    Section on Acquisition and Collection Development: Newsletter 20 (Winter 1999/2000)Acquisition and Collection Development BibliographyPlease note that the Acquisition and Collection Development Bibliography compiled by colleagues at the Russian State Library is now accessible on IFLANET at http://www/ifla.org/VII/s14/, under a new heading Bibliographies within A&CD Publications. It is in four parts, covering the years 1990-1997.Many thanks to Tatiana Afanasieva and her colleagues for compiling this substantial bibliography. All members of the A&CD Section should ensure that librarians in their countries are aware of this valuable resource. News from Around the WorldThis issue of the Newsletter contains six varied and informative pieces on current developments from A&CD Standing Committee members. They give a flavour of the rich variety of acquisitions and collection development activities around the world.KenyaThe current state of acquisition and collection development in KenyaJ. R. Njuguna IntroductionDuring IFLA 50 in 1984 in Nairobi, I presented to the then Acquisition and Exchange Section a paper titled Acquisitions of Library Material in Kenya: Problems and Prospects. I am afraid to state that, 15 years down the line, the situation has not changed much and if anything, it has deteriorated. Needless to say, the quality of service and satisfaction of library users depends a great deal on the kind of collection the library has. Unfortunately, in their attempt to provide appropriate information at the right time to their clients, librarians in Kenya face a myriad of problems, the majority of which stem from lack of appropriate information material. In Kenya today, the economy is on its knees and development in almost all sectors is minimal if not completely non-existent. The national currency - the shilling - is very weak and does not therefore afford libraries power to acquire foreign-published books and periodicals. Specific problems relating to the topic under discussion are given below:Lack of Collection Development PolicyA good collection depends very much on a well-defined collection development policy which guides those charged with the responsibility of collection development. Unfortunately, some libraries, particularly government departmental libraries, are manned by untrained personnel who have no inkling as to what a collection development policy is. Where this is the case, there is no collection development policy and this in turn leads to a haphazard acquisition of library stock. The stock so acquired may not be relevant to the needs of the library clientele.Lack of FundsIn general, the funds set aside for acquisition of library material including books and periodicals which are the mainstay of most of our libraries, are limited. This applies particularly to almost all libraries supported from public funds including those in public universities. The limited funds cannot therefore enable them to acquire many publications since these have nowadays become very expensive.Worse still, the funds are at times only there on paper, since when the librarian wants to place an order for new publications on the strength of what he believes remains unused in this library book vote, he quite often meets with a rude shock when he learns that there are no funds. The reason for this is that institutionalised accounting services are in most cases centralised and the head of the organisation/institution who is the accounting officer can divert funds (and often does) with impunity. Delays in Processing OrdersThe librarian in many organisations does not have the final say on what is to be acquired for the library. Indeed, he has to apply for a local purchase order (LPO) form the Procurement Section of the organisation, without which he cannot order publications for the library. The process of preparing the LPO most times causes delays in despatching the order. Consequently, there are delays in receiving materials ordered this way particularly when these are to come from overseas.Delays in PaymentThere are often delays in settling bills for publications already supplied. As a result, many suppliers have come to insist on pre-payment. Unfortunately, many accounting offers are not always in favour of pre-paying, for reasons best known to themselves, and this only leave the librarian in a fix. When pre-payment is finally effected which at times takes long, the publications may already be out of print and therefore unavailable.It is worse with periodicals for which subscriptions must be paid before they are supplied. The consequence is that even some large university libraries have not been subscribing to periodicals, which needless to say, are very important for research and teaching purposes. DonationsApart from acquisition of publications through purchase, donations sometimes form a appreciable percentage of library acquisitions. Some of the donations are very useful, while the majority are not. Before donations can be incorporated in the library, a thorough selection has to be carried out to ensure that only useful titles are incorporated. This sometimes takes a lot of staff time and in the end, only a small fraction of the donation is taken in. What is not selected may present problems of storage to the library. To avoid this, some libraries in turn make a donation of the same to other organisations in the hope that they will find something of value from the lot. This of course only happens if there are not restrictive conditions attached to the original donation.World Bank AssistanceThe World Bank has in the recent past helped boost public university library collections. Under a programme known as World Bank University Investment Project, the Government of Kenya received a credit, part of which was to be spent on buying library books, computers and CD Roms for public universities. The books, selected by university library staff, were received in three phases from 1992 to 1999.ExchangeWhere organisations and their libraries generate publications of their own, these form a good basis for exchange. This used to happen during the 1970s and early 1980s when research activities were widely undertaken particularly in universities, resulting in production of publications. Unfortunately, very little research is undertaken nowadays in Kenya owing to lack of research grants. Therefore, exchange of publications as a mode of acquisition plays a very small role in collection development.ConclusionFrom the foregoing, it is clear that many libraries in Kenya have not realised any significant growth in their stock in the 1990s. This is a sad state of affairs given the fact the books and periodicals are the mainstay of most libraries in this part of the world.With Kenya's new goal being "Industrialisation by the year 2020", we can only hope that those in authority will realise the role of libraries in the industrialisation process sooner than later, and accord them the recognition they so badly deserve. The coming millennium should usher in positive change in all aspects of our national life.
