Serials Round Table (SRT)
Monday p.m., 9 March 1998

Coordinator, 1997-98: Stephanie Moye

Present: Ed Deegan, Kay Downey, Gisele Guay (recorder), Roger Lawson, Lilah Mittelstaedt, Stephanie Moye (recorder), Evalyn Stone, John Trause

The 1997 SRT annual report was distributed and reviewed.  At last year's business meeting the group began to focus discussion and future plans around the subject of electronic journals devoted to arts related disciplines.  Electronic journals were again a focus of the 1998 meeting, among other ongoing projects and issues on the agenda.

Gisele Guay, editor of the Serials Update Column, encouraged the SRT members to contribute more to the column.  It was suggested that she post on ARLIS-L the column's deadline schedule for the whole year, as well as in advance of each deadline.  This might help prepare everyone potentially interested in contributing.

Roger Lawson joined the group, introducing himself as the temporary substitute for Kathryn Wayne, who is the SRT's Liaison to the Executive Board.  He reminded the group of the upcoming ARLIS deadlines.

Gisele Guay reported on the status of the project initiated by Alexandra de Luise (who was unable to attend the meeting): "Periodicals in review, a finding aid to reviews of recent art periodicals and indexes."  Work on the project had resumed last year, but then was put on hold. Gisele Guay joined the project and she and Alexandra will resume the work once Alexandra is back at work after taking leave.

A general discussion of electronic journals began with Evalyn Stone's vivid description of her experiences trying to access e-journals listed in Stephanie Moye's e-journal bibliography.   In the process of looking for e-journals to mount on the Metropolitan Museum of Art web-site, she discovered through many hours of work, that many had disappeared without notice, that addresses had changed, that some were merely advertisements for their print version, among other access problems.  She also discussed the pros and cons of Project Muse, an electronic journal provider sponsored by Johns Hopkins University which the Watson Library subscribes to.  Evalyn Stone's real life experiences with e-journals were complemented by the draft e-journal questionnaire Stephanie Moye had compiled and which was distributed for review at the meeting.  If approved by the Executive Board, the final draft of the questionnaire would be posted in ARLIS-L.  It would serve to raise consciousness of the main issues surrounding e-journals among members as well as provide results illustrative of ARLIS/NA's involvement with e-journals.  Roger Lawson suggested the possibility of presenting the questionnaire results with analysis in a joint Ask-ARLIS session at the Vancouver conference with another group interested in electronic resources. The possibility of presenting the results in ARLIS-Update was also considered.  SRT members offered their editorial assistance with bringing the questionnaire to a final draft.  To become more up-to-date with e-journal issues, the group agreed to form a SRT reading group, exchanging ideas and citations by e-mail.  A by-product of the reading group would be a bibliography of the current literature on e-journals to be submitted to "Bib Notes" in Art Documentation.

Gisele Guay distributed Alexandra de Luise's written request for SRT member's assistance with verifying the status of some of the periodicals she is including in the chapter on "Periodicals" she is writing for the updated volume of Guide to the literature of art history (Chicago, ALA, forthcoming).  


Gisele Guay will continue as the Serials Update Editor and as the Coordinator of the Serials Swap.

Stephanie Moye will continue as the Coordinator of the Serials Round Table.

Stephanie Moye
National Museum of American Art