http://kuci.org
Fridays 5-6 pm: http://kuci.org/~dtsang
AWARE: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/aware2.htm
Personal Homepage: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/
..........................................................................

Chris Dodge, a good friend of Sandy's, wrote personally:
I just replied to a concerned library school student about this:
"Despite the loss at HCL, Sandy's principles are alive in catalogers
around the globe. The best thing librarians can do is to apply those
principles in their libraries; to catalog helpfully (using rules as tools
rather than things to which adherence is crucial); to innovate useful local
practices based on need; to broaden and deepen catalog access by adding
headings (subject access to fiction, for example), extensive notes, and
thorough cross references (e.g., for variant spellings); to petition
Library of Congress for changes when LC headings are deficient--but also to
substitute local headings; and to recognize that library catalogs are
living things, networks of information which with human care blossom, but
which neglected turn into the contemporary equivalent of dusty card files,
arcane and nearly useless unless one knows exactly (with a certitude born of
ignorance) the precise title of a book.
I expect that concerned library educators will continue to host Sandy as a
guest speaker in their classes and to assign readings from Alternative
Library Literature (and other sources of Sandy's writings).
..........................................................................

[SRRTAC-L:7720] Fwd: Bad news
Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2002 10:55:41 -0600
From: Katia Roberto <kroberto[at]lib.siu.edu>
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
Reply to: srrtac-l[at]ala.org
This is somewhat karmic, I think.
>Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 10:22:02 -0500 (EST)
From: christopher h walker <chwalker[at]indiana.edu>
>X-Sender: chwalker[at]kate.ucs.indiana.edu
>To: Katia Roberto <kroberto[at]lib.siu.edu>
<snip>
>Take consolation in the fact that a lot of Sandy's work ended
>up in LC anyhow. They'd grumble, and disagree, and then, when
>no one was looking, adopt his ideas in the next revision.
>If you keep your eyes peeled, especially in the subject file,
>you'll see 670's citing "Hennepin" -- that's what those are.
>So in a way Hennepin is buying back, as outsourced work,
>their own staff's productivity. Isn't that exactly what they
>deserve?
..........................................................................

[MEMBER-FORUM:2921] Re: [SRRTAC-L:7714] Bad news
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 12:21:02 -0500
From: ROBERT P HOLLEY <aa3805[at]wayne.edu>
To: member-forum[at]ala.org
Reply to: aa3805[at]wayne.edu
Let me add my support to find some way to retain Sandy's work
to provide local changes to Library of Congress subject
headings even if the HCL makes the administrative decision to
no longer support such changes. I started my career as a
subject cataloger. While I have not always agreed with Sandy
Berman and have told him why several times, I believe that
cataloging should serve users and that modifications at the
local library level can greatly improve subject access to
information. I also realize that such efforts require
additional resources and that resources are always scarce for
libraries.
At the very least, the modifications that Sandy made should
be preserved as a historical record of a very important
project that spanned many years. Future researchers should
have access to this file.
If HCL is not willing to retain the file, I hope that some
other institution will be willing to come forward to make a
copy and to keep it usable for future research. If this
should happen, I also urge HCL to agree to such a
replication. I unfortunately don't know of any institution
that would be interested.
This event should serve as a warning about the dangers of
losing our history because of the fragility of digital
resources and their possible destruction.
Bob Holley
Professor, Library & Information Science
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48202
aa3805[at]wayne.edu
..........................................................................