J. R. Njuguna RussiaConsortium of Russian LibrariesAlexei Romanov Russian research and scientific libraries cross at present a very difficult period due to the economic crisis, especially as to the acquisitions of foreign scientific publications, journals and monographs. The creation of a consortium of Russian libraries, users of foreign scientific journals, was an outstanding event in this joyless context. It became possible with financial support of Springer-Verlag, RFFI (Russian foundation for fundamental investigations), Open Society Institute. The project has for its aim to give for all Russian libraries, members of consortium, free access to electronic versions of journals, published by the main world scientific publishers. Nowadays there are approximately 200 libraries participating in this project, which, as far as we know, has no analogous one in West Europe. Springer-Verlag, Academic Press, Wiley, Kluwer, Karger, MCB University Press et.al. have agreed to take part in this. Every publisher forwarded his own conditions, but the basic necessary one is: subscription to journals in paper version of these publishers for the appointed amount. So the main advantage of this project is that a library subscribes to some journals and in this case can use any one from those offered by publishers online. E.g. Springer-Verlag offered to consortium members 330 full text electronic journals, Academic Press gave 175 ones but on condition that the total subscription of Russian libraries will be of 200 000 USD. In reality this amount has reached only 150 000 USD, so every member had to pay 250 USD (this is much cheaper than any Academic Press journal). Unfortunately the Russian libraries couldn't co-ordinate and resolve this problem and Academic Press, Wiley and Kluwer journals were offered only for two months as a test. Another, more limited consortium of Elsevier Science journals, was created as well in 1998. The publishers' indispensable condition was that it would be offering only those electronic versions to Elsevier subscribers, the paper versions of which were acquired. This consortium includes 13 libraries and these were able to use 350 Elsevier Science journals. The missing part of the total amount required was granted by OSI and RFFI. In 1999 when the financial situation of Russian libraries became worse, the Consortium could use, with the support of OSI and RFFI, 420 Springer-Verlag journals, and the smaller one, could continue to read 350 Elsevier electronic journals. This month Kluwer and MCB University Press gave their electronic journals to Consortium for two months as a test. Medline, the most demanded medical data base, will be available for Consortium up to the end of 2000. The possibility to use electronic journals of other publishers depends on the total subscription for 2000 Russian scientific libraries. For facilitating the connection, the journals are placed on 6 servers in Russia, one of them being located in the National Library of Russia. In order to make the functioning of the Consortium more efficient, in 2000 the Russian libraries have to co-ordinate better their journals subscriptions, to find the possibility to contribute financially for maintaining the required level of total subscription and, in this way, to obtain the possibility to use more rich repertoire of scientific electronic journals.
