October 1995

October 1995 Issue: 134

LAUNC-Chapel Hill Gets New Prez

Collection Development & Cataloging of Electronic Resources

Issues of Selecting and Evaluating Multimedia Resources

LAUNC-Chapel Hill Fall Social

Member News/Library News

Live From the Internet - Technical Services

OCLC Internet Catalogin Project

UNC Employee Forum

LAUNC-Chapel Hill Gets New Prez

Laurie Weakley has resigned her position as Systems Librarian at the Health Sciences Library effective at the end of October. Brenda Fortune will assume the position of President of LAUNC-Chapel Hill effective at the October Board meeting . Brenda will complete Laurie's term as President for 1995/96 and will serve her own regular term for 1996/97. Linda Drake will serve two terms as Past-President. The Executive Board meeting to be held October 10th will consider members to serve as Treasurer for the coming year. The new Treasurer will be appointed by the Board and serve one term only.
Other items on the Executive Board Meeting agenda include possible bylaws amendment. A new charge for the Professional Development Committee will be discussed. The Board will consider whether to split the Vice-President/Treasurer position into two separate positions.
Questions to be considered are:
Should the treasurer be elected and serve as the secretary does?
What would the VP need to learn during their 1st year?

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Collection Development and Cataloging of Electronic Resources

As the UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries navigate their way toward becoming the "virtual library", this appears to be a good time to look at some of the issues surrounding the collection development and cataloging of electronic resources. Electronic resources inclulde CD-ROMs, floppy disks, optical discs, multi-media, online bibliographic databases (locally mounted and remotely accessed), electronic journals and texts, online full-text and numeric databases, and a ever increasing number of Internet resources.
The Libraries have been collecting electronic resources for quite some time. Books and journals regularly appear with floppy disks or CD-ROMs included. The number of indexes and electronic texts available on CD-ROM have proliferated in all libraries. Multimedia programs are regularly selected by Davis and the Health Sciences Libraries. The UNC-Chapel Hill Library Services Menu provides access to a wide variety of electronic resources including library catalogs, databases, and electronic journals. Many libraries on campus have their own menus (for example: Health Sciences and SILS) which offer even more choices.
Collection development within the UNC-Chapel Hill libraries has been and continues to be subject-based not format-based. The same basic selection criteria are applied regardless of format. However, libraries do include in their collection development policies specific guidelines for the selection of various types of electronic resources. When collecting electronic formats, the selector must consider a variety of factors including: hardware requirements, licensing agreements, archiving, and preservation. Increasingly, the same information is available in a variety of formats including print, microform, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, and via the Internet. Selectors may consider the acquisition of multiple formats of the same title. Many commericial products once available in print are now available only on CD-ROM or online. More and more government publications are being distributed on CD-ROM or made available online.
Specific groups and committees at several libraries are responsible for the selection of electronic resources. At the Academic Affairs Library, Donna Cornick chairs the Electronic Resources Selection Committee. This committee reviews purchase requests for electronic resources costing more than $250.00. They prioritize the list of requests and make sure each request meets the overall mission and needs of the library and that the necessary hardware is available. Diane Strauss chairs the Electronic Resources Access Committee which co-ordinates overall library-wide electronic services. The Electronic Journals Task Group at the Academic Affairs Library, chaired by Marcia Tuttle, is looking at collection development, cataloging, indexing, and licensing of electronic journals.
The Information Resources Coordinating Group at the Health Sciences Library considers electronic information. Currently they are working on selection of databases, full-text journals, textbooks, drug information, and hospital resources to be made available through UNCLE.
What happens after an electronic resource has been selected? Ideally the library needs to provide bibliographic access through the online catalog. Most libraries catalog their CD-ROMs and multi-media materials. The Health Sciences Library has recently begun providing MARC records for databases available through UNCLE. In addition to deciding whether to provide catalog records for electronic resources, cataloging centers must also decide whether to use separate records or just one when a title is available in different formats.
But what about those resources only available on the Internet? The library has some control over electronic resources which they have purchased or licensed, such as CD-ROMs, multimedia, and locally mounted databases. Libraries generally do not own or license most of the resources on the Internet. We are simply providing access to them; we do not have any control over them. Collecting and cataloging resources found on the Internet comes with its own set of problems. The number of sites are increasing rapidly. Sites appear and just as quickly disappear or the addresses change. Many sites are not reliably maintatined; the currency of the information is often questionable. Some sites are poorly organized and there are few standards on how to present the information.
Once a electronic resource on the Internet is selected, the library must decide how they will be responsible for making sure the site remains active. Should the library provide a catalog record for the resource and, if so, what information should be contained in the record? Certainly title, publication information, a brief description, and the electronic address should be included but what about subject headings?
New guidelines for cataloging internet resources could make cataloging of these resources easier. Some libraries (e.g. NC State) are experimenting with creating hypertext links inside the cataloging record which will take the user directly to the resource itself. By selectively collecting and cataloging Internet resources, we will help users to make more effective use of them.
This has been a very brief overview of some of the issues libraries must address when collecting and cataloging electronic resources. For more information, you may want to consult the following:
Demas, Samuel, Peter McDonald, and Gregory Lawrence. 1995. The Internet and collection development: mainstreaming selection of Internet resources. Library Resources and Technical Services 39:275-290.
Flannery, Melinda R. 1995. Cataloging Internet resources. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. 83:211-215.
Gaynor, Edward. 1994. Cataloging electronic texts: the University of Virginia Library experience. Library Resources and Technical Services 38:403-13.
Harloe, Bart and John M. Budd. 1994. Collection development and scholarly communication in the era of electronic access. Journal of Academic Librarianship 20:83-87.
Olson, Nancy B. (ed) Cataloging Internet Resources: A Manual and Practical Guide. Dublin, OH: OCLC. (available at http://www.oclc.org/oclc/man/9256cat/toc.htm)
Saunders, Laverna M. 1995. Transforming acquisitions to support virtual libraries. Information Technology and Libraries 13:41-46.

