Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship 006 (MAY 1993) URL = ftp://ftp.lib.ncsu.edu/pub/stacks/sts/sts-006 ------------->> ---------- ---- -- ##### ####### ##### - # # # - # # # S - ##### # ##### T ELECTRONIC - # # # S COMMUNICATIONS -- # # # ---- ##### # ##### --------- ----------------------->> ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIANSHIP MAY 1993 NUMBER 6 __________________________________________________________________ ALA ACRL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SECTION __________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS: FROM THE EDITOR: ISTL ON GOPHER RETHINKING REFERENCE SELECTIVE READING LIST LINES 55-178 ANNOUNCEMENTS: STS: SCIENCE REFERENCE SERVICE: ALA PRECONFERENCE STILL OPEN LINES 179-228 STS DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING--ALA NEW ORLEANS LINES 229-242 THE WHITE HOUSE ELECTRONIC MAIL ACCESS LINES 243-312 FUTURE USE OF THE INTERNET--PERSONAL OPINION LINES 313-351 RLG'S CITADEL SERVICE--TWO NEW FILES LINES 352-402 SPRINGER JOURNALS PREVIEW SERVICE VIA INTERNET LINES 403-425 PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIONS BY KENT STEPHENS, REFERENCE LIBRARIAN, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO JOHN D. WARD, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS SACRAMENTO MEDICAL CENTER INCLUDING A SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY BY MENGXIONG LIU LINES 426-726 EMPOWERING THE PUBLIC: THE ENVIRONMENT CONNECTION BY SUSAN MAGEE, LIBRARY INSTRUCTION COORDINATOR, CENTENNIAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO LINES 727-828 AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY/CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS SERVICE: INSTRUCTIONAL ISSUES A SERIES OF REPORTS INCLUDING THE PROGRAM FOR "CHEMICAL INFORMATION INSTRUCTION IN THE '90S: FACING REALITY" BY ARLEEN SOMERVILLE, CARLSON LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER LINES 829-1094 ______________________________________________________________________________ FROM THE EDITOR ISTL ON GOPHER Thanks to Eric Morgan, all of the issues of ISTL are now available on the GOPHER at North Carolina State University. Besides being available in full-text, they are also keyword searchable. According to Eric's instructions "point your GOPHER client to dewey.lib.ncsu.edu on port 70 and navigate to the Library & Information Science Study Carrel." For those of you, like me, who need a little more guidance then that, here are some more hints: 1) when connected to a GOPHER look for the "Library based gopher" list 2) Find the North Carolina Library Information heading 3) Once connected to NCSU's GOPHER, choose the "Library Without Walls" option 4) Under "Library Without Walls", choose the "Discipline Specific Study Carrels" option 5) Under study carrels, choose the "Library & Information Science" option 6) Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship will be found on that menu. Past issues are grouped by year ie 1991, 1992, and 1993. As is common with the internet, this sounds a lot more complicated to navigate then it is. All of my steps may not apply to your situation. However, the instructions after you are connected to the NCSU GOPHER should be accurate. Although I am aware that ISTL is available through some local and international bulletin boards, this is the only GOPHER that I am aware of that has it archived in the full-text version. RETHINKING REFERENCE I was very pleased to be a participant of the Rethinking Reference: New Models and How to Get There workshop sponsored by the Library Solutions Institute and held at Berkeley, California last March. The participants represented a variety of libraries, disciplines, and levels of management and administration. The one common ground was looking for new ways to do things. Plans are to publish the proceedings from that workshop. When this happens, the ideas documented from the workshop will then be more widely disseminated helping to replicate the creative thinking in individual library organizations. For those who would like to do some reading on the topic and challenges, the following is the selective reading list Anne Lipow developed for the workshop. RETHINKING REFERENCE: SELECTED READINGS, prepared by Anne G. Lipow 8 January 1993 *Indicates items initially sent out on the network The Future of the Reference Desk 1. Ford, Barbara. "Reference beyond (and without) the reference desk." College and Research Libraries, vol. 47, Sept. 1986, 491. Questions the reference desk as the central mode of serving clients. 2.*Lipow, Anne G. "21st century job description." Message broadcast to the Visions network discussion group in August 1992. Depicts a remotely accessible reference desk. 3. Massey-Burzio, Virginia. et al. "Reference encounters of a different kind: a symposium." Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 18, no. 5, Nov. 1992, 276. Massey-Burzio discusses the process of eliminating the reference desk at Brandeis, and 4 other authors respond. 4. Oberg, Larry. "Response to Hammond: Paraprofessionals at the reference desk: the end of the debate. The Reference Librarian, no. 37, 1992. Urges professionals to break away from the idea of desk duty as a key reason for being. New Roles for Libraries and Library Personnel 5. Campbell, Jerry D. "It's a tough job looking ahead when you've seen what's dragging behind." Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 17, no. 3, 148. Argues for rethinking our mission. 6. Campbell, Jerry D. "Shaking the conceptual foundations of reference: a perspective." Reference Services Review, Winter 1992, 29. Foresees new roles and titles for reference librarians based on a new economic model of providing information to users. 7.*Lipow, Anne G. "Reorganization in reference departments: summary of responses." Distributed on LIBREF-L and LIBADMIN listservs January 6, 1992. Summary of 20 responses to request for descriptions of innovative reorganization in reference services or redefined positions within reference department. 8. Malinconico, Michael. "Information's brave new world." Library Journal, May 1, 1992, 36. Premise: New developments could displace librarians or magnify their importance; librarians can deny change or anticipate it and exploit it to their advantage. 9. Oberg, Larry. "The emergence of the paraprofessional in academic libraries: perceptions and realities. College and Research Libraries, March 1992, 100. Bases conclusion that new model of librarianship is needed on the growing ambiguity between the roles of paraprofessionals and librarians. 