Alexei Romanov Japani. Electronic publications and the legal deposit system in Japanii. Cancellation of overseas journals and electronic journals Masaki Nasu Electronic publications and the legal deposit system in JapanThe National Diet Library, the sole legal deposit library in Japan, will put in force a new legal deposit system provided by addition and amendment to the National Diet Library Law in October 2000. During the couple of years the Library has examined how to apply the legal deposit system to electronic publications, of which numbers are mushrooming in Japan today, beginning by setting up first the Legal Deposit System Research Council in March 1997. The Library has eventually started the process of amending the Law based on the Council's final report which it submitted to the Librarian on February 22, 1999. The report resolves itself into the following three points. (Electronic Publications and the Legal Deposit System in Japan, National Diet Library Newsletter, No.107)
The Library assumes that for the time being it will offer only substantial packaged electronic publications exclusive of computer application software, games, software for adults, etc. to users via a standalone system inside the Library facility, and will provide also a printout service. If it is deemed necessary to offer some copies via an online network, the Library will make an appropriate contract separately. Cancellation of overseas journals and electronic journalsSince the beginning of 1990, the National Diet Library and university libraries in Japan have been facing a very difficult situation. The subscription rates of journals from overseas are rising by anything from 8 to 11.5% annually, a result of both the recent upward tendency in publishers' prices and a fall of the yen in the exchange rate. The libraries' annual budget for acquisitions, however, has not increased at all in the present tight national financial climate. After strenuous efforts, eventually each library has been forced to decide to cancel a lot of orders for journals.For instance, in each of the Overseas Journals Center Libraries, which were set up in nine big universities and have played the role of national document supply centers, annual cancellation has come to the fields of humanities and social science since 1998, following cancellations in the fields of natural science and technology including medical science and biology from 1996. Each center library demands a raise in the acquisitions appropriation from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture. At the same time the center libraries are strengthening their system of shared acquisitions as well as reviewing their own collection development policies. On the other hand, the number of university libraries which intend to improve their user services as well as save money both by changing from paper journals to electronic journals and by using document delivery services has been growing recently. And many national university libraries which have introduced the electronic journals from the High Wire Press Co., the Elsevier Science Co. and others intend to form a consortium but have not done so yet. Only one library group, in the Kyushu region, has carried out a joint use of a database such as Web of Science, IDEAL, etc. via a server on an experimental basis. In order to form national and regional academic information bases in Japan, it remains to be examined how to manage the consortium, share the costs and implement licensing as well as the physical management of internet publications in the present governmental budget and accounts system.
Masaki Nasu NorwayAcquisition policy for deposit periodicals at the National Library of Norway, Oslo DivisionLiv Rustviken The goal for collection development at any library is to provide the best possible service to the library users. This is also the goal of the National Library, Oslo Division, where the deposit periodicals represent the greater part of the periodicals in the Library. In addition, Oslo Division subscribes to foreign periodicals that support the national area, and periodicals within the subject areas covered by the National Library as well. The Legal Deposit Act ensures that deposit copies of Norwegian periodicals are sent to the National Library, Oslo Division. The first Legal Deposit Act in Norway was passed in 1883 and revised in 1939. In 1989 the Rana Division of the National Library was established with responsibility for administering the legal deposit of printed material. The Legal Deposit Act of 1989 includes all types of media. The Rana Division of the National Library receives seven copies of all printed documents. One copy is stored in the underground vaults in Rana and the six other copies are forwarded to the Oslo Division and the university libraries in Norway (in Bergen, Oslo, Tromso and Trondheim) and to the Repository Library, run by the Rana Division. The copy of the Oslo Division is not for interlibrary lending and can only be used in our reading room. This copy forms the basis for the preparation of the National Bibliography of Periodicals. The purpose of the Legal Deposit Act is to ensure that all aspects of Norwegian culture and society are documented and made accessible for research and studies. The objective of the Oslo Division is therefore to have as complete a collection of Norwegian periodicals as possible. The Serial Office at the Oslo Division is responsible for the management of Norwegian periodicals, i.e. periodicals, year-books, newspapers and monograph serials. The periodical material is then registered in our database system BIBSYS, which is the common database system for Norwegian university libraries, colleges and for the National Library of Norway. BIBSYS functions both as a catalogue and an acquisition system for these libraries. It is important that the National Library has a complete set of titles so that each and every title is available in the future. Other libraries discard issues of no present interest, which means that they will only be available at the National Library. The Rana Divsion registers all seven copies in BIBSYS, including information of where the issues are to be forwarded. Once a week we receive a consignment of periodicals from the Rana Division. Each of the libraries registers the issues received in the module of periodicals in BIBSYS. Until today, the libraries have sent claims for missing issues to the Rana Division, which in practice functions as a periodical agent for Norwegian periodicals towards the libraries receiving the deposit copy of the periodicals. Through a co-operation between BIBSYS and the Rana Division, the efficiency of claiming procedures regarding periodicals has been made more efficient. This enables the Rana Division to improve the service towards receiving libraries in the future. A system of centralized claiming procedures for periodicals will now be tested. All registrations of issues from 1990 till to day have been transferred from the deposit libraries to the Rana Division's display unit for distribution. This forms the basis of a large project in which there will be sent out reminders for 200.000 issues. Issues older than three years are statute-barred, and in such cases we will only ask the publishers to send us the missing issues older than three years. When this project has been carried through, the central claiming procedures for periodicals will be put into operation.