---Geneva Holliday

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Issues in Selecting and Evaluating Multimedia Resources

In moving toward the virtual library, we are faced with making selections in a continually changing environment. The issues affecting selection of electronic material, specifically multimedia, vary greatly from print material because of the factors involved in successfully integrating the program into the collection. One of the traditional methods libraries have used to select print material has been to rely on the reputation of commercial publishers. But with the comparatively recent advent of multimedia, producers in this field have not been around long enough to have established reputations. Print selection also relies on reviews in creditable library journals. Although questions about the content of the multimedia program may be covered by software reviews, techical questions depend on the local work environment and user population. Using a systems approach to evaluation, i.e. assessiong the content, technology, and internface of the program within the context of its use, will help to synthesize infomration for selection.
The scope and coverage of the item as well as the quality of its content are the most important evaluation criteria for any library collection. However, in the absence of reputable multimedia publishing houses, an expertise-oriented evaluation approach should be adopted. For programs aimed at professional or technical audiences, subject experts should be called in to evaluate content questions such as: Is the content accurate, reliable and current? How often is the content updated? It should be kept in mind that the data for the program may have been collected before the copyright year and should be validated. Dated material should be avoided, especially in fields which are rapidly changing, such as biotechnology. Other considerations include how the program will be used and whether it is at an appropriate level for the intended audience.
Evaluation of technical criteria is unique to selection of electronic resources. The kind of platform the program will run on affects several different facets of libray operation. Is the technology current and mainstream? Does the library already suport the technology with trained staff. Do other quality programs within the scope of the collection use this technology? Will new equipment have to be purchased, if so, how much will it cost? Will there be a place in the library to house new equipment? What kind of support can the library expect from the producer? These questions are complicated by the variety of hardware, operating systems, network standards, and formats available and the interaction of these within the system.
In a technology-driven environment it is important to appraise the user interface when evaluating multimedia. The user interface determines the way a program communicates visually, aurally, and intellectually. Does the user interface design make the system easy to learn for the novice, yet fast and convenient for the experienced user? Does the system provide timely and helpful feedback? How fast is the response time for presenting multimedia information? Do graphics, color, sound and special effects contribute to the quality of the material? Are features in the program appropriate for the intended use, such as searching capabilities, manipulation of data and customizability?
The intended audience for the program and the environment in which it will be used provide a context for evaluation. Is it a single user program? Can the program be networked? What do licensing agreements specify? Can we allow remote access? Since multimedia combines several formats, there are many ways for a program to fail. Multiple checks should be made on the system to learn how likely it is to fail when in use. If it does fail, how easy is it to troubleshoot? Furthermore, budget constraints at the library will influence the selection process.
These questions can only be answered by acquiring a full version of the program, not just a demonstration copy. The program should be tested in the environment in which it will be used, allowing a team of subject, interface, and technical experts to evaluate it. Knowing firsthand what to expect from a program can only be accomplished by acutally using the program. These questions and issues have been presented to develop an evaluation framework that will guide the complex selection process. Multimedia programs and the equipment needed to run them are expensive, so choosing quality programs takes time and deliberation.