10. Smith, Eldred. "The print prison." Library Journal, February 1, 1992. Argues that electronic information technology provides the means to overcome print's limitations, and suggests new roles for collection development and reference librarians in academic libraries. 11. "Staff versus collections: assessing budget priorities for the 1990s." A symposium of articles by Jerry Campbell, Patrick O'Brien, and Sheila Creth. Library Administration & Management, Summer 1992, 126. The 3 authors differ in their assessment of budget priorities in affecting change, but they agree that to survive, libraries cannot continue the status quo. 12.*Strategic Visions Steering Committee. "Strategic Vision for Professional Librarians" and "Values and Qualities of Librarianship." Draft documents prepared in January 1992 distributed on the Visions listserv, at professional meetings. I want to thank the people who contributed articles to this issue and encourage others to send their submissions to me at this address. Harry LLull University of New Mexico ACRLSTS@HAL.UNM.EDU ____________________________________________________________________ SCIENCE REFERENCE SERVICE: AN INTRODUCTION FOR THE GENERAL REFERENCE LIBRARIAN THIS ALA PRECONFERENCE IS STILL OPEN FOR REGISTRATIONS The STS Section is sponsoring a Preconference before the ALA Annual Meeting. This Preconference is designed for academic librarians who serve at general reference desks at community colleges, colleges, or universities and who do not have formal training in science bibliography. This Preconference may also attract paraprofessionals and public librarians who answer science reference questions. All those who cringe when patrons ask sci/tech reference questions, who have gaps in their knowledge of sci/tech reference sources, who regret not taking a science reference course in library school, or who could benefit from a refresher course will find value in this Preconference. The speaker lineup: Introduction: Thomas Kirk, ACRL president-elect and college librarian, Berea College Keynote: "What Young Scientists Bring to the Library: What Nonscientists in the Library Can Do to Help Them." Tony Stankus, Science Librarian, College of the Holy Cross CD-ROM and online sources and strategies: Robin Raquet, Science Librarian, Trinity University Physical Science sources: Arleen Somerville, Physical Sciences Librarian, University of Rochester Applied Science sources: LeAnn Weller, Engineering Librarian, University of Kansas Life Sciences sources: Christina Peterson, Life & Health Sciences Librarian, San Jose State University Date: Friday, June 25, 1993 Place: New Orleans, LA Time: 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. Cost: ACRL members: $120 ALA members: $155 non-ALA members: $195 Registration deadline: STILL OPEN All ACRL and RASD members will receive a flyer that contains a registration form. A registration form also appears in the March 1993 issue of _C&RL News_, on page 153. _____________________________________________________________________________ STS DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING--ALA NEW ORLEANS The STS Discussion Group will meet on Sunday, June 30 from 2-3:30 pm at the Georgia World Congress Center, Rm 307E, during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. The topic will be, "Access to Science Journals: After We Cancel What Do We Do?", with discussion leaders Ron Acke, Faxon, and Lynn Hamilton, Institute for Scientific Information. The discussion will be followed by the Forum for Science and Technology Library Research in the same room. Please plan to attend! Marilyn Von Seggern, STS Discussion Group Co-Chair ___________________________________________________________________________ THE WHITE HOUSE Office of Presidential Correspondence For Immediate Release June 1, 1993 LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT IN ANNOUNCEMENT OF WHITE HOUSE ELECTRONIC MAIL ACCESS Dear Friends: Part of our commitment to change is to keep the White House in step with today's changing technology. As we move ahead into the twenty-first century, we must have a government that can show the way and lead by example. Today, we are pleased to announce that for the first time in history, the White House will be connected to you via electronic mail. Electronic mail will bring the Presidency and this Administration closer and make it more accessible to the people. The White House will be connected to the Internet as well as several on-line commercial vendors, thus making us more accessible and more in touch with people across this country. We will not be alone in this venture. Congress is also getting involved, and an exciting announcement regarding electronic mail is expected to come from the House of Representatives tomorrow. Various government agencies also will be taking part in the near future. Americans Communicating Electronically is a project developed by several government agencies to coordinate and improve access to the nation's educational and information assets and resources. This will be done through interactive communications such as electronic mail, and brought to people who do not have ready access to a computer. However, we must be realistic about the limitations and expectations of the White House electronic mail system. This experiment is the first-ever e-mail project done on such a large scale. As we work to reinvent government and streamline our processes, the e-mail project can help to put us on the leading edge of progress. Initially, your e-mail message will be read and receipt immediately acknowledged. A careful count will be taken on the number received as well as the subject of each message. However, the White House is not yet capable of sending back a tailored response via electronic mail. We are hoping this will happen by the end of the year. A number of response-based programs which allow technology to help us read your message more effectively, and, eventually respond to you electronically in a timely fashion will be tried out as well. These programs will change periodically as we experiment with the best way to handle electronic mail from the public. Since this has never been tried before, it is important to allow for some flexibility in the system in these first stages. We welcome your suggestions. This is an historic moment in the White House and we look forward to your participation and enthusiasm for this milestone event. We eagerly anticipate the day when electronic mail from the public is an integral and normal part of the White House communications system. President Clinton Vice President Gore PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV VICE.PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV _________________________________________________________________________ FUTURE USE OF THE