Liv Rustviken The NetherlandsCo-operative collection development in the NetherlandsTrix Bakker In the Netherlands stagnant or declining budgets, especially of the research libraries, since the 1980s, together with improved means of communication and delivery, have forced libraries to pay more attention to resource sharing as an important element in the package of services offered to users. This has led to increasing (inter)national co-operation between libraries to improve and accelerate interlibrary loan and document delivery via the national ILL-system. Although the infrastructure to provide access to data inside or outside the library is well organised in the Netherlands, this is supplementary to the traditional functions of building up and managing a collection. Together they make up the quality of the library service. The library's primary task is to guarantee that relevant and representative collections on the various fields of science are present or at least easily available via interlibrary loan. As long as printed information is dominant over electronic information, collection building in the traditional sense remains of great importance. In 1993 co-operative collection building was intensified by discussion platforms of collection development librarians at discipline level. Albeit on voluntary basis, there is a commitment to co-operate because of the financial reality. Out of concern about the adequacy of the aggregate collection of Dutch academic libraries, in 1995 the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) set up a research project to assess the coverage of the foreign titles held by Dutch libraries as compared with German academic collections (Voorbij, 1996) 1. On average the coverage was 70%. For a number of disciplines in the humanities the coverage was substantially lower. This result convinced the government that the information infrastructure for education and research in those disciplines are deteriorating. In June 1996 five universities (Leiden, Groningen, Utrecht, Amsterdam and Nijmegen) came to an agreement with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences to maintain a broad, differentiated and national co-ordinated supply of humanities studies. The agreement led to a research project concerning the humanities collections of six universities (including the Free University of Amsterdam) and the KB. The final report has led to an extra funding of 5 million guilders for 1998-1999. This money must be used for additional national collection building, in particular study and research literature, and must be optimal available via the interlibrary loan system. An allocation of disciplines in the humanities have been made between the seven institutions, based on the number of professional chairs for those disciplines, the materials budgets and the levels of the collection development profiles (at least study or instructional support level). Continuation of extra funding after the year 2000 will depend on the (good) employment of the money. At this moment the libraries do not spend the money for new or current subscriptions to serial publications, while continuity of the subsidy is not guaranteed. For journals other activities are being developed. An example of co-operative collection development is the 'attunement' of the joint core journal collections Economy and Business Administration between three university libraries (Maastricht, Tilburg, Rotterdam). Pica, the centre for library automation & online information services, also participated in this virtual economic library (VEB) project and developed -as a subset of the national On-line Contents database (OLC)- a business-economical OLC with integrated links to abstracts, with ordering and fast delivery services linked to these secondary data. The aim of the VEB is cost control and better services, such as fast delivery and extension of the number of titles. The libraries can reduce costs by cancelling double subscriptions; this money can be spent on new subscriptions or on improvement of services. This VEB-model will also be used for the joint journal collections in the fields of Law and Medicine between other university libraries. A new facet of resource sharing is the development of joint licensing agreements that permit consortia of libraries to share responsibilities and costs of providing access to electronic resources. The digital era offers possibilities to break the 'serials crisis'. From that perspective academic libraries in the Netherlands and Germany decided in October 1997 to take a joint stance in their negotiations with publishers. They have formed guiding principles for negotiating collective licenses for electronic information.2 One of the licensing principles is that the price of electronic journals should not exceed 80% of the printed subscription price. Another principle is that libraries will not accept non-cancellation clauses. In August 1999 the academic libraries in the Netherlands have adopted a common policy with regard to publishers who announce unreasonable price increases for scholarly journals. They will endeavour to stimulate development of a similar policy in other countries, which are confronted by the same problems. The academic libraries hope and expect that the scientific community, which will fare just as poorly from cutbacks in the information supply in libraries, will support them. A platform is set up from which the individual libraries can get advice on the continuation or cancellation of journals from given publishers and from which activities of individual libraries can be co-ordinated. This platform can also act as a partner for consultation with publishers who want to attune their policy to the possibilities and needs of their customers3. Another project of co-operative collection