Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship 006 (MAY 1993)
URL = ftp://ftp.lib.ncsu.edu/pub/stacks/sts/sts-006

         ------------->>
         ----------
         ----
         --   #####   #######   #####
         -    #          #      # 
         -    #          #      #                S
         -    #####      #      #####            T     ELECTRONIC
         -        #      #          #            S     COMMUNICATIONS
         --       #      #          #                 
         ---- #####      #      #####                  
         ---------
         ----------------------->>  ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

                                             LIBRARIANSHIP


         MAY 1993                                  NUMBER  6  
__________________________________________________________________
ALA ACRL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SECTION
__________________________________________________________________

CONTENTS:

FROM THE EDITOR:  ISTL ON GOPHER             
                  RETHINKING REFERENCE SELECTIVE READING LIST
                       LINES 55-178
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
     STS:  SCIENCE REFERENCE SERVICE: ALA PRECONFERENCE STILL OPEN
             LINES 179-228
           STS DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING--ALA NEW ORLEANS
             LINES 229-242
     THE WHITE HOUSE ELECTRONIC MAIL ACCESS
             LINES 243-312
     FUTURE USE OF THE INTERNET--PERSONAL OPINION
             LINES 313-351
     RLG'S CITADEL SERVICE--TWO NEW FILES
             LINES 352-402
     SPRINGER JOURNALS PREVIEW SERVICE VIA INTERNET
             LINES 403-425 
PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIONS
  BY KENT STEPHENS, REFERENCE LIBRARIAN, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO
     JOHN D. WARD, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS SACRAMENTO MEDICAL CENTER
  INCLUDING A SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY BY MENGXIONG LIU
             LINES 426-726
EMPOWERING THE PUBLIC:  THE ENVIRONMENT CONNECTION
  BY SUSAN MAGEE, LIBRARY INSTRUCTION COORDINATOR, CENTENNIAL SCIENCE AND
                  ENGINEERING LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO
             LINES 727-828
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY/CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS SERVICE:  INSTRUCTIONAL ISSUES
  A SERIES OF REPORTS INCLUDING THE PROGRAM FOR "CHEMICAL INFORMATION
  INSTRUCTION IN THE '90S:  FACING REALITY"
  BY ARLEEN SOMERVILLE, CARLSON LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
             LINES 829-1094
______________________________________________________________________________

FROM THE EDITOR

  ISTL ON GOPHER

Thanks to Eric Morgan, all of the issues of ISTL are now available on the
GOPHER at North Carolina State University.  Besides being available in
full-text, they are also keyword searchable.  According to Eric's
instructions "point your GOPHER client to dewey.lib.ncsu.edu on port 70
and navigate to the Library & Information Science Study Carrel."  For
those of you, like me, who need a little more guidance then that, here
are some more hints: 1) when connected to a GOPHER look for the "Library
based gopher" list 2) Find the North Carolina Library Information 
heading 3) Once connected to NCSU's GOPHER, choose the "Library Without
Walls" option 4) Under "Library Without Walls", choose the "Discipline
Specific Study Carrels" option 5) Under study carrels, choose the
"Library & Information Science" option 6) Issues In Science and Technology
Librarianship will be found on that menu.  Past issues are grouped by
year ie 1991, 1992, and 1993.  As is common with the internet, this
sounds a lot more complicated to navigate then it is.  All of my 
steps may not apply to your situation.  However, the instructions
after you are connected to the NCSU GOPHER should be accurate.
Although I am aware that ISTL is available through some local and
international bulletin boards, this is the only GOPHER that I am
aware of that has it archived in the full-text version.

  RETHINKING REFERENCE

I was very pleased to be a participant of the Rethinking Reference:  New
Models and How to Get There workshop sponsored by the Library Solutions
Institute and held at Berkeley, California last March.  The participants
represented a variety of libraries, disciplines, and levels of management
and administration.  The one common ground was looking for new ways to
do things.  Plans are to publish the proceedings from that workshop.
When this happens, the ideas documented from the workshop will then
be more widely disseminated helping to replicate the creative thinking
in individual library organizations.  For those who would like to do
some reading on the topic and challenges, the following is the selective
reading list Anne Lipow developed for the workshop.

RETHINKING REFERENCE: SELECTED READINGS, prepared by Anne G. Lipow
8 January 1993 

*Indicates items initially sent out on the network 

The Future of the Reference Desk

 1. Ford, Barbara.  "Reference beyond (and without) the reference desk."
      College and Research Libraries, vol. 47, Sept. 1986, 491.
      Questions the reference desk as the central mode of serving clients.