INTERNET--PERSONAL OPINION This appeared on a University Administrators' Bulletin Board Most of you are probably aware of a plan to limit free use of INTERNET to "scientists" transmitting huge files and to start charging for e-mail. Apparently, this is the result of private telecommunications interests putting pressure on the National Science Foundation. If this plan is realized, it will mean that the majority of the approximately 15 million users of INTERNET will be cut off. Sadly, this is occurring just when the potential of this network was starting to be realized. Something must be DONE. We can not let private interests deprive us of access to INTERNET. I suggest that all concerned users register their protest/concern directly with Clinton and Gore via e-mail. Their e-mail address have recently been posted and they are: Clinton= PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV Gore = VICE.PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV In addition, I also suggest that we identify the office in the NSF which is responsible for INTERNET and register electronic protests with them. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, especially in locating the e-mail address for the office in the NSF. * Carl H.A. Dassbach BITNET: DASSBACH@MTUS5 * Dept. of Social Sciences INTERNET: DASSBACH@MTUS5.CTS.MTU.EDU * Michigan Technological Univ. PHONE: (906)487-2115 * Houghton, MI 49931 FAX: (906)487-2468 * U.S.A. ________________________________________________________________________ TWO NEW FILES ADDED TO RLG'S CITADEL SERVICE Unlimited searching of special files in Hispanic studies and history of science available by annual subscription MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 26, 1993 -- Two new files -- Hispanic American Periodicals Index and Isis History of Science Bibliography -- have been added to CitaDel, the article-citation and document-delivery service from the Research Libraries Group (RLG). Hispanic Studies Index Hispanic American Periodicals Index, an ongoing project of UCLA's Latin American Center, contains over 165,000 citations to articles from more than 400 scholarly social science and humanities journals published in Latin America or treating Latin American and U.S. Hispanic topics. The journals are selected and indexed by an international panel of librarians and scholars. The index is updated annually; coverage at present is 1970 to 1991. History of Science Index, Exclusive to CitaDel Isis History of Science Bibliography, compiled by the History of Science Society, currently contains 60,000 citations to books and articles about the history of science and the influence of science on culture. It indexes more than 600 journals and is updated annually; coverage is 1976 to the present. The index is available online only through RLG's CitaDel service. The Isis index has been combined with CitaDel's History of Technology file to form a new CitaDel file called History of Science and Technology. Annual Subscriptions, Telecommunication Options Currently, access to Hispanic American Periodicals Index and the other CitaDel files is available by annual subscription. For a fixed annual fee, institutions can provide faculty, students, and staff with unlimited access to the CitaDel file(s) of their choice. The History of Technology file has been available by annual subscription and on a per-search basis; the new History of Science and Technology file, which replaces the History of Technology file, will continue on these terms with no change in fees. Telecommunication options for all CitaDel files include direct dial, the Internet, SprintNet, and RLG's private X.25 network. For more information, please call the RLIN Information Center at 1-800-537-7546; email bl.ric@rlg.bitnet or bl.ric@rlg.stanford.edu (Internet). _________________________________________________________________________ SPRINGER JOURNALS PREVIEW SERVICE VIA INTERNET Following the request of a great number of scientists (working in the fields of medicine and life sciences) and librarians, Springer-Verlag will offer the tables of contents and BiblioAbstracts of 30 important scientific journals via e-mail before publication of the new issue. This service is available since March 1 1993. Tables of contents are free of charge and BiblioAbstracts are available for an annual token fee. The files supplied are in ASCII format, structured in accordance with accepted standards. They can be read on any computer without further processing and but also easily integrated into local data bases. For details please send an e-mail message containing the word HELP to our mailserver SVJPS@DHDSPRI6.BITNET or contact SPRINGER@DHDSPRI6.BITNET Springer-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, New Technologies / Product Development P.O. Box 10 52 80, W-6900 Heidelberg, Germany, fax: +49 6221 487 648 _______________________________________________________________________ PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIONS by Kent Stephens, Reference Librarian, California State University, Chico, and John D. Ward, University of California, Davis Sacramento Medical Center. Including a selective bibliography compiled by Mengxiong Liu Science librarians do not often consider preservation and conservation of science and technology materials part of their routine. They normally buy books and subscribe to journals for the basic information they contain, almost independent of the paper its written on. Only the larger institutional libraries have a view to preservation of information for posterity--for whatever purpose. Even in a large university library, science material is often considered ephemeral, soon superseded, especially if it is in an unusual format, or difficult to handle or to access the information in it. As such, it is likely to be thrown away when pressure builds to liberate shelf space, or when fashions and emphases in collection management change. Some of this material is worth saving, and some is invaluable--but how can you separate the "jewels" from the "junk" in your science collection? "Treasures in the Stacks: Seeking and Saving Jewels in Your Collection," is the title of a recent one-day program on the assessment, conservation and preservation of sci-tech books and other materials in library collections. The treasures--the jewels in the stacks--are the books that should be preserved. But how do you separate the jewels from the junk? Five speakers addressed various topics during a meeting on January 8, 1993 at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, sponsored by SEAL- North (Science and Engineering Academic Librarians), a California Academic Reference Librarians interest group. This material is taken from