Serials Standing Committee
2007-2008 Annual Report
The Technical Services SIS Serials Committee was involved with the following projects and issues this year. Shyama Agrawal became chair of the Project Counter Task Group and led the task group's efforts to promote compliance with Counter standards for usage statistics. Under Shyama's leadership the task group has mounted a website (drafted by former chair, June Liptay), which includes a bibliography compiled by Patricia Sayre-McCoy, surveyed members and drafted a piece which will appear in the AALL Spectrum's "Members' Briefing" (July 2008). The Task Group also was contacted by AALL President Ann Fessenden, who along with AALL's Executive Director Kate Hagan, included Project Counter as one of the topics for discussion when they spoke with upper management at major legal information vendors during a series of visits.
TS-SIS members submitted comments and reactions to the 2007 ABA Questionnaire which has been expanded to include title counts for electronic resources licensed by law libraries, in addition to e-titles owned by ABA law libraries. The issue of what electronic titles to count, and whether titles in any format should be counted at all remains an issue of consideration and debate.
Under the leadership of Bonnie Geldmacher, the 2007/08 serials exchange of duplicates took place in December 2007. Forty-three libraries registered for the 2007/08 exchange. Of the forty-three participants, thirty-two participated in the fall exchange which is an increase of two libraries from the 2006 fall exchange. The total number of issues offered was 13,681. Due to other work commitments, Bonnie decided to step down as chair of the Exchange of Duplicates Committee. She is to be commended for her years of dedicated service. Although Michele Pope volunteered to become chair of the program, the technical requirements of the exchange prompted several discussions regarding the EOD program that remain under way.
Nancy Cowden and Ellen McGrath compiled a list of serials-related articles for submission to the special issue of the Law Library Journal to celebrate its 100th (Centennial) volume.
An educational program (Thinking Outside the Box: How Developing Electronic Serial Standards Can Add Fiber to Your Library's Diet) and a workshop (Amazing Technical Services: the Director's Cut) were both accepted by the AMPC for the 2008 AALL Annual Meeting.
Carol Nicholson, Chair
TS-SIS Serials Committee