~ B & D Committee Meeting Minutes ~
36th Annual AAASS Convention (Boston), December 4-7, 2004Members present: Michael Biggins (chair), Janet Crayne, Edward Kasinec (recorder), Miranda Remnek (recorder) ………………………………………………………………………………………….
1. Call to order, introductions, brief announcements
Michael Biggins (U. Washington) called the meeting to order and introduced the
Committee: Janet Crayne (Michigan), Miranda Remnek (UIUC), and Edward Kasinec
(NYPL). He then introduced Elena Danielson, Director of the Hoover Archives
and Library, to speak about some new publications and also guests from Russia,
among them Andrei Artizov, Deputy Director of the Federal Archival Agency of
Russia, Sergei Mironenko from GARF; and Andrei Sorokin, Director General of
ROSSPEN. Danielson circulated a listing of their recent joint publication projects.
2. Transitions
Michael Biggins noted the death of a long-time colleague, A.P. Romanov. In addition,
he noted the retirements of Leon Ferder (UCLA), Alan Pollard (Michigan) and
Christine Thomas (British Library). The texts of the retirement certificate
presented to Ferder was read by Beth Feinberg (UCLA); that to Alan Pollard by
Janet Crayne, and that to Chris Thomas by Janet Zmroczek (British Library).
3. Reports of B&D working groups:
i) Working Group on Copyright (Janice Pilch)
The Copyright Group’s report was read by chair Janice Pilch (UIUC). The Group’s
purpose encompasses education and current awareness, clearinghouse for copyright
information, promotion of formal studies, non-legal assistance with copyright
questions. It concentrates on copyright issues reflecting US relations with
Central & Eastern Europe and Eurasia. The Group organized a panel for 2004
AAASS, is developing a website to be operating by fall 2005, has handled 34
requests for information from the profession during the past year, has performed
extensive liaison work with the ALA Washington Office, Office of Information
Technology Policy Copyright Advisory Committee (also chaired by Janice Pilch),
and has educated itself on copyright issues to gain expertise. The Group’s plans
include the organization of two programs at 2005 AAASS, one of them focusing
on practical training; continued website development and liaison work, and continued
self-training. A motion was carried to establish a permanent Subcommittee on
Copyright.
ii) Working Group on Digital Projects (Miranda Remnek, Andrew Spencer)
The Digital Projects group report was read by co-chair Andy Spencer (Wisconsin)
and covered various highlights including the development of a training FAQ that
is mounted at Wisconsin. Co-chair Miranda Remnek distributed some handouts about
another group effort, the UIUC-based Inventory of Slavic, East European and
Eurasian Digital Projects (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/
spx/inventory). The Inventory already covers more than 70 projects and is
testing web-based submission. There are plans for a major expansion involving
East European partners. The group also sponsored a digital panel at this conference,
and contributed to a future issue of SEEIR devoted to digital projects. A motion
was carried to establish a permanent Subcommittee on Digital Projects.
iii) Workshop on Digital Resources/Copyright Issues for Slavic Studies:
Nov 3, 2005, Salt Lake City
Michael Biggins explained that in 2001 AAASS asked the B&D committee to
organize a pre-conference digital resources workshop for faculty. So far two
have been held: in Washington (2001) and in Toronto (2003). The third is scheduled
for 2005 in Salt Lake City. Edward Kasinec and Nadia Zilper both suggested possible
venues and local contacts for the workshop, and there was some discussion of
timing/length.
Michael Biggins then asked those present in the room to introduce themselves.
i) Subcommittee on SEEMP (Janet Crayne)
Janet Crayne (Michigan) reported that the group had discussed two major issues:
whether SEEMP should focus more broadly or even exclusively on digital projects,
and whether it should also play a national consortial role. In the first case
it was determined that microfilming should remain a major focus. The second
issue was tabled for further discussion.
ii) Subcommittee on Collection Development (Michael Brewer, for Murlin
Croucher)
Michael Brewer (Univ. of Arizona) reported that this subcommittee has one major
project nearing completion: a database of Slavic & East European vendors.
It will continue for another year while the project is finished, and while a
review is conducted to determine the need for the future existence of the subcommittee.
iii) Subcommittee on ABSEES (June Farris)
Discussion was initiated by June Farris (Chicago) and continued by Lynn Wiley
(UIUC) and the ABSEES Managing Editor, Marina Pluzhenskaia (UIUC), who said
that almost 4,000 records have been added since March 2004, for a total of 61,000
by December 2004. Next year 6,000 more are expected. The new agreement with
EBSCO will allow UIUC to focus on content development, leaving subscription
issues and delivery management to EBSCO. This will result in somewhat higher
subscription costs, but the increases are not as significant as expected, and
the new interface will include many new features including cross-database searching
and links to full-text for those items already available in other databases
vended by EBSCO.
5. New Business
i) Methods of Western book selection for East European Libraries
Miranda Remnek reported that UIUC had been contacted by Barbara Conaty, Information
Resource Officer for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova at the US Embassy
in Moscow--and Eric Johnson’s successor. She and her colleagues are seeking
assistance in terms of identifying appropriate mechanisms for assisting Russian
librarians with acquiring Western imprints for regional libraries: funds are
available for the purchase of Western materials, but Russian librarians often
don’t have appropriate access to review media. Barbara was represented at the
meeting by David Marks, Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the Moscow Embassy,
who received several suggestions for approaches to this issue.
6. Consortial and institutional announcements and issues
i) ACRL Slavic & East European Section
Janice Pilch reported that thanks to the strenuous efforts of the previous chair,
Terri Miller (Michigan State), SEES is again on firm ground. Various means were
used to produce economy of effort. The section has been downsized and now has
only three standing committees. The annual program is optional and is no longer
the responsibility of the chair. During the reorganization the section has continued
its activity. The Automated Bibliographic Control committee is conducting a
survey on use of vendor-supplied MARC records (not all libraries use them).