that program. Maralyn Jones, the Assistant Head of the Conservation Department, University of California Libraries, Berkeley presented "CALIPR: an automated needs assessment tool." Most libraries are doing very little in terms of the preservation of their collections. One reason is a problem with the perception of preservation. Ms Jones reported, "It has been my experience in talking with people who do not have preservation programs, and also those who do, that preservation is a bottomless pit of needs that never finish--kind of discouraging. And not only that, nobody knows where to start because its all a terrible urgency and if we don't do something soon, catastrophe will (happen) and our collections will fall apart...I think these perceptions lead to paralysis, they just leave us sitting there (saying) 'I don't know what to do and I can't ever do enough of it, so maybe I just won't do anything.' That is an unfortunate situation which I don't believe is necessary." The preservation needs assessment will replace the discouragement and inaction with actual data that will tell you a scale of action, depending upon level of available resources, even if they are limited. This information then enables you to use your available resources wisely. CALIPR is just such a tool. CALIPR (an acronym for California Preservation Program) was developed to assist the California State Library to do a statewide preservation needs assessment survey, with its results used to help prepare a California Preservation Plan. It was developed by the Conservation Department of the Library, University of California, Berkeley, which tested it in manual form during 1989. Further testing and improvements followed during 1990-9l, including extensive testing in forty- two California libraries, ranging from the big (UC Berkeley) to the small (two public libraries in Humboldt County). A group of preservation librarians, who worked together as a preservation task force within the Research Libraries Group, were also involved in the testing of CALIPR. The Systems Office of UC Berkeley Libraries automated CALIPR during 1991. During the same year, a different version of this needs assessment tool was automated by the Research Libraries Group for use by their member libraries. The original purpose of CALIPR was a needs assessment survey to gather statewide aggregate information for the California Preservation Plan. But its design allows it to be used in stand-alone surveys by a single library whose staff have little or no expertise in preservation. It is "an automated preservation needs assessment instrument that provides some of the expertise of a preservation consultant to help assess, quantify and prioritize the preservation needs of your collection. CALIPR is applicable to collections of bound materials, archives, manuscripts, photographs or other documentary media" (quotation from CALIPR sales brochure). The software is on four 5-1/4 inch diskettes for use with IBM compatible personal computers. It requires 1.8 MB disk storage capacity. A librarian can work on a lap-top computer right in the stacks. A sample of the collection is selected (optimum number is 400 items); then each item is recorded in CALIPR. There are two results from using CALIPR on a sample, according to Ms Jones--first, it gives data on "...the number of items in your sample that require any particular solution...45 out of the 100 [sample) need rebinding" (for example); the second result is that the data "tell you what the scale of action needs to be...the number of items for which the scale of action is high, medium or low priority by crunching the data" that came from your answers on each item in the sample. CALIPR generates four reports. The main report gives a breakdown of needed treatment for the entire sample. You can work from this, or from any or all of three sub-set reports. The first is a sub-set of all items of high value (for example, the item is the only copy in the region or the state, or a rare item). Second, a sub-set within the sample that targets only the high use items. The third option is sub-set that combines both high value and the high use items in an overlap. This is the narrowest report, which targets only the highest priority items in the sample. As Ms Jones pointed out, the report generation by CALIPR is not the end of a project. The reports only tell you what you need to do. The staff that developed CALIPR is now brainstorming on developing an additional report that does a comparison of the preservation needs against the available resources--i.e., a feasibility report that will guide you through the recommendations. (The present CALIPR is version 2.1, Sept. 1991, prepared by Barclay Ogden and Maralyn Jones. It is available for purchase from California State Library Foundation, PO Box 942837, Sacramento, CA 94237- 0001. Single copy $30 plus $2.50 S&H.) Second speaker was Henry Lowood, Bibliographer for History of Science & Technology Collections, Stanford University Libraries. He stated at the beginning of his presentation "...few science librarians would easily admit that they acquired jewels or junk for their collections. Both words stand for concepts that have become unpopular in library circles and beyond and for similar reasons. On one hand recently trained historians and other scholars sneer at phrases like jewels of the collection now seen as representing icons of research industries that produce stacks of publications devoted to great works and great scientists. Their focus has shifted to a great diversity of topics too numerous to enumerate here. They require deeper, more varied collections no longer defined by the exclusive club of big books...as new studies in science and technology have emerged, the traditional jewels have lost some of their sparkle; one person's junk has become another's jewel." He defined collection assessment as "a decision about the historical or material value of an individual title and this decision, junk or jewel, can be a bottleneck holding up the entire process." The remainder of his presentation was divided into three parts: the "afterlife of science and technology collections;" secondly, "where does your library fit into the mosaic of resources;" and last what can a librarian do. He pointed out that a librarian's judgment on the "possible afterlife of books from science collections" is subjective. It is hard to define it to administrators, and there are "sticky questions" when doing assessment and weeding. For example, what do you do with old textbooks (examples of the teaching of the period) or holdings of early issues of a microcomputer magazine. Dr. Lowood stated that in evaluating science and technology collections, a