development is DutchESS, Dutch Electronic Subject Service 4. In 1993 the KB started a subject information service. This initiative developed in 1996 into a joint effort of a number of Dutch research libraries. DutchESS is now an operational service in which eight research libraries participate. DutchESS extends to all areas of scientific research. Subject specialists select Internet resources on quality and relevance for the academic community - students and academic researchers -. The resources are described and classified according to the Dutch Basic Classification 5. The local editorial boards check if the resources are in accordance with the scope policy and selection criteria. DutchESS also serves as a test-bed for international developments taking place in the project DESIRE (Development of a European Service for Information on Research and Education)6, a European project funded by the EC Telematics Applications Programme7. The DESIRE project promotes the implementation of a network of Quality Information Gateways in Europe. Between DutchESS and other European services which provide access to quality information for the academic community, such as SOSIG (Social Sciences Information Gateway)8 and Biz/ed (Business and Economics)9 interoperability will be realised at the end of this year. To conclude:The changes being experienced in the transition to a digital environment offer new opportunities for co-operative actions in making information available to users. However, the shift to a predominantly digital environment will occur at different rates in different fields, which urges for different approaches in those fields.
Trix Bakker Notes
SpainAcquisition policy at the National Library in MadridMontserrat Olivàn Plazaola IntroductionThe purpose of the National Library in Madrid is to become the main information and documentary centre on Spanish and Spanish American written culture. It is from the beginnings of the XVIII century that the depositary Library's printed publications were received through the Legal Deposit and other ways. Nowadays, the publications come into the National Library through Legal Deposit, purchase, exchange, donation and as a depositary Library from International Organizations.Legal depositThe legislation of Legal Deposit dates from the beginnings of the 1970's and although its management has been transferred to the different Autonomous Communities in Spain, it continues being effective. This statute is complemented with Royal Ordinances about transferences of duties in culture and with Ordinances or Autonomous Orders on Legal Deposit. Recently, Spanish librarians have proposed to the Government the modification of the existing legislation on Legal Deposit, to adapt it to the different Autonomies conditions, such as modifying the person forced to make the Legal Deposit, who would become the publisher or including bibliographical materials which now are not seen in the present rules, such as the remote or on-line electronic publications.The National Library is the depositary centre for every document which is printed in the Spanish territory, different to the Autonomous Central and Public Libraries which only receive the bibliographical materials printed in an Autonomous Communities or in a province. The number of copies entered by this procedure depends on the kind of material, ranging from the three copies for books submitted to the ISBN Agency or one copy for videos. In 1998 a total of 161,199 titles and 641,138 copies, were entered by this procedure. The cost of the 74,196 books entered by Legal Deposit in 1998 is considered to be 459,692,352 pts. And for the total of the copies 1,419,677,760 pts. PurchaseBy the purchase procedure are acquired:
By this procedure, in 1998 there were acquired 4,036 titles and 21,876 copies of monographic and serial publications in different media and 4,457 titles on old bibliographic materials and others published previously to 1958. In total there was a budget of 199,337,993 pts. ExchangeBy this procedure, are obtained bibliographic materials according with international agreements on exchange of publications signed by Spain and other countries or by cultural and bilateral agreements between the Kingdom of Spain and other countries or between Libraries. In this way, through the lists of books and serials from Libraries abroad with which there is an exchange agreement, there can be selected publications which there are not in the National Library collections yet.For selecting the publications, the same criteria are followed as for purchasing. At present there are exchange relations with 410 Libraries mainly in Europe and America. By this method, in 1998, there entered 1,574 titles on monographs and 4,207 copies of books, serials and CD-ROM, besides 22 boxes of microforms from the Government Publications Office of United States. DonationTo select the publications given by donation, the same criteria are followed as for purchasing. Receipt of the donations is acknowledged but on the other hand there is a kind of dissuasion to the Spanish authors to give their publications printed in Spain to other Libraries, as the National Library is going to receive some copies through Legal Deposit. By this in 1998 and the next procedure, were received 2,175 titles and 74,378 copies of different kinds of documents.Depositary Centre for international organizationsThe National Library is the depositary centre of publications printed from corporate bodies or International Organizations, such as the European Union, OECA, United Nations, the International Organization for Aviation, the International Agency for Atomic Energy, the American Organization of States, etc. At present, access to the full text of the publications of those Organizations is increasingly through the Internet.