---Carol Sugg and Jacintha Kompella

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LAUNC-Chapel Hill Fall Social

To the lilting strains of mariachi music, LAUNC-Chapel Hill members enjoyed a lively Fall Social on Thursday, Sept. 21. The Program Committee, chaired by Frieda Rosenberg, prepared the decor. It included Mexican blankets and painted tiles lent by Barbara Levergood and Patty Vaught, and bouquets of sedum, artemisia, zinnias, and marigolds arranged by Martha Barefoot. A sumptuous "Southwestern" feast was provided by Simply Irresistable Catering, which included tortilla spiral sandwiches, chicken strips with spicy sauce, raw vegetables and fruits, and cookies. Marian Blecker's tape recorder played Latin favorites provided by Patty Vaught and Frieda Rosenberg. Peggy Markham, Betty Waynick, Carolyn Kotlas and Jean Blackwell helped set up the tables, punchbowl, and coffee. Brenda Fortune signed up forty-two new and renewing members of LAUNC-Chapel Hill at the door, including two School of Information and Library Science students. The Social provided, as always, a relaxed setting for informal conversation among colleagues from different areas and budding professionals still taking coursework toward their degrees.
The festivities were paid for out of LAUNC-Chapel Hill dues, which of course must stretch harder than ever to cover expenses of this and many smaller events thoughout the year. We hope that all of you reading this who have not done so will send your $10 dues to our treasurer, Brenda Fortune (CB#3914, Davis Library).

---Frieda Rosenberg

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OCLC Internet Cataloging Project

The OCLC Internet Cataloging Project currently has 199 participants from 43 US states, the District of Columbia, and 10 other countries. The majority of libraries participating are from universities, as well as representation from law, public, college, government, health science, commercial and special libraries. Open enrollment in the project remains open until March 31, 1996. Information and an enrollment form is available at http://www.oclc.org/oclc/man/catproj/catcall.htm
The InterCat Catalog contains 1,563 records for resources on the Internet. The majority of these resources can be found on the World Wide Web, but resources available via gopher, ftp, and telnet are also included. Each record contains at least one 856 (Electronic Location and Access) field. Each time the catalog is updated, the URLs are tested. Any problems encountered are looked at to determine the access failure. The InterCat Catalog can be accessed via the World Wide Web at http://www.oclc.org:6990
The OCLC Internet Cataloging Project will be hosting a colloquium January 20, 1996 in conjunction with the ALA Midwinter meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Project findings, general discussions, presentations from participants in the project, and future directions in cataloging Internet resources are scheduled. Attendance to the coloquium will be limited and a formal announcement and invitation are forthcoming.

---from INTERCAT@oclc.org

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UNC Employees Forum

The Employee Forum of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was established by Chancellor Hardin in March 1992 to assist the University in its policy of encouraging open and effective communication among all levels of employees and administration. The Employee Forum serves at the request of and in an advisory capacity to the Chancellor and his or her designees. It represents EPA Non-Faculty and SPA staff. The EPA Non-Faculty librarians hold the distinction of being the only group of employees represented both on the Faculty Council and the Employee Forum.
The forty-five elected delegates meet once a month on the first Wednesday, to be informed about current issues and policy changes; and to communicate on behalf of the employee with campus governance groups. The elected delegates also serve on committees such as Career Development, Personnel Policies, Compensation and Benefits, Recognition and Awards, etc. Twice a year the Employee Forum holds Community Meetings on topics of current interest.
If you are an EPA Non-Faculty Librarian, you belong to Division I and are currently represented by Libby Chenault (Academic Affairs; out-going delegate) and Mona Counts (Health Affairs; on-going delegate). Other library delegates are: Jennifer Pendergast, Debi Schledorn, and Cheryl Ward.
Meeting minutes and other information on the Employee Forum can be found on the UNC-Chapel Hill home page; look under Staff Information. The URL is http://forum.unc.edu/

---Libby Chenault

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Member News/Library News

Biology Library

Bill Burk attended the centennial celebration of the F.T. Stone Laboratory, longest operating freshwater biological field station in the US, the last week of August. The Laboratory, located on Gibraltar Island, in Put-in-Bay Harbor, Lake Erie, was host to a series of talks, many of them historical.

Davis Library

Nadia Zilper attended the Fifth Annual Slavic Librarians Workshop, held June 17-21 at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign where she presented a paper "Selection of Slavic and East European Materials in the Nineties." Nadia also attended the International Librarians' Conference "Libraires in Eruope's Post Communist Countries: Their International Context" Poland, Krakow-Przegorzaly, Aug. 3-5; and the V World Congress of Central and East European Studies, Warsaw. Poland, Aug. 6-11th.
Nadia also traveled to Russia where she had meetings with the UNC-Chapel Hill exchange partners in Moscow and St. Petersburg. During her on-site acquisitions trip, she bought 1,724 books for UNC's Slavic Collections.