librarian should "think locally, act globally", evaluating the collection in terms of local needs, but "think globally" when disposing of the material discarded from the collection. On collecting and retaining old scientific and technical materials, "putting it bluntly, if you do not have a programmatic need for retaining historical materials, then don't." If an institution doesn't have a need for historical materials, then he would feel comfortable giving away textbooks published before 1950 or journal runs published prior to 1950. The third speaker was Colleen Power (Extended Campus Librarian, California State University, Chico), who titled her talk, "Weeding a general collection: identification through citation analysis." She began with the comment, "citation analysis has to be one of the dullest-sounding items imaginable." Leading into her subject, Ms. Power pointed out that weeding library collections is done in two separate processes; first in the day-to-day decisions on individual titles; secondly by a project. During the course of her career in four libraries, she has worked with collections ranging in size from 50,000 to 100,000 to 600,000 volumes, doing weeding and collection assessment. Her weeding projects raised a problem with old editions. "Do they mean anything?" At one point, she used BOOKS FOR COLLEGE LIBRARIES (BCL), basic collection of 100,000 volumes, appropriate for a four-year college. There are, however, two problems with using BCL in a weeding project; first, it doesn't include textbooks, and second, it only includes the latest editions. Thus a librarian using it might not know whether an earlier edition is a classic. After being hired by CSU Chico Library to develop a collection assessment program, she decided that she needed a list of significant older editions. She contacted SCIENCE CITATION INDEX and discovered that they had eliminated monograph designators, so they couldn't generate a list. By going through the 1981 SCI, she developed her list manually, counting 6,000 titles cited 15 times or more. The SCI project revealed some interesting differences in editions. J. Hirschfelder's MOLECULAR THEORY OF GASES AND LIQUIDS, 1954 edition, was cited 154 times; the 1964 edition was cited only 61 times. She noted that this was more than twenty five years after publication of the 1954 edition, the library might be thinking of getting rid of it but the faculty were still using it. She asked, "Now, what is going on here?" Many faculty members bought the 1954 edition during or shortly after their doctoral program and were still using it. In 1991 Ms Power revised her 1981 list. After a decade, use of most of the titles had dropped significantly. She ran a check against the 1991 SCI for the most used titles--131 which were cited 100 times or more--and found all were still being cited. The lowest number of citations for a title was five. Somewhat surprisingly 33 of these titles were actually cited more in 1991 than they were a decade earlier. She also did a comparison of how many of the 131 titles were in BCL. According to BCL, a four year college needed only 44 of the 131 titles. Six additional titles had a different edition listed in BCL. There is no secondary market in 20th Century science texts in general, and very little work has been done compiling objective criteria to evaluate their intrinsic worth. Only a very small fraction of them has any value in today's market. Jeremy Norman, of Jeremy Norman and Company, Inc. in San Francisco, is an appraiser of science collections, outlined a method for evaluating the market worthiness of science books. In general, a book may be considered "rare" only if it meets at least one of these six criteria. The presence of one makes a book valuable--worth preserving--in itself: 1) Scarcity. Limited press runs and special conditions of publication give an otherwise undistinguished book value for collectors. 2) Significance of its content for a particular subject or collection. Books that are "classics", or are becoming such. First editions and the works of Nobel laureates should be preserved. 3) Character as a physical object. These are books with unusual format, binding, or printing, or something that makes them special in some way. 4) Imprint. Books printed in a special place, especially "firsts": first from that press, first in that town, first by that author, etc. 5) Association with notable people. Books that have ownership marks, notes or inscriptions by famous people are intrinsically valuable to collectors and historians. 6) A book in perfect condition can be valuable for that fact alone. To get an idea of the market value of your collection, or of a portion of it, there are two considerations to keep in mind. First, decide which books are worth pricing, the process itself takes some time and research; then evaluate the value of a book to your library, as opposed to its market value. This depends on the purpose of your institution and the use your collection is put to. If yours is primarily a research collection, you may not want to hold many volumes that have a high intrinsic market value, and which do not contribute to the actual research of your institution. Old and beautiful books have great display value, but often have very little research value. Know the context of your collection, and the state of your commitment to maintaining it. Axel Borg, the Wine librarian at the University of California, Davis, gave a summary from the point of view of a science librarian vitally concerned with preservation. It is important to know what you have, and to know what you do not have. Only then can you see your own library in the larger context of what can be done, and what needs to be done to give an appreciation of the actual value of your own collection to you and to the larger community. Selective bibliography for additional reading (compiled by Mengxiong Liu, January 1993): Blecker, S. "What is going on out there? A novice librarian's search for 'usable' technology." CONSERVATION ADMINISTRATION NEWS, no. 51 (October 1992): 12-13. Branin, Joseph, ed. COLLECTION MANAGEMENT FOR THE 1990'S. Chicago, IL: ALA. 1992. Brown, N.B. "Preservation in the research library; its past, present status, and encouraging future." In: TECHNICAL SERVICES TODAY AND TOMORROW. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. 1990: 105-129. Burdick, Amrita J. "Science citation index data as a safety net for basic science books considered for weeding." LRTS 33(4): 367-373. Clark Lenore, ed. GUIDE TO REVIEW OF LIBRARY COLLECTIONS: PRESERVATION, STORAGE, AND WITHDRAWAL. Chicago, IL: ALA. 1991. DIRECTORY: INFORMATION SOURCES ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH RELATED TO THE PRESERVATION OF BOOKS, PAPER, AND ADHESIVES. Washington, DC., Commission on Preservation and Access, 1990. (Address: 1785 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 313. Publication is 28 pages). Henderson, Kathryn Luther and William T. Henderson, eds. CONSERVING AND PRESERVING MATERIALS IN NON BOOK FORMATS. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Graduate School of Library & Information Science. 1991. Jones, M. "More than 10 years after: identity and direction in library preservation." LIBRARY RESOURCES AND TECHNICAL SERVICES, 35 (July 1991): 294-306. Kovacs, Beatrice. "Preservation of materials in science and technology libraries." SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIES, 7 (3) March 1987: 3-13. Montori, C.J. "Preservation planning" the vital first step." In: Henderson, Kathryn Luther and William T. Henderson, eds. CONSERVING AND PRESERVING MATERIALS IN NON BOOK FORMATS. pp. 147-156. Mount, Ellis, ed. PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF SCI-TECH MATERIALS. New York, Haworth Press. 1987. (Reprint of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIES, 7 (3) March 1987, cited above.) Overmier, Judith A. "Table d'Hote and A La Carte: collecting rare science books." COLLECTION MANAGEMENT 12(3/4): 113-124. Stankus, Tony. SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS: IMPROVING LIBRARY COLLECTIONS THROUGH ANALYSIS OF PUBLISHING TRENDS. New York, NY: Haworth Press. 1990. Schwartzberg, Susan G. "Basic preservation bibliography" CONSERVATION ADMINISTRATION NEWS, no. 44 (January 1991): 10-12. Schwartzberg, Susan G. LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES: DESIGN AND RENOVATION WITH A PRESERVATION PERSPECTIVE. Meetuchen, NJ: Haworth Press. 1992. Wood, Richard J. and Katina Strauch, eds. COLLECTION ASSESSMENT: A LOOK AT THE RLG CONSPECTUS. New York, NY: Haworth Press. 1992. ____________________________________________________________________________ EMPOWERING THE PUBLIC: THE ENVIRONMENT CONNECTION By: Susan Magee, Library Instruction Coordinator Centennial Science and Engineering Library, University of New Mexico smagee@hal.unm.edu The Rio Grande Chapter of the Special Libraries Association sponsored a one day workshop entitled "Empowering the Public: The Environment Connection." Gayle Alson, a health education specialist for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in Atlanta, was the main guest speaker. Jackie Calligan, the librarian for the New Mexico Environmental Department, did a presentation on sources for New Mexico environmental information. There were three objectives for the workshop. These were to enable the participants to: identify and describe state and federal agencies and their environmental role; identify printed sources of environmental information (monographs, newsletters, journals, etc.); and identify electronic sources of environmental information (databases, CD-Roms, bulletin boards, etc.). The morning was given over to explaining federal governmental agencies, their interactions and functions; environmental programs or agencies which will provide free or low cost materials and some of the finding aids available on environmental subjects. A fairly complete list of everything environmental - agencies, programs, laws, etc. can be found in the EPA's "Glossary of Environmental Terms and Acronym List." This will help any initiate into these materials through the alphabet soup that is used to communicate. It is available on request from: Publications Division, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, A-107, USEPA, Washington, DC, 20460. Many agencies and organizations provide environmental information, often for free or a small fee. These materials range from newsletters to brochures to electronic bulletin boards to teacher packets and fact sheets on a variety of topics. Among those mentioned were EPA Info Access; Fish and Wildlife Reference Service; INFOTERRA; National Drinking Water Clearinghouse; USEPA Public Information Center and USGAO (General Accounting Office). Look in either the U.S. Government Manual or the Encyclopedia of Associations for addresses to these and other organizations whose materials might be of interest. Government publications can be especially useful and are, in general, greatly underused. Various other specific documents looked very useful. "Access EPA", (a series of seven directories including 'Clearinghouses and Hotlines'; 'Major EPA Environmental Databases'; and 'Library and information Services' available through the GPO, stock number 055-000-00406-4 for $21.00). The "Gale Environmental Sourcebook" which lists international and national agencies, organizations, educational programs, scholarships, and research facilities as well as publications and information services (ISBN 0-8103-8403-5). "Who is Who In Service to the Earth" indexed by people, project, keyword and geography (ISBN: 0-9628405-2-1). Environmental journals are many. Gayle provided examples of the selection for young people: Disney Adventures; Kind News Jr.; Otterwise; Puddler; Ranger Rick. General Audience journals mentioned were Buzzworm: the environmental journal (ISSN 0898-2996); E Magazine (ISSN 1046-8021); and the EPA Journal (ISSN 0145-1189). Looking through various serials directories will garner you a far more complete list, there are several on every aspect and every side of environmental issues. If you are interested in information on the various electronic sources of environment related material try "Environment Online: the Greening of Databases" (ISBN 0-910965-05-6). It includes general interest, scientific, technical, business, and regulatory databases as well as reprinted columns from Database and Online magazines which cover search tips for some of the more difficult databases. Gayle ended the day with a series of environmental education programs available. ASTDR sponsors a series of self-instructional publications entitled "Case Studies in Environmental Medicine" which are 'designed to increase the primary care provider's knowledge of hazardous substances in the environment and to aid in the evaluation of potentially exposed patients.' Each of these can earn the care provider AMA continuing medical education credit. They take the student through a realistic case study with sections on physiological effects and treatment and management. Each section has challenge questions and a reading list is given for further study of the subject. A similar type publication from ASTDR is the Public Health Statement series. These identify for the layperson potential health hazardous and how to recognize exposure. Both publications are available from ATSDR, Division of