Montserrat Oliván Plazaola, It is hoped that the next Newsletter will contain several more such pieces from around the world. Contributions from A&CD members, which are welcome at any time, should be sent to the Editor (preferably by email) at the address given on the front cover. Collection Development Policy GuidelinesDora Biblarz (Associate Dean University Libraries - Continuous Improvement Arizona State University; email biblarz@asu.edu) is leading a work group of the IFLA Committee on Acquisitions and Collection Development which is putting together a model collection development policy statement. Dora contributes the following information.'We have not yet begun work on the collection development policy guide, but we do have the text below as a point of departure. We would be very interested to hear from A&CD Section members if this is helpful, or not. Please send any comments to me at the email address above, or to:
Arizona State University Libraries PO Box 871006 TEMPE, AZ 85287-1006 USA Tel *(1)(602)9650614 Fax*(1)(602)9659169 COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY ELEMENTS*A. IntroductionInclude Mission Statement of the library, purpose of this policy and audience to whom it is addressed. Also include: brief statements about the community or user group(s), description of the types of programs the library collection serves; the size (including number of periodicals, monographic volumes, electronic resources, languages represented) of the collection; any formal or informal co-operative agreements that affect the collection policy or practices.B. General StatementsList here special characteristics or other elements that determine the direction of the development of the collection, e.g., current focus only or includes retrospective; formats such as print, nonprint, electronic; are textbooks collected? Special sources of funding, such as a grant or gift from a donor can be covered here. Describe the policy regarding gifts and any special policies regarding the maintenance (weeding, discarding, preservation) of the collection. How are complaints handled?Is there an equivalent to the "Library Bill of Rights"? Other relevant policies? What limitations exist - what subjects or areas are intentionally not collected? C. Narrative StatementsSpecial subject or format collections that represent unique materials and for which special guidelines apply are mentioned here. Such material may be stored separately or interspersed throughout the collection.D. Details of subject areas, formats, languages collectedData describing the strengths and weaknesses of the collection, organized by classification or subject categories (e.g., WLN or RLG Conspectus) and covering the following information:
E. Policy implementation and revision timetables: describe process for implementation, timetable for revision and other official adoption issues.*Adapted from WLN Collection Assessment ManualDiscussion Group on Repository LibrariesAt the Bangkok conference a special meeting on repository libraries was convened. The meeting agreed to start preparations for establishing an IFLA Discussion Group on Repository and Storage Libraries.The section on Acquisition and Collection Development has agreed to sponsor the group, and Pentti Vattulainen of the Finnish National Repository Library has agreed to act as the convenor of the Discussion Group. The goals of the Discussion Group have been formulated as follows:
All those interested in this Discussion Group should send their endorsements and comments by e-mail to: pentti.vattulainen@nrl.fi Further information is available from:
P.O.Box 1710 Kuopio Finland tel: -(358)-17-26 46 007 fax: -(358)-17-26 46 008 70421 Discussion Group on LicensingAnn Okerson, Convenor of the Discussion Group on Licensing, sends this report of the conversation held on Sunday, August 22nd, 1999.On Sunday morning, August 22nd, about 40 IFLA registrants gathered to launch the Electronic Licensing Discussion Group. Ann Okerson (member of the Standing Committee on Acquisitions and Collections Development) convened the group by observing that licensing is now a way of life for librarians and libraries. She posed two questions to the group: (1) what are the "hot topics" that we want to discuss here?, and (2) what can we all do to help licensing "scale up," i.e., to reduce the amount of time libraries (and publishers) must spend negotiating hundreds of deals, often for similar content with similar institutions? Are there tools that can help (principles, checklists, and so on)? how does the group feel about the several model licenses that have been introduced over the past year or so? These include the UK Higher Education Funding Council's work with the Publishers Association to develop a model license for British institutions; a similar effort, again in the UK, on the part of NESLI, the National Electronic Site Licensing project; the recent work of John Cox (consultant) in developing model licenses on behalf of five international subscription agencies; and other individual efforts. The discussion group tackled all these questions with enthusiasm and energy and was much enriched by the presence of several non-librarians including representatives from Academic Press and Elsevier Science. There was agreement on several points:
Lively disagreement ensued about the following:
The group touched on the topic of academic authors and their interests, hopes, and fears in the electronic environment. Authors are concerned that (1) journals may not be archivable in electronic format and so print is safer; (2) the reasonably well understood academic rewards system will not transfer into the electronic world. These concerns can make e-journals (or e-versions of print journals) a hard sell on academic campuses. At the same time, so-called preprint or e-print initiatives are on the rise. In these, authors post their papers to disciplinary web sites in advance of those papers having been formally published. The controversial development in the e-print arena this year has been the US National Institute of Health's "ebiomed." Marta Seljak, Director of the Slovenian Institute of Information Science, spoke poignantly of English language licenses (it is hard to understand all the legal implications of licenses that are not in one's own language), how to educate users, and how to support the infra and superstructures needed for the success of electronic information delivery. These are not easy problems for anyone, especially libraries in less privileged or wealthy countries. The group was asked if licensing is now exhausted as a discussion topic for IFLA or whether the DG should meet again at the next conference. There was unanimous agreement not only that the DG should continue, but also that it needs to be more visibly advertised for the Jerusalem meeting. Since the IFLA meeting in Bangkok, several participants have sent in suggestions for discussion topics in 2000. All suggestions are welcomed. Please send them to:
Ann.Okerson@yale.edu. Minutes of the Standing Committee meetings held at the 1999 IFLA Conference, BangkokThe Standing Committee of the Section on Acquisitions and Collection Development met twice during the Annual IFLA Conference in Bangkok. The first meeting was held on Saturday 21 August 1999 at 0900-1150 and the second on Friday 27 August 1999 at 1030-1220. These minutes cover both meetings.AttendanceCommittee members attending were:T. Afanasieva (Russia), T. Bakker (Netherlands), D. Biblarz (USA), M. Bloss (USA), N. Davenport (USA), D. Farkas (USA), C. Friström (Sweden), J. Hewitt (USA), Lee Sook-hyeun (Korea), A. Okerson (USA - second meeting only), M. Oliván Plazaola (Spain), A. Romanov (Russia), L. Rustviken (Norway), M-J. Tarin (France), J. Vickery (UK), and S. Yontan Musnik (France).
Observers included:
Apologies were received from: 1. General Introductions
Marjorie Bloss welcomed members and guests, who were asked to introduce themselves. New members Trix Bakker, Doina Farkas, Nancy Davenport, Sook-hyeun Lee and Montserrat Oliván were warmly welcomed to the Standing Committee.
1.2 2. Adoption of the Agenda
The agenda was agreed as presented, with the Election of Officers being deferred until the end of the first meeting. 3. Adoption of the Minutes from the 1998 Standing Committee at Amsterdam
The minutes were approved as written.
3.2 4. Reports
Marjorie Bloss, as the Section's Financial Officer, explained the IFLA regulations governing financial reporting, and presented the following report. All figures are in US dollars.
There had been no expenditure under administrative funds. The Section had been allocated project funds previously to begin work on the Collection Development Project which, to date, had not been spent; a decision on the future of this project was needed. (See agenda item 7.1). The Committee agreed to earmark administrative funds of $500 to enable the new Chair and Secretary to meet, should this prove necessary. The financial report was accepted as submitted.