Health Sciences Library

Jim Curtis, Jill Mayer, Diana McDuffee, Diane McKenzie, Julia Shaw-Kokot, Barbara Tysinger, and Denise Woetzel attended the AHEC Library and Information Services Network Meeting in Winston-Salem, Sept. 7-8.

Institute for Academic Technology Library

Carolyn Kotlas attended the UNC/CAUSE/CNI Southwest Regional Conference in Greensboro, NC.

The Institute for Academic Technology Library offers a list of its journals on the IAT Web site. Includes links to sites where users can read articles online. The URL for the journal list is: http://www.iat.unc.edu/library/journals.html

Math/Physics Library

Peggy Markham attended the 86th Annual Conference of the Special Libraries Association which was held in montreal, Quebec June 10-15th. This year's theme was "The Power of Information: Transforming the World." Peggy is a member of the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics Division and attended roundtable discussions on each of these areas as well as a roundtable on Computer Literature. She also attended other division sponsored sessions including a vendor update and sessions on elecronic journals and navagating the Internet.
Peggy also attended the fall meeting of the North Carolina Chapter of the Special Libraries Association which was held on Sept. 15th at the Hyti Heritage Center in Durham. The topic was "How I Got Here From There: the Many Faces of Special Librarianship."

Undergraduate Library

David Taylor and Gary Momenee attended the pre-conference "Working Together: A Seminar for Library and Information Technology Professionals." Sponsored by the Coalition for Networked Information, the seminar was held in conjunction with the 1995 UNC/CAUSE/CNI Southeast Regional Conference held in Greensboro, NC, Sept. 12.

The premise for the seminar followed that collaboration was good, and that Information Technology Specialists and Librarians need to work together in a position nammer on their mutual programs and problems.

Wilson Library

Jerry Cotton attended the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists in Washington D.C., Aug. 28- Sept. 2.

Recent acquisitions by the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives have included a major addition to the Bayard Wotten Collection. This gift included over 300 rare stereographs by nineteenth century photographer Rufus Morgan and many artistic prints by turn-of-the-centruy pictorial photographer Nace Brock, in addition to numberus works by Wotten. Other recent gifts include early twentieth century photographs from the Stimson Studio in Statesville. Among this collection were more than 100 glass negatives made in France during World War I.

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Live From the Internet - Technical Services

Technical Services Web Sites

Interactive Electronic Serials Cataloging Aid
http://www.library.nwu.edu:80/iesca

Cataloging Resources
http://www.indiana.edu:80/~librcsd/resource/library/cataloging

AcqWeb
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/law/acqs/acqs.html

Seminar on Cataloging Digital Documents
http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/semdigdocs/seminar.html

Cataloguing and Indexing of Electronic Resources
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/services/catalog.htm

Internet Resources for Cataloging
http://asa.ugl.lib.umich.edu/chdocs/libcat/libcat.htm

Serials in Cyberspace
http://www.uvm.edu/~bmaclenn

Internet Cataloging Project Title List
http://ftplaw.wuacc.edu/icat/oclcrec/title.html

LC Cataloging Directorate Home Page
http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/catdir.html

Queens University's Technical Services Home Page
http://stauffer.queensu.ca/techserv/qtechweb.html

Information on Cataloging Electronic Resources
http://www.englib.cornell.edu/needscataloging/etext.html

Innovative Internet Applications in Cataloging
http://frank.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/libweb/catalogs.html

MLA Technical Services Section
http://www-mlatss.stanford.edu

Cataloging Internet Resources: A Manual and Practical Guide
http://www.oclc.org/oclc/man/9256cat/toc.htm

Technical Services Lists

The following discussion groups can keep you up-to-date on the latest happenings in technical services.

SERIALST (Serials in Libraries)
listserv@uvmvm.uvm.edu

COLLDV-L (Library Collection Development)
listserv@vm.usc.edu

ACQNET (The Acquisitions Librarians Electronic Network)
listserv@cornell.edu

AUTOCAT (Library Cataloging and Authorities List)
listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu

COOPCAT (Cooperative Cataloging)
listserv@iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu

To subscribe to any of these groups, send a message to the listserv address with the following message:

subscribe listname your name

eg: subscribe autocat Jane Doe

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Last updated: January 1996