ARLIS/NA 31st
Conference, Wyndham Baltimore Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD
March 20-26, 2003
Serials Round Table
Meeting
Cara List, University of Oregon, Moderator
Nathaniel Feis, Art Institute of Chicago, Co-Moderator
Emily Connell, Baltimore Museum of Art
Cate Cooney, Princeton University
Gillian Currie, National Gallery of Australia
Kay Downey, Cleveland Museum of Art
Lilah J. Mittlstaedt, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Evalyn Stone, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Susan Sundquist, Getty Research Institute
Kay Teel, Stanford University
Friday, March 21, 2003
At the opening of the meeting and after brief
introductions, Cara List began with old business.
Gisele Guay of the Canadian Centre for Architecture has resigned as
Update Editor and will put together some “best practices” guidelines for her
successor.
The serials swap via the ARLIS-L seems to be working out
well however some members have observed the quick response needed in order to
actually get dibs on those duplicates. Kay
Downey of the Cleveland Museum of Art mentioned the possibility of
non-institution list subscribers building collections of serials from these
swaps after sharing her experience with one offender. All were reminded that the best
practice use of ARLIS-L is to paste in text format list, rather than the use of
attachments. It was also
stated that Jeffrey Eger now buys duplicate serials in addition to auction
catalogs mostly in the subjects of archeology, antiques, and ethnography.
The topic of e-publications and e-journals brought about
both the recollection of the seminar Negotiating Power: Online Journals and
the Art Librarian at last year’s St. Louis conference and the announcement
of this conference’s session entitled A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words,
both organized by Cara List. All
were encouraged to attend as the image rights issues continue to be one of the
greatest hindrances for getting more titles available electronically.
Evalyn Stone, Cate Cooney and Nathaniel Feis spoke of their
disappointment that their proposed serials problems session was not approved for
this year’s conference. Rejection
of the proposal was defined as too broad though a humorous review of some recent
cataloging problems such as awkward formats and non-print objects attached to or
accompanying journal issues prompted creative titles for a future proposed
sessions, tentatively called ‘Why do publishers hate us?’
It was noted that the e-journals listing on the ARLIS/NA
has disappeared. Kay Teel, the
ARLIS Board representative, said that the web site was being overhauled and the
Board was reviewing content. These
comments lead to a discussion of the e-journal list and the problems with its
maintenance. Updating the title list was one of the concerns because some links
were dead and others wondered how and which new titles could be added to such a
list. An annual list appearing in
Update was considered an option as well.
Nathaniel Feis will become Moderator for next year and Cara
List volunteered to be Co-Moderator again.
Cate Cooney of Princeton University will be the new Update Editor.
Unfortunate news regarding job losses confirmed the absence
of Patricia Siska formerly of the Frick Art Reference Library and former SRT
Moderator. Also, Gisele Guay
experienced some responsibility changes that limit her involvement with ARLIS/NA
conferences and the SRT.
Cate Cooney announced her change in jobs this coming fall
and the opening of her current position at Marquand Library, Princeton
University which involved managing the serials functions.
The recent bankruptcy of the subscription agency Faxon/RoweCom
prompted discussion describing what happened and how libraries have been
affected across the country. Some
institutions have suffered cut backs in subscription monies as a result and are
scrambling to recover subscriptions and acquire the lacking issues.
Evalyn Stone clarified the situation adding that EBSCO bought the
international business and Divine was to buy the domestic.
Evidently, if Faxon paid the publishers, and the publishers actually
received the money, libraries would still receive issues.
If they did not pay publishers, libraries will not receive issues but
publishers seem to be willing to negotiate.
EBSCO is trying to facilitate at least some of these negotiations.
This debacle has prompted some libraries to consider using
more vendors in addition to the major subscription agencies to prevent future
mishaps. Several SRT members
presently use several vendors, especially for foreign titles and have found it
easier to claim then going through a third party.
All present shared their experience with foreign vendors and described
each vendor’s specialty for those who were new to the group.
One tip regarded claims of out-of-print items through EBSCO.
After checking foreign vendors or publishers directly, the “OP”
designation turned out false in some instances leaving skepticism that larger
companies do not look beyond company programs.
Kay Downey spoke of the Cleveland Museum’s serials
housecleaning project that follows a cut back on subscriptions.
Susan Sundquist from the Getty Research Institute mentioned cut backs in
technical services.
Evalyn Stone has found some electronic titles are available by download or PDF file and wondered how others handled holdings and archiving. She noted that to store a download on a CD requires a 500-note field in the MARC record and reminded everyone of the necessary 856 field, which contains an electronic link to the journal.
Lilah J. Mittelstaedt