4.1.2 4.2 Report of the Section Open Programme
At the first meeting Marjorie Bloss previewed the Section's Open Forum The role of partnership arrangements and exchanges in libraries, which was to take place at 0900 on Tuesday 24 August. There would be four presentations, the first in two parts:
In his absence Mr d'Almeida's paper would be read in French by Marie-Joëlle Tarin; an English translation had also been prepared. Mr d'Almeida's paper was included in the List of Papers and was available on demand, but did not appear in the Programme nor in Booklet V. Marjorie Bloss noted the effectiveness of her message posted on IFLANET inviting speakers for the Bangkok Open Programme, which had resulted in offers of all the four papers to be presented on Tuesday.
4.2.2 5. Reports of the First Meetings of the Professional and Co-ordinating BoardsMarjorie Bloss reported on various administrative matters concerning the conference, and drew the Committee's attention to three particular issues.
5.1
5.2
5.3 6. Election of Officers
This being an election year, nominations were sought for Chair and Secretary for 1999-2001. Sara Yontan was nominated as Chair by Joe Hewitt, seconded by Dora Biblarz, and was elected by acclamation. Jim Vickery was nominated as Secretary by Nancy Davenport, seconded by Dora Biblarz, and was re-elected by acclamation. Both were congratulated on their appointment. Sara Yontan agreed to become Financial Officer, and Jim Vickery agreed to continue as Information Coordinator and Newsletter Editor.
6.2 7. Activities of the Standing Committee
Projects
Collection Development Project Other potential projects identified included a survey on serials pricing. There was an initial contact at Bangkok with Serial Publications' Chair Hartmut Walravens who intended to inform his Section members of the proposal for a joint project. Rolf Griebel's interest in the matter was noted and Sara Yontan agreed to contact him on the matter. A survey on licensing models was also identified as a suitable topic for a survey. 7.2 Publications
Bibliography (See item 3.2) 7.2.2 Newsletter Jim Vickery requested that members submit brief entries on major developments in their countries, so that the Newsletter could cover more than just internal administrative matters.
7.2.3
7.3 Medium Term Programme The Committe then reviewed, section by section, the annotated version of the 1998/1999 Action Plan. The resulting amended document is given as Appendix 1. 8. Assessment of the Bangkok Conference
The success of the Open Forum was noted (see item 4.2.2).
8.2
8.3 Marjorie Bloss reported that a request had been made to reconstitute the Publisher Liaison Committee, which had been suspended in 1998. A forum was still needed to formulate IFLA's policy towards publishers, preferably with the involvement of the publishers themselves. Wider representation would be sought. Ann Okerson, A&CD Section representative on PLC, noted that a STM paper on publisher/library relations had recently been sent to the Committee on Legal and Other Matters for information. 9. Jerusalem Conference, 2000
After discussion, the Committee agreed to convene both an Open Forum and a Workshop at Jerusalem. The Open Forum would be on the theme of Models for acquiring electronic resources; Trix Bakker and Nancy Davenport expressed an interest in the event. [Subsequently Sara Yontan and Jim Vickery agreed to be joint organisers.] The Workshop would deal with Changing organisational structures in an electronic environment (covering selection, access and new competencies), organised by Joe Hewitt with the assistance of Marie-Joëlle Tarin. Sara Yontan requested that the needs of developing countries be kept in mind when formulating the programmes.
9.2
9.3
9.4 10. Boston Conference, 2001
Potential topics identified for pre- or post-conference seminars in 2001 were: French collections outside France (Sara Yontan) and repository libraries (Marjorie Bloss). Collection development policies for electronic material (Dora Biblarz) was an early suggestion for the Boston Open Programme. 11. Any Other Business
Jim Vickery reminded members that material for posting on IFLANET should be sent via him as Information Coordinator. IFLA Acquisition and Collection Development Standing Committee
At Bangkok the Committee reviewed the Medium Term Programme for 1998-2001 and endorsed the stated goals. Some deviations from the 1998-99 Action Plan were noted, but were regarded as being fully justified in reaction to changing circumstances and priorities. Actions identified for 2000/2001 have been incorporated in paragraphs 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 2.5 and 4.1
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