ACQNET v3n032 (March 29, 1993) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/serials/stacks/acqnet/acq-v3n032 ISSN: 1057-5308 *************** ACQNET, Vol. 3, No. 32, March 29, 1993 ====================================== (1) FROM: Christian SUBJECT: Who's new on ACQNET today (9 lines) (2) FROM: David Marshall SUBJECT: OCLC and acquisitions (52 lines) (3) FROM: Liz Chapman SUBJECT: Kluwer and MARC records, OCLC and acquisitions (13 lines) (4) FROM: Chuck Hamaker SUBJECT: Revisionist Press (12 lines) (5) FROM: Martin Cohen SUBJECT: Allergens in books (24 lines) (6) FROM: Karen Muller SUBJECT: Duplicates Exchange Union (22 lines) (7) FROM: Twyla Racz SUBJECT: Job announcement (29 lines) (1)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: March 29, 1993 From: Christian Subject: Who's new on ACQNET today James Alton Knight Keith David Eiten Publisher Acquisitions/Serials/Ref. Librarian Prehistory Press Central College Library E-mail: JKNIGHT@MACC.WISC.EDU E-mail: EITENK@CENTRAL.EDU (2)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1993 17:19 EST From: David Marshall (Georgetown University) Subject: OCLC and acquisitions Following my posting in ACQNET 3:29, I received the following message from Catherine L. Wolfson at the Arizona Health Sciences Library, University of Arizona. I thought it worth sharing with all. So with Catherine's permission, I am forwarding it to ACQNET. Also, I would like to report that I heard from a member of the OCLC Users Council who said she would pass along my/our concern to the Chair of the Task Force. ***** ***** Forwarded message ***** ***** David, I want to express wholehearted agreement with the frustration you expressed in ACQNET 3:29. I don't believe that I've read the specific newsletter to which you alluded, but I too have noticed that OCLC, and AMIGOS, the network distributor for the Southwest, seem to regard acquisitions, when regarded at all, as some sort of stepchildren, at best junior catalogers. At a PRISM training session in Oct. 1991, I actually became frustrated enough at the comments of the trainers to say in front of all the 100-odd participants, which included librarians from every type of library endeavor, that acquisitions folk are not junior catalogers. The trainers quite acerbically replied that they did not think that, but their comments would lead one to believe that they did. A good third of the attendees were from various acquisitions departments, yet nothing was said about our needs until we all held their feet to the fire, and then they stumbled. We, too, are the first contacters of OCLC, and download all records into our acquisitions system. Like you, I've seen much commentary in ACQNET and other places which indicates that this is now EXCEEDINGLY common. Moreover, our particular system, ACQ350, was designed and marketed by OCLC (later sold to Ameritech), with the specific design component of downloading. We even had a "hot key" for easy downloading. But you would think OCLC had never heard of downloading into acquisitions systems, judging from their publicity about any new system or enhancement. Also, Prism searching, while in general an improvement over First, still is obviously designed for catalogers working with the piece in hand. That's a silly bias, too, considering OCLC's active efforts to woo Reference business, which like our situation, is faced with having to figure out from sometimes very inadequate information what is really needed. Then there's EPIC, which has some very useful aspects for collection development, and for verifying elusive titles, but these uses do not seem to have occurred to OCLC. They talk about Reference use thereof, but I have used it far more than our Reference folk. Maybe we acquisitions people need to get together and present a united front. Thanks for "listening". --Cathy Wolfson (3)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1993 11:00:30 +0100 From: Liz Chapman (University of Oxford) Subject: Kluwer and MARC records, OCLC and acquisitions I have recently had a letter from Kluwer Publishers in Holland. They are willing to supply full MARC records and table of contents for their books but are not sure whether librarians would be interested. I said they would. Do you agree out there? After all it is acquisitions librarians who are setting up at least skeleton records these days and this may have some bearing on the question of OCLC ignoring the acquisitions function. How would they get records to OCLC? (4)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Mar 93 15:07:15 CST From: Chuck Hamaker (Louisiana State Univ.) Subject: Revisionist Press My one experience with Revisionist Press was that the item they were selling for an extremely high price was the same content as a dissertation available from UMI for less than a 10th of what they wanted. Check and see if _Historical Statistics of Japan_ is a title that was originally printed somewhere else, maybe under a slightly different title. My guess is it is an OP title or, as in my experience, a slightly revised dissertation. RP does a superb job of having "important" sounding titles. (5)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Monday, 29 March 1993, 07:42:58 EST From: Martin Cohen (McGill University) Subject: Allergens in books We discovered a few months ago that shipments of books from India were causing adverse reactions in people handling them (burning eyes, sore throat, prickly skin). These books were arriving in small, sewn jute-wrapped bales; underneath the jute was plastic sheeting, and the corrugated cardboard box under that. We called the university safety office in to do an assay, and should have the results of this in April. The technicians, when they arrived, also found their eyes burning (having laughed at my masking and gloving up, one of them asked for a pair of gloves himself in short order). They took cuttings of the jute, the plastic, and the cardboard; they also found a goodly amount of a grayish-white powder inside the boxes, and a wipe test of a book showed that the books themselves had been virtually coated with the same gray substance. So far only the neutral word "contaminant" has been used; but it has been established that there is SOMETHING very unpleasant in those bales. I have counselled my staff not to lay a finger on books from India until we have the results of the assay. I'll be happy to share those results, when I have them, with all ACQNET members. (6)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1993 09:01:36 CST From: Karen Muller (ALCTS) Subject: Duplicates Exchange Union This is in response to Cornelia Kelley's inquiry about programs which might enable a library to dispose of unwanted material in a cost-effective--and cooperative--manner. Since the 1940s, ALCTS (and its predecessor organizations) has operated the Duplicates Exchange Union (DEU). The DEU is an association of libraries who cooperate in the exchange of usable library material. Although composed primarily of small college and public libraries, the DEU aims to serve all libraries in finding a place for their duplicate and unwanted materials. The costs involved for participation in the DEU are the preparation of your duplicates lists and distribution of those lists to the other members (ca. 500) and the reimbursement of postage for materials you receive from others. If you would like to more about this program, contact the ALCTS office (u20754@uicvm.uic.edu) and ask for the descriptive brochure or contact the chair of the ALCTS DEU Committee, David Winchester at Mabee Library, Washburn University, Topeka, KS 66621 (913-231-1010 x1481). (7)------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Mar 93 09:09:56 -0500 From: Twyla Racz (Eastern Michigan University) Subject: Position announcement Periodicals Librarian Eastern Michigan University is accepting applications for a tenure-track instructor/assistant professor position available fall 1993. The individual selected will be one of two faculty responsible for maintaining the University Library's periodical collection, and will also provide assistance to users and share in the responsibility of staffing the periodicals information desk and one or more reference stations as needed. Master's degree in library science (ALA accredited) required for instructor rank; additional 18 graduate hours plus five years professional experience required for assistant professor rank. Inquiries to Dr. Sandra Yee, (313) 487-0020, or submit letter of interest and cv to: Position F9334 204 King Hall Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI 48197 Review of responses will begin immediately and continue until finalists are identified. We encourage women and members of minority groups to consider this opportunity and to identify themselves when applying. [I might add that we are just creating a separate periodicals unit and it would be an opportunity for someone to get in on the ground floor. Twyla Racz, Coordinator Collection Development, EMU Library] ****** END OF FILE ****** ACQNET, Vol. 3, No. 32 ****** END OF FILE ******