ACQNET v2n009 (January 22, 1992) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/serials/stacks/acqnet/acq-v2n009 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 2, No. 9, January 22, 1992 ======================================= (1) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: ACQNET TO suspend operations (2nd try!) (9 lines) (2) FROM: Barbara Winters SUBJECT: The Challenge (81 lines) (3) FROM: Roy Ziegler SUBJECT: Automated acquisitions systems, ACQ1000 System (12 lines) (4) FROM: Lynne Brown SUBJECT: Gifts of books overseas (19 lines) (5) FROM: Linda Connors SUBJECT: Gifts of books overseas (14 lines) (6) FROM: Pamela Bluh SUBJECT: Gifts of books overseas (16 lines) (1) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: January 22, 1992 From: Christian Subject: ACQNET to suspend operations (2nd try!) Well, I should have known better! So let's try it again: This is absolutely positively the last issue before ALA. Tomorrow night I'll be packing and sleeping. I leave at 5 a.m. on Friday. Estimated time of return to the e- waves is Thursday of next week. If you don't get anything within 3 days after that, drop me a note. (2) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1992 13:54 EST From: Barbara Winters Subject: The Challenge Reflections of a former acquisitions librarian and a failed southern lady: Let me start by saying that I fully agree with Joe Barker, Joyce Ogburn and Richard Jasper. They often say things the way I wish I had said them. Many times, the best I can come up with is new slogans, such as "the sub-profession of acquisitions" or "the tyranny of the urgent." (I know, Christian, behind the slogans there ARE some very important concepts.) I really don't like questions like Gael Larr's: "If you could change one thing about your profession, what would it be?" (I hope Gael won't be offended; I'm still southern enough not to want to cause offense.) Librarianship is so dynamic and developmental as a profession -- much like life itself -- that it is **becoming** what I want it to be. I was a high-level paraprofessional in an acquisitions department for 12 years before I started to work on my MLS. I put off getting the degree for so long, in part, because I didn't have any role models among professionals who made me feel like I could be proud to do what they did; thankfully, this is no longer the case. (I don't know whether to attribute this to the increasing "professionalization" of librarianship or to the fact that I began to have greater contact with what my colleagues were really doing.) As I sit writing this, I'm thinking about the scores of things I OUGHT to be doing instead. It's almost 9:30 at night, and I haven't prepared the final draft of that charge for the new ALCTS discussion group, finished work on the serials cancellation project, completed the minutes for the OhioLINK Collection Management and Development Committee, reviewed those circ policies, finished my editorial responsibilities for LAPT, etc, etc. So, I ask myself, why am I taking time tonight to get these thoughts on disk...? And I answer myself: Because preparing charges, managing cancellation pro- jects, drafting minutes, reviewing policies, editing articles is what I DO. But thinking about what I do and communicating it to my colleagues is what I AM. One of the women who works for me queried me about what motivates me -- I do all these things in an organization where I don't even have faculty status. I had to think about that: A lot of lofty and personal things motivate me, such as the very old-fashioned notion that one's work is an extension of oneself; such as Archibald MacLeish's "cause" (that libaries must be strong points of defense in the fight to subvert freedom -- "A Tower Which Will Not Yield"); such as protecting my "learning curve" (Carol Hawks reminds me of the impor- tance of this from time to time, and I'm grateful). Two things in the final analysis are most important: truth (or at least knowledge) and people. Librarianship offers us the unique opportunity to serve both. Sure we have limited resources. Sure we need to give thought to education. And the business of librarianship. And professionalism. Yes, we need to think about Joyce's tenets, her questions re research, and so forth. But ideas about how to address the smaller issues will be a natural outgrowth once we grasp the importance of the larger ones. NOT at issue, in my opinion (and this, of course, is all just my opinion), is low self-esteem or wimpish- ness. I'd like to see this profession stop thinking about how it's perceived and start thinking about what it is. When I respect who I am and what I do, when I stop whining and apologizing because of my image, society as a whole will respect me. Back when I was the head of an acquisitions department, I used