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No. This column will not shrivel up and die. It's not going to slowly fade away from the pages of all the great useful stuff that's packed into each issue of TSLL. Research and publications in technical services law librarianship will not take a break. No. We're going to "press on" – old publishing joke.

Many thanks are in order to LeGrande Fletcher and Rebecca Lutkenhaus who have contributed in many substantial ways, both directly and indirectly to getting this column published the past couple of years. Read the back issues of TSLL for a lot of fabulous ideas for your research and publishing needs. It's all there.

So I'm back to writing this column. Now I **KNOW** that you colleagues are reading this column because you tell me so when we meet each other in the halls of the AALL annual meetings. You tell me how much you enjoy my columns. Some, during the OBS/TS Research Roundtable meeting at the AALL annual meetings, also tell me that you read and glean some goodies from the TSLL Research and Publications column.

I found myself getting in the SCOPE (Strategic Committee On Planning Environmental Scans) of things like so many AALL SIS's are doing nowadays. A lot of hard work is going into strategic planning and environment scans of our sub-organization units of our profession. Oh, I made up the acronym "SCOPE." It just sounded cool. What does SCOPE have to do with this column you wonder? It's going to be sort of pen-and-paper "mouthwash" of where we need to go with Research and Publications column. This is where you come in. I need your input. I need your ideas. I need your comments. Let me help us get started with what kinds of information you want from future columns. This is NOT A SURVEY!

Here's what you do. You get this June 2001 TSLL issue on the web -- if that's too much to write down, then just go to Yahoo.com and do a search "tsll". Once you have the issue pulled up, find this column. You then highlight the questions below, use the "copy" feature on your browser and drag the mouse down to the end. You go to the "edit" portion of your toolbar and press copy. Then you get into your e-mail program. You make a new "memo" and get into the toolbar on your e-mail program and press "paste." Hah! You're then ready to tell me numerically what priorities you want me to work on for future TSLL columns. Slick huh? This is NOT A SURVEY! So, start your highlighting with this next line.

FROM: [You type your name here] after you pasted the PEZ in the body of your e-mail.
TO: BRIAN STRIMAN, Column Editor, TSLL Research & Publications column.
RE: My priorities for you to consider are below. I've just given you numbers as you preferred, with the number 1 being the top priority, and descending numbers to be less priority. I've written comments at the end of the PEZ (Priority Enumeration Zone).

PRIORITY ENUMERATION ZONE:
#___ Keep the column the way it's been, with a wide variety of stuff about research and publications.

#___ Change the focus of the column to concentrate the next several issues on the PROCESS of research for a more substantial article to publish in a scholarly refereed journal.

#___ Change the focus of the column to concentrate on real good ideas of things I could consider writing about for smaller publication articles for newsletters.

#___ Get more serious with the column's tone. Get me solid info I can build upon to get me off the ground and beginning to write.

#___ Educate me on all the publishing options out there. Include detailed glossary of publishing terminology, like "what is a refereed journal?" Or, where all can I go to find out publishers and their guidelines for getting something published? Stuff like that I want.

#___ Make the column fun to read, forget good content. I just want to smile and laugh mostly when I read it. Put in some funny research and/or publishing jokes. These jokes can also be useful at research and publishing parties at which I am often invited.

____ Comments for Brian:
[End of PEZ. Stop highlighting here. Go to the edit toolbar and click at "copy" then pull up your e-mail and "paste" it inside the body of the message. Then fill it in, and e-mail it to: bstriman@unl.edu]

If you hate technology (and *who* doesn't?), you can take this issue right now to the nearest copier and photocopy the page/s with the PEZ noting that this is NOT A SURVEY!! Then using a hand-held writing instrument, fill in the blanks with your enumeration, then get an envelope and mail it off to me. Brian Striman/Schmid Law Library/University of Nebraska College of Law/P.O. Box 830902/Lincoln NE 68583-0902.

Fabulous. That was kind of fun wasn't it?? Sure it was! Okay, next let's talk about the July 2001 OBS/TS Research Roundtable. I need ideas for an agenda. One idea I have already is that I plan on attending an educational program for the April 2001 SEAALL/SWALL annual meeting titled "Getting Published." I can take copious notes and get handouts and get permission from the speaker to use some/all of his/her ideas (which copyright permission, etc.) for our Roundtable in Minneapolis. What do you think about that publishing fans? I also thought I could bring a video to watch. The video is produced by PublishNow Bootcamp Enterprises, and is titled "No Problem Publishing – No Problem Perishing." Something like that. You probably never thought of publishing as a bootcamp experience, eh? Well getting yourself sat down in front of your PC to whip up an outline of what you want in your article or book may be as challenging as being in a bootcamp situation. Maybe the bootcamp looks better to you now that you're faced with a blank computer screen and a few ideas in your head.

It's okay. I know how difficult it is to take time out for professional stuff like writing and doing research so you can crank out an article or book. So, talk to me. Communicate with me. What should be the focus of future columns? If you don't communicate with me, then I'm going to do whatever I want. Then if you complain, I'll make a horrid face and begin drooling a lot. That's not a pretty sight. Trust me.

Lastly, congratulations to our colleagues on their recently published articles!

"Cataloging @ 2000: Over 100 Years of Change at The University of Colorado Law Library" by Georgia Briscoe and Karen Selden (both from U. of Colorado).

"Information Resource Management: Transitions and Trends in an Academic Law Library" by Eloise M. Vondruska (Associate Director for Bibliographic Services, Northwestern U.).

Check these out in volume 30, numbers 2/3 of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly. The issue is entitled "Managing Cataloging and the Organization of Information: Philosophies, Practices and Challenges at the Onset of the 21st Century. Part II: Specialized and Academic Libraries in the United States."

If any of you readers of this column have published recently, please let me know and I'll include you and your work in future columns.

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