Production of the Newsletter--which is greatly admired by ACRL-- is the section’s
single most important activity. The current print run is 425 copies. Earlier
issues are being digitized and will be made available in PDF format. SEES sponsored
two programs at the 2004 ALA Annual Conference. Despite being optional, a program
is being planned for the 2005 annual conference in Chicago. Co-sponsored by
WESS, it will feature the digitization of medieval MSS. Deadline for committee
appointments is March 30, 2005. The vice-chair/chair elect is Dan Pennell (Pittsburgh).
An important issue arises out of this year’s highly successful annual program on “Library Catalogs and Non-Roman Scripts: Development and Implementation of Unicode for Cataloging and Public Access.” LC will implement Unicode next year and, like OCLC, seeks input on Cyrillic as a priority among non-Roman scripts. This will be discussed by the B& D committee and at SEES meetings at ALA Midwinter 2005, and Terri Miller will form an ad-hoc committee in January to craft a response. Individual opinions are welcome to LC and OCLC, too.
The question is: how important is implementation of Cyrillic script to Slavic librarians? CJK was implemented because for those languages Romanization isn’t sufficient. Other languages are in the pipeline: Hebrew, Greek, Arabic. But Cyrillic is underdeveloped. Among questions to be considered: (1) How critical is display of Cyrillic in the OPAC? (2) Would the cataloging be done in the local ILS and sent to OCLC/RLIN? (3) What would be the standards for filing/ display order? (4) Should LCC and LCSH be in non-Roman scripts? (5) Do we need a Russian version of cataloging documentation? (6) What about timing?
Discussion: Miranda Remnek said that faculty opinions are important. Gordon Anderson said that it is already happening (cf East View databases). Janet Crayne said that anything else will compromise access, but that given LC’s history of not taking action on SEES feedback, we should consider the utility of this. We should also be clear on whether we are talking about LC implementation or OCLC policy. Michael Biggins summarized by saying that there should be B&D representation on Terri’s group to provide a broad-based response from the profession, and that we should also discuss this on slavlibs.
ii) East Coast Slavic Consortium
Brad Schaffner (Harvard) reported that this group meets twice yearly: in the
spring, and at AAASS. They have been engaged in consortial purchases.
iii) Pacific Coast Slavic Consortium
This group met the morning before AAASS. They have found that consortial purchases
(eg Opisi) don’t work very well. Many members have budget problems. Also, some
specialists who retire are not being replaced, and others are responsible for
more than Slavic. However, the duplicates exchange has been quite successful,
though it could be refined. Karen Rondesvedt (Stanford) will continue to chair;
Michael Brewer will update the website.
iv) Midwest Slavic Consortium
Brad Schaffner (Harvard) reported that this group is coordinated out of Kansas
and also includes eg Michigan State, Cornell. It meets once every two years.
It has no website.
v) COSEELIS
Janet Zmroczek (British Library) noted that this group has 60 members but most
have a wide range of duties. They are concerned about the retention and recruitment
of specialists in the field and are planning a survey to review the current
situation. They collaborate with West European groups. They also participate
in a Collection Management project which has funding for one more year (the
original funding ran out in August 2004). The group has had tangible outcomes,
including a searchable database of serials holdings in the UK. There is also
a new agreement between 17 institutions to retain serial subscriptions within
the partnership when one or more institutions cancel. Gregory Walker is the
project administrator and creator of the toolkit.
vi) Institutions
a) Hoover Institution
Elena Danielson reported that the Hoover archives are engaged in a variety of
publication projects involving the bibliographic skills of Molly Molloy. There
is for example the HILA series (Hoover Institution Libraries & Archives).
The volumes emphasize topics like the GULAG, émigré issues, etc.
b) Yale University
Tanja Lorkovic announced that the Yale Baltic internship program has two new
interns.
7. Other announcements
i) Mary Stevens (Toronto) announced that she will retire in June 2005. The
U of T expects to fill her position.
ii) Miranda Remnek mentioned that UIUC and Toronto are discussing a multifaceted
partnership that is slated to include the production of Slavic digital content.
iii) Jolanta Davis (AAASS) announced that past NewsNet articles will now be
posted to the Internet, although NewsNet itself will still be published in paper
format.
iv) Karen Rondestvedt said that SEEIR is still going strong. Vol. 6, no. 1 will
be out on December 15. As regards vol. 6, no. 4, the deadline for articles is
March 1; for columns, April 1. Current needs include a call for memoirs of the
profession.
v) Chris Thomas (British Library) reminded us that Solanus is an annual publication.
Next year’s issue will constitute a festschrift in honor of J.S.G. Simmons.
8. Proposals of program topics for AAASS 2005 in Salt Lake City
i) Digital Copyright: Nuts and Bolts. Proposer: Janice Pilch. This roundtable
will consist of members of the Copyright Working Group.
ii) Licensing. Proposer: Steve Corrsin (NYPL). Also sponsored by the Copyright
WG.
iii) Rediscovering Treasures in the Stacks. Proposer: Janet Crayne.
iv) “Phenomenal Librarians.” Coordinator: Nicholas Thorner (LC)
v) Bibliographic Instruction. Proposer: Terri Miller.
vi) Practical Digital Issues. Proposer: Miranda Remnek. This panel will be sponsored
by the Digital Projects WG.
NB. The B & D committee will also sponsor the biennial pre-conference Digital Resources Workshop.
The deadline for panel proposal submission is January 14, 2005.
With no further business, Michael Biggins adjourned the meeting close to 11.00 am.
Respectfully submitted: Edward Kasinec, Miranda Remnek
Revised 2.18.05