The meeting of the OBS/TS Research Roundtable took place in Indianapolis on July 21, 1996. It was co-coordinated by Brian Striman (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and Ellen McGrath (University at Buffalo) editors of the TSLL column "Research and Publications." The meeting was attended by 20 people. Brian opened by noting that in the most recent issue of Law Library Journal there were at least three articles written by technical services folks and that it is thus not true that we cannot get into LLJ. In fact, Brian said that he had been asked by the editor of LLJ to encourage technical services librarians to submit articles.

Brian brought a number of catalogs from various presses to show the kinds of research being done and the places in which they are being published. Among other things, he mentioned the new AALL title Publication Opportunities for Law Librarians: An Author's Guide, compiled by Dennis C. Benamati and Evelina E. Lemelin (1996). Ellen mentioned that the Research Roundtable had been formed in 1992 and that interest had been growing since then. A project that she and Brian are working on currently is a proposal to institute a grant funded jointly by the OBS and TS SISs to award funding for research in subjects of interest to technical services librarians. (There was discussed again later in the meeting).

Meeting attendess included people who had published widely, people who were currently researching projects and wanted moral support, and people who had not published at all yet. Issues discussed included the support (or lack thereof) provided by our own institutions for research and publishing; the need for an outlet for our thoughts about technical services issues, as well as a place for us to publish; and a concern that with downsizing, technical services librarians will become so overwhelmed with our primary duties that we will have no time or energy left to devote to research and publishing. In effect, our voices will be lost.

Several publication tips were offered. If you are giving a presentation, think also to submit it as an article for a journal. As you have already done the research for it, get double mileage out of that research. Volunteer to write something for a chapter newsletter. They are often in need of articles and if you volunteer, something else may fall into your lap too. Once you have a sample of your writing, you can apply to write for journals, perhaps as a columnist. Consider electronic publishing. There are a number of electronic journals. Or create your own Web site. People reported good feedback for articles written for electronic journals. Also it was felt that publishing was a good way to protect ourselves from outsourcing, as technical services staff that publish may be considered a professional asset.

Publishing one thing may also lead to institutional support for further research and publication. Look around at a wide variety of places to publish. General library journals may be interested in an article on a legal or technical services topic. You may be able to create something fairly quickly and still have it published. It need not be a long, scholarly article to be included as an enhancement to your vita.

Because the levels of publishing experience varied so much among the attendees, we discussed the possibility of having the more experienced people mentor the less experienced. We decided that would be a good idea and that it should be informal. Ellen annotated the list of attendees to indicate who would be willing to mentor and several partnerships sprang up as we were talking. Aaron Kuperman (Library of Congress) indicated that having a responsibility to someone outside of our own institutions might be a good way to drum up institutional support from within, since inter-institutional cooperation is generally considered to be a plus. It was also noted that it is usually a good idea to utilize one's own director as a mentor or someone to turn to for feedback if possible.

Brian and Ellen discussed their proposal for the establishment of a research grant. They first felt the need for such a grant when AALL came up with a research agenda and formed its Research Committee. Then after hearing about the $50,000 Little, Brown research grant that was announced at the annual meeting last year, they knew that the time was right. They felt that the focus of the Little, Brown grant on how to do legal research might not be interpreted as inclusive of technical services topics. They were worried about the differentiation of technical from public services and saw a need for a grant designed to help those of us who are struggling on limited budgets and with limited support from our institutions. The draft proposal asks for $250 from both the OBS and TS SISs for one joint grant of $500. The qualifications for applicants for the proposed grant include membership in AALL and an idea for a project having to do with technical services. The draft proposal was submitted to each of the chairs of the two SISs in March 1996. So far the wheels are turning slowly, in part because the proposal calls for a joint OBS-TS committee to administer the grant. Someone also suggested that regional chapters might be another source for the funding of grants.