Toxicology, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30333. Other programs, classroom materials, dissemination networks and curricula are described in EPA's "Environmental Health Risk Education for Youth: A Resource Manual". This manual is intended for virtually anyone interested in environmental health risk education. It is also available through Communications and Public Affairs of USEPA. It was a program rich with information. The participants had the opportunity not only to gain from Gayle's expertise but to also network with others in New Mexico of similar interests. The task now is to sort through and use the seminar materials to our, and our patrons', best advantage. ________________________________________________________________________ AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY/CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS SERVICE: INSTRUCTIONAL ISSUES A Series of Reports Including the Program for "Chemical Information Instruction in the '90s: Facing Reality" By Arleen Somerville, Carlson Library, University of Rochester Rochester, New York ANSV@db1.cc.rochester.edu Chemical Abstracts Service Committee: Open Meeting Dr. Lura Powell, new Chairman of the Chemical Abstracts Service Committee, began the meeting with a report of Committee activity at the Executive Committee session on the previous Friday. She noted that the Committee spent a good deal of time planning for its new role "as a channel for information flow between the Chemical Abstracts Service Governing Board, society members, and individual Chemical Abstracts Service users to help assure that each party's needs and support are researched, recognized and appreciated." The Committee is enthusiastic about its new challenges and looks forward to this opportunity to shape a new committee role. Joe Clark was appointed vice-chairman. Dr. John Crum, ACS Executive Director and Chairman of the CAS Governing Board reported on the Board's activities. He stressed his strong support for the Committee and the importance of a strong relationship between the Committee and ACS members. Dr. Powell noted that the Committee will work between meetings and communicate with users of CAS databases. She noted that three focus groups have been established in key areas: 1. Improving interactions between the Committee, and such ACS Divisions as Chemical Information and Computers in Chemistry, including identification of ways to make the Open Meetings productive and effective. Jean Marcali will chair this group. 2. Effective means and required resources for teaching students to access CAS databases on STN. Arleen Somerville is chair of this group. 3. Trends in information needs, e.g., how have information needs and access changed over the last 5 years? how will things look in the year 2000? Edlyn Simmons is chair of this group. The 3 chairmen were introduced and attendees were encouraged to contact them. Preliminary reports from each focus group are expected by mid-April, with fuller reports planned for the August meeting. Dr. Paul Walter, Chairman of the ACS Board of Directors and member of the CAS Governing Board, reported on the Governing Board's activities. He began by commending Dr. Joe Dixon, who he termed "Father of the Governing Board" and observed that Joe deserves an accolade for his efforts. Two meetings of the Board have been held since August 1992. The November meeting included approval of the 1993 budget, a strategic assessment of STN International, and a discussion of providing subscriptions of CA for east European locations. The February 1993 meeting included a financial report of 1992, review of online pricing issues, an update of the strategic plan, marketing issues, and a detailed review of CAS including a discussion of how to improve relations between CAS and its customers to provide better service. He concluded his report with the observation that the Governing Board sees the CAS Committee as an essential communications link between users and CAS and the Governing Board. Robert Maissie, Chemical Abstracts Service Director, began his report by noting the recently completed realignment of the CAS management team. He introduced Suzan Brown, new Director of Marketing, who just joined CAS the previous week. He noted several general policies that are being looked at closely. First, ways to provide cost effective and user-oriented programs, to enhance chemical information efforts of customers. He is also stressing the importance of increased communication between CAS and customers. He noted that pricing is THE critical issue and CAS staff are working on that. CAS will try to moderate price increases. A cap has been placed on costs of SDI searches. Staff are investigating additional price options such as subscription options. Alternative pricing options are expected to be in place by summer. Dr. Powell then opened the floor for questions. Stuart Kaback noted that he was encouraged by new attitudes at CAS, but continued to be concerned about the same issues, such as offering abstracts to other vendors. He noted the greater search retrieval when abstracts can be searched and offered the compromise of searching, but not printing abstracts. He urged consideration of this issue. A discussion of CD-ROM covered several issues, including factors that make it so popular. In response to the questions urging the provision of cassi on CD-ROM, Rudy Potenza reported that the survey conducted by CAS during the previous several months did not support the need to offer CASSI on CD-ROM. CAS plans a proactive strategy to deliver many CD-ROM products in the future. Meeting attendees were urged to visit the CAS booth at the exposition, where everyone was invited to vote for possible CD-ROM products. In response to questions about the life expectancy of CD-ROM, Rudy Potenza noted that parallel technologies are developing, so CAS seeks to be broad minded about different technologies and not limit its efforts to currently popular technologies. CAS is working to provide information as FTP via Internet. CAS Committee Focus Group: Teaching Students The Focus Group, "Effective Means and Required Resources for Teaching Students to Access Ca on STN", includes Professor R. Bruce King (University of Georgia), Arleen Somerville (University of Rochester), Chairman, Professor Peter Stang (University of Utah), and Professor John Verkade (Iowa State University of Science and Technology). The Group defined the target groups as both undergraduate and graduate students. The scope of databases will include CA, as well as structure and reaction searching. Other possibilities include full text searching of chemical journals, including the new Chemical and Engineering News online. Major