[MEMBER-FORUM:2923] RE: [ALACOUN:7059] Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:7714] Bad news
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 11:01:04 -0700
From: "Janet Hill" <Hilljs[at]colorado.edu>
To: "'ALA Council List'" <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org>
Cc: <member-forum[at]ala.org>
Reply to: <Hilljs[at]colorado.edu>
I have great admiration for Sanford Berman, for his vision of access,
for his steadfastness in working toward a "value neutral" subject
vocabulary, and for his determination and energy in making his ideas
concrete at his own library. He is indeed one of the "heros" of
responsible user-centered subject access. His ideals and his
contributions will survive, will influence future work, and will
contribute to the quality of subject access, no matter what happens at
Hennepin County Library.
I also have some understanding of management decisions and of how the
lack of resources can make some ideals difficult or impossible to
attain, and even impracticable to pursue, no matter how strongly we
believe in them. Authority control of any kind is labor intensive,
intellectually demanding, and costly. Many libraries choose to cede any
responsibility for it entirely. For both those libraries and for
libraries that maintain local authority control and files, the saving
grace is the fact that other libraries -- starting with the Library of
Congress, and augmented by the many libraries that contribute to the
common good through the Program for Cooperative Cataloging and its
various parts (the Name and Subject "Authority Cooperatives", etc) -- do
most of the work. This makes bibliographic data cooperatively acquired
(as through OCLC) subject to some degree of authority control already,
and makes the cost of maintaining local authority control and files (for
those libaries that need to) supportable. Maintaining an independent
subject thesaurus, as was done at Hennepin County, is extremely
expensive (most libraries would term it "prohibitively" expensive). Use
of non-standard access points also makes records less shareable among
libraries, and increases costs to other libraries seeking to use those
records.
Every manager must make decisions that involve weighing Virtue A against
Virtue B, and Cost X against cost Y. Every library manager must make
an attempt to be a responsible custodian of funds, and to make the best
use of the resources s/he has. Every manager must come to grips with
the concept "The best is the enemy of the good." I can well understand
a management decision that said "We can't afford the cost of maintaining
an independent subject thesaurus any more. The subject thesaurus used
by the the majority of the library community is not ideal, but it is
acceptable. We will use it."
Because of this, I find the terms "vandalism," "intellectual contempt"
and
"social injustice" as applied to these circumstances to be unwarranted
and extreme.
janet swan hill
councilor at large
cataloger
authority control maven
manager
..........................................................................

[MEMBER-FORUM:2924] RE: Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:7714] Bad news
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 13:28:08 -0700
From: "Janet Hill" <Hilljs[at]colorado.edu>
To: <member-forum[at]ala.org>, <alacoun[at]ala.org>
Reply to: <Hilljs[at]colorado.edu>
This is an addendum to my earlier message response, but this time with a
question:
Rory Litwin wrote that:
>No hardcopy of
>the authority file currently exists, and there is no reason to expect
>that the administration at HCL ... (snip) ... will take steps to
preserve it.
I'm having trouble with this concept, and maybe it's just a combination
of what I think of when I hear/see the terms "authority file" and "hard
copy". So ..... what form does/did the HCL authority file take? A
card file? The "implicit evidence" of headings used on bibliographic
records? A database? A series of "new headings lists?" Newsletters?
There must be SOME record of decisions made and their justification.
Even if HCL may not be taking steps to preserve it, is there any reason
to assume that they are in a hurry to disband/erase it?
I agree with Bob Holley that it would be desirable to preserve this body
of work, because (for just one instance) of the valuable information and
insights it would provide on the evolution of subject terminology. How
much of an effort that would require, and how much imminent danger the
file is in, would depend on the form it currently takes.
Perhaps a scholar in one of the library schools could be interested in
salvaging the file in the interests of history and future research.
Perhaps ALCTS/CCS could be interested.
janet swan hill
councilor at large
..........................................................................

To: <Hilljs[at]colorado.edu>, <member-forum[at]ala.org>, <alacoun[at]ala.org>
Subject: Re: [MEMBER-FORUM:2924] RE: Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:7714] Bad news
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 17:38:34 -0800
Cc: plgnet-l[at]listproc.sjsu.edu, srrtac-l[at]ala.org
I would like to amend that. Sandy was of the opinion, rightfully bitter
about HCL as he is, that they would take no steps to preserve the authority
file. But he may be underestimating the effect of the outcry and interest
from the library community. Personally, I am hopeful that it will be
preserved. (If you would send this response to the ALACOUN list I would
appreciate it.)
Rory Litwin
..........................................................................