to have a saying on my desk: "Don't just get a job done; think about what you're doing." I'm grateful to be in a profession where people think about what they're doing. Some of you -- and you know who you are, I always want to have drinks with you at ALA -- are prophets in this regard. There IS an element of risk, as Joe and Christian have pointed out: We tend to kill our prophets. But, then, who of us ever wanted to maintain the status quo? Someone MIGHT not like it; someone MIGHT sue us. But in the overall picture of history past to history future and of our place in the stream of human knowledge, what difference will that make? Besides, it's what Charles Williams liked to call "the Great Dance"; it's all such solemn fun. So, I have taken a few minutes out to once again think about what I'm doing. And I'm energized to go on with charges, cancellation projects, policies, articles....I've looked back at my caption; I may be a failed southern lady (having moved to the great midwest), but I'm NOT a failed acquisitions librari- an. In the context of things to come, acquisitions librarianship is the critical place to be. It's encouraging to know that those who think about who they are and what they're doing are in THE critical place in the profession. Thank you, Christian, for providing this forum and for always asking the right questions. (3) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Jan 92 09:33:19 CST From: Roy Ziegler Subject: Acquisitions systems available A librarian friend at a Junior College has asked that I put this on the line for input from acquisitions people: She is currently using ACQ1000 and is having trouble with it. She would like to know about other automated acquisitions systems on the market that have been used with success, or, alternately, what support is available in getting the ACQ1000 system to perform properly. Ameritech has been of little help in the matter. (4) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1992 11:35 EST From: "BROWN, LYNNE" Subject: Gifts of Books Overseas I know of two programs that send books overseas. The bookstore here at Penn State is participating in the "Bridge of Knowledge-Books" program, which is run by the National Association of College Stores. We send gifts we can't add to the collection over to the bookstore and they send them down to Baltimore. (I don't have an address for that.) The Smithsonian Institution also runs a program called SIES, Smithsonian International Exchange Service. The literature I have says "SIES serves as a forwarding service for educational and learned institutions, scientific organizations, government agencies and other scholarly, non-profit organiza- tions in the U.S. who wish to distriburt scholarly materials without charge to, or exchange them with, foreign institutions." There are strict procedures you must follow regarding boxing and labeling. Their address is: Smithsonian Institution Libraries, 1111 North Capitol Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20550 (202)357-1964. (5) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1992 12:07 EST From: Linda Connors Subject: Gifts of books overseas My files have information about The International Book Bank, a nonprofit book depot which procures and distributes used books to libraries and schools in developing countries. The Book Bank does not send reference materials and textbooks with copyrights more than 10 years old, nor does it distribute political or religious books. Books may be posted fourth class to the International Book Bank, 246 Woodwork Lane, Palatine, Ill. 60067. Call 800-874-7268 for further information. We have never used so I cannot provide any first-hand knowledge. (6) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 22 Jan 1992 15:31:04 EST From: Pamela Bluh Subject: Gifts of books overseas You may wish to obtain a copy of _American donated books abroad: guide to distributing organizations_ by William M. Childs, Washington, D.C., American International Book Development Council, 1989 (4000 Albermarle St., N.W. 20016). This is a list of organizations which will help ship books overseas. We sent a rather large shipment of law books to Sri Lanka about 2 years ago with the help of the Asia Foundation, 451 Sixth Street, San Francisco 94103. Recently I've dealt with the Nigerian Universities' Office, 2010 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Fourth Floor, Washington, D.C. 20036 (Dr. Romanus Egudo, Education Attache) to send legal treatises and journals to Nigeria. I am also about to explore a contact with the Agency for International Development to see if they could help us send materials overseas. If you have any additional questions, please let me know. ******* END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 2, No. 9 ****** END OF FILE *******