issues identified included:cost of searching and training materials; training options; and trainers. Some factors that need to be considered include: nature of institution (institutions vary by size, degrees offered funds available. etc.); extent of faculty support and nature of library support; different levels of training (learning to search and learning power of searching); varying practices in industry concerning extent of searching conducted by individual chemist; and the increased reliance on electronic resources expected in the future. Training ideas included: importance of providing alternatives, not just one option; targeting of key faculty and librarians to aid efforts; providing training at regional centers and at ACS Regional Meetings; offering training packages; and conducting a mini-survey which would follow up on ideas derived from the survey of all chemistry departments currently being conducted by the Division of Chemical Information's Education Committee. This survey would ask for reactions to possible scenarios. If you have ideas about training students to search the CAS databases on STN, please contact Arleen Somerville, Carlson Library, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0236. Phone: 716/275-4465; FAX: 716/473-1712; Internet: ANSV@db1.cc.rochester.edu American Chemical Society National Meeting, August 1993 American Chemical Society National Meeting, August 22-27, 1993 in Chicago. Registration and housing, as well as the complete program will be listed in an upcoming issue of Chemical and Engineering News. Librarians who are not members (national affiliates or full members) are asked to pay non-member registration fees. This program is especially valuable to academic librarians. The various symposia and other technical sessions are listed below. Titles of programs of interest to chemistry librarians (all programs are part of the Division of Chemical Information unless specified otherwise): "Training Scientists in the Use of Information" (i.e., in industry) "New Technologies for the Delivery of Chemical Information" "Chemical Information Careers in Transition" "Spectroscopic Databases: Computer Innovations for Search and Interpretation" "Copyright Issues Relative to Chemical Information"(Poster session) Open Meeting of the Copyright Committee, joint with the Division of Chemical Information. One-hour round table discussion on issues such as uses of databases and downloading, online databases vs. internal company databases, electronic format issues, etc. "Computer searching of the Beilstein database" (Part of the Division of Computers in Chemistry programming) Open Meeting of the Chemical Abstracts Service Committee Informal social receptions on Sunday and Tuesday evenings. "Chemical Information Instruction in the '90s:Facing Reality" Symposium, Division of Chemical Education, Monday, 8/23/93 Morning: Moderator: Arleen N. Somerville 9:00-9:25 "Planning for the transition from printed to electronic sources." Carol Carr (University of Pennsylvania) 9:25-9:50 "Chemical information instruction in academic institutions: Survey results and ideas from 300+ chemistry departments. Arleen N. Somerville (University of Rochester) 9:50-10:15 Break 10:30-10:55 "Undergraduate chemistry literature search - A course segment approach." Ron C. Cooke (California State University-Chico 10:55-11:20 "Reflections by a relatively novice chemical information instructor:undergraduate experience". Fred A. Turner (Roosevelt University) 11:20-11:55 "A graduate chemistry course in chemical information." Allan L. Smith (Drexel University) Afternoon: Moderator: Arleen N. Somerville 1:30-1:55 "Sources and resources in inorganic chemistry". Adrienne W. Kozlowski (Central Connecticut State University) 1:55-2:20 "Organic chemistry literature:the old and the new". Samuel Wilen (City College of New York) 2:20-2:45 "Environmental toxicology: answering the need for tabulated data". Charles Huber (University of California at Santa Barbara) 2:45-3:15 "Finding that elusive polymer information". Ann D. Bolek (University of Akron) 3:15-4:30 Poster session (Note:CAS Open Committee meeting will begin at 4:30) Posters: 1. "How the Clearinghouse for Chemical Information Instructional Materials (CCIIM) can help you". Gary Wiuggins and Diana Hernandez-Szczurek (Indiana University) 2. "The Chemical Information Instructor". Arleen N. Somerville (University of Rochester) 3. "Teaching Environmental Toxicology Information". Charles Huber (University of California, Santa Barbara) 4. " Chemical Information: Online and Library Searching". Fred A. Turner (Roosevelt University) 5. "Working Together: the Development of a Chemical Information Course." Loren Mendelsohn (Wayne State University) 6. "Instruction Programs for Graduate Students: Two Different Programs, Two Different Environments". Patricia O'Neill (Cornell Unviersity), Donna Hudson (Emory University) 7. "Information Infusion:Toward Chemical Literacy". Carol Drum, Anita Battiste, Evelyn Barratt, Kathryn R. Williams (University of Florida) 8. "Chemical information Instruction for Chemists:Experiences and Curricula Examples". Engelbert Zass (ETH Zurich) 9. "Incorporating Information Instruction into Chemistry Courses". Arienne W. Kozlowski (Central Conneticut State University) 10. "Online searching in the context of senior seminar." Jerry A. Jenkins (Otterbein College) 11. "Inexpensive exercises in on-line partial structure searching". Henry I. Abrash (California State University, Northridge 12. "Teaching in the Electronic Age: Use of Non-Traditional Sources in Chemistry Courses". Wil Stratton, Sara Penhale (Earlham College) 13. "A Networked Chemistry Computer Laboratory: Gateway to Chemical Information". Sandra Lamb (UCLA) 14. "Interface Software for End-User Database Searching on Public Service Microcomputer Workstations". Tina Chrzastowski, Timothy C. Cole, William H. Mischo, David Stern. ***************************************************************** Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship is a publication of the Science and Technology Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. The Editor: Harry LLull. Editorial Board: Lynn Kaczor, Gregg Sapp, and John Saylor. This publication is produced at the Centennial Science and Engineering Library, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and sent out in electronic form only over the internet. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Section or Division. Articles and requests for subscriptions may be sent to the editor at ACRLSTS@HAL.UNM.EDU. ***************************************************************** END OF FILE *****************************************************************