[SRRTAC-L:7723] Insult to injury: the effacement of Berman's contribution
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 22:12:12 -0500
From: Rosenzweig <iskra[at]earthlink.net>
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
Reply to: srrtac-l[at]ala.org
Dear President Freedman
Everything that follows is the expression of my 'personal views', (as are
most things I say). They may be --and often are -- expressions of other
things as well. I am writing, that is to say, in my 'personal capacity',
whatever that means.
What I say, however, is decidedly meant to reflect upon the Association
with which I am affiliated as a Councilor at large and as personal Member.
I commend you for your moving, heartfelt, sorrowful and insightful
comments on the actions of the Hennepin County Library in the matter of
what now seems the all too inevitable exterminating of the traces of the
concrete contribution of Sanford Berman's work to HCL -- and to
librarianship -- in the wake of Mr. Berman's being shamefully forced from
his position at the Library as head of Cataloging.
When the Council of the American Library Association initially refused to
act in defense of Sanford Berman as I called upon them formally to do in
session of Council, in a resolution of support, even as he as he reached
out for his colleagues solidarity -- typically, not for himself, but for
the dignity of the independent creative and responsive element of the
profession, the matter truly at issue in the cause his humiliation by HCL
represented --- and was met,not just with the inexorable inertia of a
bureaucratic machine representing the worst aspect of our profession,
goaded along with cat-calls of resentment and smug contempt at the success
of a free spirit in making a dent in the wall of conformity and convention,
which is the face of Council at its worst, but even with a curious
solidarity, not with Berman, but with the machine itself which --with its
invisible hands -- crushes the inventiveness of the human spirit which the
rare spirit out of sheer humanity insists on making as an unique, useful
and much-needed professional contribution to the commonweal as we are
called upon to serve it, when that Council meeting disdained to even
consider sanctioning HCL for its mistreatment of Berman or for his call for
intellectual freedom for librarians themselves, I knew it was not long
before attempts would be made to undo all that he had done, to efface the
traces of his activity, living testimony to the possibility of doing things
according to criteria other than the bottom line.
I ask you, President Freedman, to call upon the Executive Director and the
Excecutive Board of the American Library Association, to issue a statement
immediately in opposition to the trashing of the unique HCL cataloging
Berman contributed to librarians everywhere, a repudiation of the rationale
for doing so and a rejection of the implicit derogation of his contribution
as a cataloger who was conspicuously and conscientiously consumed by a
passion for using his technical tools for the noble purpose of enhancing,
beyond the least common denominator, the access to information we
supposedly so preciously guard and hopefully are pledged encourage and
enhance.
I know how strongly you feel about Sandy Berman. I ask you to convince the
leadership of ALA, between conferences, in light of this most disturbing
move to expunge his life-work from the real-world of cataloging (and, at
best, relegate it to the history books, such as they are) that a statement
be made by the Executive Director, the Administration and the Executive
Board, as well as the President, on behalf of ALA, condemning, in no
uncertain terms, this act of intellectual vandalism and 'sophicide' (murder
of wisdom), the effacement of the historical contribution of one of our
most esteemed colleagues.
For those who value creativity, conscientiousness and conscience in
librarianship,
Mark C. Rosenzweig
Director, Reference Center for Marxist Studies, NYC
ALA Councilor at large
..........................................................................