 2.*Lipow, Anne G.  "21st century job description."  Message broadcast to
      the Visions network discussion group in August 1992.
      Depicts a remotely accessible reference desk.

 3. Massey-Burzio, Virginia.  et al.  "Reference encounters of a different
      kind: a symposium."
      Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 18, no. 5, Nov. 1992, 276.
      Massey-Burzio discusses the process of eliminating the reference desk
      at Brandeis, and 4 other authors respond.

 4. Oberg, Larry.  "Response to Hammond: Paraprofessionals at the reference
      desk: the end of the debate.  The Reference Librarian, no. 37, 1992.
      Urges professionals to break away from the idea of desk duty as a key
      reason for being.


New Roles for Libraries and Library Personnel

 5. Campbell, Jerry D. "It's a tough job looking ahead when you've seen 
      what's dragging behind."  Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 17,
      no. 3, 148.
      Argues for rethinking our mission.

 6. Campbell, Jerry D. "Shaking the conceptual foundations of reference: a
      perspective."  Reference Services Review, Winter 1992, 29.
      Foresees new roles and titles for reference librarians based on a new
      economic model of providing information to users.

 7.*Lipow, Anne G. "Reorganization in reference departments: summary of 
      responses." 
      Distributed on LIBREF-L and LIBADMIN listservs January 6, 1992.
      Summary of 20 responses to request for descriptions of innovative
      reorganization in reference services or redefined positions within
      reference department.

 8. Malinconico, Michael.  "Information's brave new world."  Library
      Journal, May 1, 1992, 36.
      Premise: New developments could displace librarians or magnify their
      importance; librarians can deny change or anticipate it and exploit
      it to their advantage.

 9. Oberg, Larry.  "The emergence of the paraprofessional in academic
      libraries: perceptions and realities.  College and Research
      Libraries, March 1992, 100.
      Bases conclusion that new model of librarianship is needed on the
      growing ambiguity between the roles of paraprofessionals and
      librarians.

10. Smith, Eldred.  "The print prison."  Library Journal, February 1, 1992.
      Argues that electronic information technology provides the means to
      overcome print's limitations, and suggests new roles for collection
      development and reference librarians in academic libraries.

11. "Staff versus collections: assessing budget priorities for the 1990s." 
      A symposium of articles by Jerry Campbell, Patrick O'Brien, and
      Sheila Creth.  Library Administration & Management, Summer 1992, 126.
      The 3 authors differ in their assessment of budget priorities in
      affecting change, but they agree that to survive, libraries cannot
      continue the status quo.

12.*Strategic Visions Steering Committee.  "Strategic Vision for
      Professional Librarians" and "Values and Qualities of Librarianship."

      Draft documents prepared in January 1992 distributed on the Visions
      listserv, at professional meetings.

I want to thank the people who contributed articles to this issue and
encourage others to send their submissions to me at this address.

Harry LLull
University of New Mexico
ACRLSTS@HAL.UNM.EDU
____________________________________________________________________

SCIENCE REFERENCE SERVICE:  AN INTRODUCTION FOR THE GENERAL REFERENCE
     LIBRARIAN

  THIS ALA PRECONFERENCE IS STILL OPEN FOR REGISTRATIONS

The STS Section is sponsoring a Preconference before the ALA Annual
Meeting.  This Preconference is designed for academic librarians who
serve at general reference desks at community colleges, colleges, or
universities and who do not have formal training in science bibliography.
This Preconference may also attract paraprofessionals and public
librarians who answer science reference questions.  All those who
cringe when patrons ask sci/tech reference questions, who have gaps in their
knowledge of sci/tech reference sources, who regret not taking a science
reference course in library school, or who could benefit from a refresher
course will find value in this Preconference.

