ACQNET v1n013 (January 20, 1991) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/serials/stacks/acqnet/acq-v1n013 ACQNET, Vol 1, No. 13, January 20, 1991 ======================================= (1) FROM: Christian Boissonnas SUBJECT: Publishing in the former DDR (42 lines) (2) FROM: Karen Muller SUBJECT: Publishing reports of ALA meetings in ACQNET (14 lines) (3) FROM: Doina Farkas SUBJECT: Exchange rates, sources of data (15 lines) (4) FROM: Christian M. Boissonnas SUBJECT: New ALCTS sections for collection development and acquisitions (39 lines) (1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 91 14:35:37 EST From: "Christian M. Boissonnas" Subject: Publishing in the former DDR Earlier this week, I received the following from Harrassowitz: AVAILABILITY OF PUBLICATIONS FROM FORMER DDR PUBLISHERS Some Notes on the Current Developments - Initially, there was quite a chaotic situation regarding the reorganization of the various publishers, and for some publications the distribution simply ceased temporarily. Unfortunately this caused some gaps in Newspaper subscrip- tions, etc. - The current situation is much better. Some of the former DDR publishers have reorganized under new names and many new publishing houses have been founded. Of course, it will be some time before the economic climate will really catch up with the level of enthusiasm displayed by these new companies. Also, many of the manuscripts that would have previously been submitted for publication within the former DDR are being published elsewhere. - The situation is constantly changing at this point. New developments evolve almost on a daily basis. We continue to update our files with new information regarding the availablity of publications. Publishing houses are being bought and sold, different channels of distribution are being established, and all of these changes are being incorporated into our procedures. - The Boersenverein des Deutschen Buchandels has released a listing of 85 newly established publishing houses in the former DDR. - In November, 1990, a representative from our firm completed an extensive trip in the former DDR to establish our contacts with publishers there. Previously, the ONLY way to obtain publications from DDR publishers was through the central state distributor. Many of the former DDR publishers which have reorganized are distributing their publications to agents on a direct basis rather than through a distributor. Out of 60 of the major publishers which are continuing to publish, either under their pre-unification name or under newly established identities, 32 are selling their own publications rather than using a distribu- tor. Library agents who have relied solely on a distributor for access to publications from this area in the past will have to establish direct contact with the publishers to continue the acquisition of publications, whether they are purchased as subscriptions, continuation standing orders, or monographic orders. (2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 January 1991 12:34:27 CST From: "Karen Muller/ALCTS 312-280-5031" Subject: ALA reports At the LAMA Board of Directors meetings we discussed whether LAMA should sponsor a bulletin board (such as ACQNET) on middle management issues. The final answer was NO, because inaccessibility to e-mail disenfranchises about half the LAMA membership. There is no problem with reports of ALA meetings being included in ACQNET--as long as everyone understands that these are not official reports. Similarly, notices of upcoming ALA events may be included-as long as they are not believed to be proper notification to the ALCTS member- ship; we want to continue to use normal channels, such as American Libraries and the ALCTS Newsletter for that. (And for those making the reports, the fact that I read them on ACQNET is not a substitute for filing the written report. ALA is still a paper based organization!) (3) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 91 14:49:33 EST From: Doina Farkas Subject: Exchange Rate Data (Richard Jasper's question) This info. may help Richard with getting exchange rates data into a spread- sheet: Our Library purchased recently the Harris bank data computer file. This is a weekly international newsletter published by the Harris Bank since 1967 containing among other things Exchange Rates (spot closing, spot highs and lows for the week for 9 countries: Canada, UK,Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands. Switzerland and Japan. (1,3,6,12 month rates forward from Septem- ber1, 1972). The data are available on NYU's IBM mainframe unit at Washington Square and on 5.25" floppy diskettes. The source of data is the Foreign Exchange Weekly Review. Order diskettes from: Professor Richard Levich, NYU, Stern School of Business, 100 Trinity Place, NY,NY, 10006. PHONE:(212)285-8924. The cost is $100. Our copy is checked out now, so I could not review the quality of the info. If Rich is interested I could recall it and take a look. (4) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM: Christian M. Boissonnas SUBJECT: New ALCTS sections for collection development and acquisitions DATE: January 17, 1991 I learned at the RS Acquisitions Committee meeting of the plan to have separate sections within ALCTS for collection development and acquisitions. This is bad because: 1. Acquisitions and collection development are not two separate and distinct entities or processes. Only in the largest libraries, and not all of them at that, do they co-exist as separate and more or less equal functions. In many more cases the librarians who do one also do the other. They are two facets of the same operation and neither is very meaningful without the other. 2. As we have heard many times in the past 18 months we, acquisitions folks, feel isolated from the rest of our profession. This separation can only intensify this isolation. I spoke at Charleston about our invisibility. One of the things we can do to reduce it is hitch our wagon to the rising collec- tion development star, which we ought to do in the first place (see 1 above). 3. Over-specialization is a natural consequence of such a division. Knowing more about acquisitions and less about collection development can only end into making us lousy librarians. It also works the other way, and is just as undesirable. 4. It further complicates an already confusing structure in which monograph and serials acquisitions people are in separate groups. Very few of us do only one type of work or the other, and even fewer do it without some collection development/management component. I fail to see how further separating collection development will help the essential coordination between the three functions. It is exactly the reverse of this division that should be happening, with the merger of collection development and acquisitions (of both serials and mono- graphs) into one group. I realize that such a group would present significant problems. If nothing else it would be unwieldy. I don't know what else to propose, though. Somehow we must get over the assumption that the functions are separate and must be dealt with separately within ALA.