HCL Authority files
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 20:46:36 -0600
From: "md" <mdougla[at]pclink.com>
To: <rory[at]libr.org>
I've just read your letter to srrtac about the HCL authority files and
the attempt to destroy Sandy'swork...
I assume that you will also be writing about this in Library Juice
There HAS TO BE SOMETHING we can do to save Sandy's work...the HCL
authority files...
Could some institution "adopt" the databases and make them accessible to
everyone? Would HCL consider selling them (if they won't consider donating
them?)
I am ready to contribute to a fund to buy them!
Would you consider asking the readers of Library Juice to brainstorm or
contribute ideas to save the authority files...?
There has to be a way to save them and there has to be someone out there
who knows of a way to do it.
(From Madeline Douglas, the creator of the website for Sanford Berman,
at: http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/ead/ala/9701040a/berman/sanford.htm )
________________________________________________________________________top

2. ALA Council slate addition
Readers...
When I produced the the "slate" for ALA Council I didn't notice that
Deborah Mazzolini was running. I want to endorse her as well.
An up-to-date "slate" of people I'm endorsing for ALA Council is now on
the web, at http://libr.org/Juice/slate.html .
Thanks,
Rory
________________________________________________________________________top

3. LISNews interviews ALA Presidential Candidates
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 22:02:14 -0500
From: Blake Carver <btcarver[at]lisnews.com>
To: Blake Carver <btcarver[at]lisnews.com>
Subject: Interview The Candidates for ALA President [at] LISNews
Hi All,
I am again running an interview with this years Candidates for ALA
President. If you've participated in the past you know how it works.
If not, I ask around for questions, and then pass them along to the
candidates, and then post the answers all at once to LISNews. All questions
are sent to each candidate by me, without names attached, I'll be the only
one who knows who asked what. If you'd like to be completely anonymous you
can use the web form:
http://www.lisnews.com/contact.php3
I hope to get the questions to them by then end of this week.
This years candidates are Katina Strauch and Carla Hayden
http://www.carlahayden.org/
http://www.katina.info/
I apologize for BCC'ing you on this email, I have a rather large list of
names in my address book. I just went through and pulled out all the names I
recognize as librarians.
Thanks!
------------
Blake Carver
LISNews.com
Librarian and Information Science News
http://www.lisnews.com
________________________________________________________________________top

4. Article on cataloging as a career
The Whimsy of Cataloging
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 11:02:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Priscilla Shontz <pshontz[at]liscareer.com>
To: NEWLIB-L <newlib-l[at]usc.edu>, nmrt-l[at]ala.org
Reply to: pshontz[at]liscareer.com
If you're a student, or you're considering your next
career move, and you're at all interested in what a
job as a cataloger would entail, you might like to
read this new article on LIScareer.com:
"The Whimsy of Cataloging" by Richard Murray
http://www.liscareer.com/murray_cataloging.htm

