|
One of the meetings of interest at the recent ALA Conference in San Francisco was the discussion group of the Technical Services Directors of Large Research Libraries. This meeting is a good place to learn about projects, trends and challenges at the nation's major research libraries. The items on the meeting agenda pointed out just how many of the things we do in the "back room" of the Library are changing. One topic was the acquisition of digital resources, how libraries manage the selection and acquisitions process. A collaborative project is in place generating reports and spreadsheets designed to manage and track the licensing process. Associated with this project is an e-mail listserv and future plans to develop a prototype management system. Another more philosophically focused agenda item asked: What is a Catalog? Discussion group members pondered the present and future role of the Library's online public access catalog. Should the catalog capture just the holdings of the Library or also include distant resources the Library's users want to know about? What are the management implications of integrating an increased volume of non-owned materials into the Library's public catalog? Should the catalog point to distant resources instead of including them? If so, should the presentation of holdings to Library users be integrated to make the separation of owned and distant resources transparent? The discussion posed more questions than answers and pointed to directions for future research. |