Priscilla

=====
Priscilla K. Shontz
http://www.liscareer.com/
LIScareer.com: The Librarian & Information Professional's Career
Development Center
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5. The Top Librarian Personalities on the Web
[PUBLIB] The Top Librarian Personalities On The Web
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 10:10:13 -0800 (PST)
From: "Blake Carver" <btcarver[at]lisnews.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: btcarver[at]lisnews.com
Hi All,
I've put together The LISNews.com Top Librarian Personalities on the Web,
it's a list of people that, for one reason or another, have stood out in the
crowded field of online librarians. The list was based on votes by
librarians and others in the library field and includes names like Walt
Crawford, Marylaine Block, Karen Schneider, and more.
You can view the list and details on how I put it together at:
http://www.lisnews.com/article.php3?sid=20020303191829
------------
Blake Carver
LISNews.com
Librarian and Information Science News
http://www.lisnews.com
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6. BIBLIO-BUILD
BiblioBuild is an exciting new collaborative project, an
opportunity to fund and construct a home for a deserving
Rochester area family. It is the first such project
sponsored by library employees and friends anywhere! We
hope to make this new home reader-friendly, complete with
bookshelves, books, a computer and library cards. This
project is part of the highly successful Flower City Habitat
for Humanity program.(thanks RT).
http://www.bibliobuild.org/
From Kathleenn de la Pena McCook's "A Librarian At Every Table" service
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7. Reference Services Review 30:1
Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2002 11:48:35 -0700
From: Martin Raish <martin_raish[at]byu.edu>
To: BI-L <bi-l[at]listserv.byu.edu>
From: Ilene Rockman <irockman[at]calstate.edu>
As a service to our readers, here is the table of contents from the
latest issue of Reference Services Review
(volume 30 number 1, 2002) available electronically through Emerald and
also published in print:
Editorial: Engaging Our Users By Transforming the Way We Think, Ilene F.
Rockman, pp. 5-6.
Is Information Literacy Relevant in the Real World?, Carmel O'Sullivan,
pp. 7-14.
The Role of Assessment in Library User Education, Lorrie A. Knight, pp.
15-24.
Virtual Reference, Real Data: Results of a Pilot Study, Jo Kibbee, David
Ward, Wei Ma, pp. 25-36.
A Scenario-Based Approach to Credit Course Instruction, Paul Frantz, pp.
37-42.
Professor Attendance as a Factor in Perceived Library Instruction
Effectiveness: An Exploratory Study, Kerry J. Smith, pp. 43-48.
The U.S. Feminist Art Movement: A Selective Annotated Bibliography,
Joanne M. Zangara, pp. 49-61.
Using the Internet to Teach Access to Asian History Resources, Hua Yi,
pp. 62-67.
Korean Reunification: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected
English-Language Resources, Hee-sook Shin, pp. 67-91.
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8. Shy Librarian - Spring 2002 issue free on web
[PUBLIB] SHY Spring Celebration
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 14:43:00 -0800 (PST)
From: "shy librarian" <publisher[at]shylibrarian.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: publisher[at]shylibrarian.com
In celebration of Spring (well, it FEELS like Spring), and in celebration
of its ONE-YEAR anniversary, the entire 64-page Spring 2002 issue of THE
SHY LIBRARIAN is being made available online for free in PDF format at:
http://www.shylibrarian.com/samplenewsletter.htm
THE SHY LIBRARIAN is a quarterly print magazine which "promotes libraries,
librarians, and books." Thanks so much to all our wonderful SHY
subscribers. We love ya!
ENJOY!
The Shy Librarian magazine
www.shylibrarian.com
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9. Info Career Trends - Call for Contributors
[PUBLIB] call for contributors
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 14:44:37 -0800 (PST)
From: "ICT Editor" <editor[at]lisjobs.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: editor[at]lisjobs.com
Info Career Trends, a bimonthly electronic newsletter focusing on
professional development issues for librarians, is again seeking
contributors for its next issue. This thematic issue focuses on the topic
of "Rejuvenating Your Career," and I'm in search of short, practical
articles describing how librarians have successfully battled burnout,
overcome those mid-career (or early-career!) blahs, or switched courses
midstream.
Please see contributor guidelines at
http://www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/theme.htm#contrib .
Past issues are archived online at
http://www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/archives.htm ;
be sure to peruse previous
articles to get an idea of ICT's needs and tone.
Send all queries to editor[at]lisjobs.com.
Thanks!
- Rachel
--
Subscribe to the free Lisjobs.com professional development newsletter,
Info Career Trends! http://www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/
--
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10. Free Online Scholarship (FOS) Newsletter, March 4, 2002
http://www.topica.com/lists/suber-fos/read/message.html?mid=1606368128&sort=d&start=23
This URL goes to another substantial issue of Peter Stuber's collection of
links, cites, and thoughts on the always surprisingly big world of "Free
Online Scholarship," which is all about recovering scholarly communication
from the venal, ever larger publishing companies which currently dominate.
This issue includes a lot of coverage of something called the BOAI, which
stands for Budpest Open Access Initiative. The BOAI "aims to accelerate
progress in the international effort to make research articles in all
academic fields freely available on the Internet. The Initiative has been
signed by hundreds of individuals and organizations around the world,
including scientists and researchers, universities, laboratories, libraries
and library organizations, foundations, journals, publishers, and learned
societies."
Also included is information about a free document delivery service, a
timeline of the Free Online Scholarship movement, information on the SSSCA
(including links to many articles I had not seen yet), information on the
USA/PATRIOT Act with lots of links, links to news of information being
deleted from the web in the wake of Sept. 11th, and many developments in
the Free Online Scholarship world.
It's BIG, BIG, BIG!
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11. Cultural Policy Listserv
http://www.culturalpolicy.org
This is a newsletter on issues relating to Cultural Policy, put out by
the Center for Arts and Culture, a think tank / advocacy group on cultural
policy issues.
The newsletter, which is released weekly, is pretty long, and follows an
established format: first, news about the Center, which might have an
announcement of a new internship, a new report being released, etcetera.
Then, other announcements, including calls for papers, announcements of
fellowships, job opportunities, etc.
I should note here that "Cultural Policy" includes a lot of things. It
includes libraries, arts education, copyright concerns, arts funding,
cultural preservation, museums, access to information, literacy, media
literacy, media monopoly concerns, and many other things.
The remainder of the newsletter, which runs about 75K per issue, is a
collection of links and annotations, falling under the categories, "Access
and Equity," "Community," "Creativity & the Law," "Education & the Creative
Workforce," "Globalization," "Heritage & Preservation," "National
Investment," and an events calendar.
If you get a lot of email it may be hard to digest the whole thing on a
weekly basis, but what else is new? Anyway, I think it's one of the better
alert services out there relating to the outer context of libraries.
Center for Arts & Culture
819 Seventh Street, NW
Suite 505
Washington, DC 20001
Tel. 202-783-5277
Fax. 202-783-4498
center[at]culturalpolicy.org
www.culturalpolicy.org
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12. Preserving the artifact
The Evidence in Hand:
Report of the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections
November 2001
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub103/contents.html
Contents
Executive Summary
Task Force Members

THE PROBLEM

1.1 The Charge
1.2 The Work of the Task Force
2. THE ARTIFACT IN QUESTION
2.1 Selection for Preservation of the Original
2.2 Frameworks for Determining Value
3. STATES OF THE ARTIFACT, 1800-2000
3.1. The Changing Features of the Artifact
3.2. Print/Paper
3.2.1 The Relative Stability of Imprints
3.2.2 Evaluation of the Artifact and Selection for Preservation
3.2.3 Creating Surrogates: Filming versus Scanning
3.2.4 Responsible Retention Policies
3.3. Audiovisual
3.3.1 Sound and Light as Artifacts
3.3.2 Still Images
3.3.3 Moving Images
3.3.4 Recorded Sound
3.3.5 Broadcast Media
3.4. Digital
3.4.1 Artifacts and Artifactual Value in the Digital Realm
3.4.2 Digital Surrogates
3.4.3 Access
3.4.4 Born-Digital Materials
3.4.5 Preservation of Digital Information
3.4.6 Copyright: A Barrier to Preservation?
4. CASE STUDIES
4.1. The Five-College Library Depository
4.2. The Emperor Jones
4.3. Preserving Oral Traditions
4.4. JSTOR
4.5. The Rossetti Archive
5. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Principles of Good Stewardship
5.2 Best Practices for Preservation of the Artifact
5.3 Strategies for Specific Formats
5.4 Recommendations
5.5 Areas for Further Research
6. REFERENCES
7. APPENDIXES
I. Current Library Practices in Collection Development and Preservation
II. Charge to the Task Force
III. Selection for Preservation Criteria from RLG, Cornell, and Harvard
IV. Expenditure Trends in ARL Libraries, 19862000
V. Non-Print Holdings in ARL University Libraries
VI. Comparative Costs for Book Treatments
VII. National Recording Preservation Act of 2000
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub103/contents.html
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13. The Overdue (cartoon)
The Overdue, by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum, is not one of the better
cartoons out there, but it is about libraries, and that makes it special.
http://www.barnacle.org/overdue/
One nice feature of the site is that you can have the cartoon delivered in
your email. I think I'm going to try that.
RL.
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