                    The speaker lineup:
Introduction:
Thomas Kirk, ACRL president-elect and college librarian, Berea College

Keynote: "What Young Scientists Bring to the Library: What Nonscientists
         in the Library Can Do to Help Them."
Tony Stankus, Science Librarian, College of the Holy Cross

CD-ROM and online sources and strategies:
Robin Raquet, Science Librarian, Trinity University

Physical Science sources:
Arleen Somerville, Physical Sciences Librarian, University of Rochester

Applied Science sources:
LeAnn Weller, Engineering Librarian, University of Kansas

Life Sciences sources:
Christina Peterson, Life & Health Sciences Librarian, San Jose State
   University

Date:  Friday, June 25, 1993
Place:  New Orleans, LA
Time:  8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Cost:  ACRL members:  $120
       ALA members: $155
       non-ALA members:  $195
Registration deadline: STILL OPEN 

All ACRL and RASD members will receive a flyer that contains a registration
form.  A registration form also appears in the March 1993 issue of
_C&RL News_, on page 153.
_____________________________________________________________________________

STS DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING--ALA NEW ORLEANS

The STS Discussion Group will meet on Sunday, June 30 from 2-3:30 pm at the
Georgia World Congress Center, Rm 307E, during the ALA Annual Conference in
New Orleans. The topic will be, "Access to Science Journals:  After We Cancel
What Do We Do?", with discussion leaders Ron Acke, Faxon, and Lynn Hamilton,
Institute for Scientific Information.  The discussion will be followed by
the Forum for Science and Technology Library Research in the same room.
Please plan to attend!
                                    Marilyn Von Seggern, STS Discussion
                                       Group Co-Chair

___________________________________________________________________________

                         THE WHITE HOUSE

              Office of Presidential Correspondence

For Immediate Release                             June 1, 1993  

           LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
      IN ANNOUNCEMENT OF WHITE HOUSE ELECTRONIC MAIL ACCESS
     
     Dear Friends:

     Part of our commitment to change is to keep the White House 
in step with today's changing technology.  As we move ahead into 
the twenty-first century, we must have a government that can show 
the way and lead by example.  Today, we are pleased to announce 
that for the first time in history, the White House will be 
connected to you via electronic mail.  Electronic mail will bring 
the Presidency and this Administration closer and make it more 
accessible to the people.  

     The White House will be connected to the Internet as well as 
several on-line commercial vendors, thus making us more 
accessible and more in touch with people across this country.  We 
will not be alone in this venture.  Congress is also getting 
involved, and an exciting announcement regarding electronic mail 
is expected to come from the House of Representatives tomorrow.

     Various government agencies also will be taking part in the 
near future.  Americans Communicating Electronically is a project 
developed by several government agencies to coordinate and 
improve access to the nation's educational and information assets 
and resources.  This will be done through interactive 
communications such as electronic mail, and brought to people who 
do not have ready access to a computer.

     However, we must be realistic about the limitations and 
expectations of the White House electronic mail system.  This 
experiment is the first-ever e-mail project done on such a large 
scale.  As we work to reinvent government and streamline our 
processes, the e-mail project can help to put us on the leading 
edge of progress.  

     Initially, your e-mail message will be read and receipt 
immediately acknowledged.  A careful count will be taken on the 
number received as well as the subject of each message.  However, 
the White House is not yet capable of sending back a tailored 
response via electronic mail.  We are hoping this will happen by 
the end of the year.

     A number of response-based programs which allow technology 
to help us read your message more effectively, and, eventually 
respond to you electronically in a timely fashion will be tried 
out as well.  These programs will change periodically as we 
experiment with the best way to handle electronic mail from the 
public.  Since this has never been tried before, it is important 
to allow for some flexibility in the system in these first 
stages.  We welcome your suggestions.

     This is an historic moment in the White House and we look 
forward to your participation and enthusiasm for this milestone 
event.  We eagerly anticipate the day when electronic mail from 
the public is an integral and normal part of the White House 
communications system.

          President Clinton        Vice President Gore

     PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV      VICE.PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV

_________________________________________________________________________

FUTURE USE OF THE INTERNET--PERSONAL OPINION

This appeared on a University Administrators' Bulletin Board

 Most of you are probably aware of a plan to limit free use of
 INTERNET to "scientists" transmitting huge files and to start
 charging for e-mail.  Apparently, this is the result of private
 telecommunications interests putting pressure on the National
 Science Foundation.

 If this plan is realized, it will mean that the majority of the
 approximately 15 million users of INTERNET will be cut off.
 Sadly, this is occurring just when the potential of this network
 was starting to be realized.

 Something must be DONE.  We can not let private interests deprive
 us of access to INTERNET.

 I suggest that all concerned users register their protest/concern
 directly with Clinton and Gore via e-mail.  Their e-mail address
 have recently been posted and they are:

 Clinton= PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV
 Gore = VICE.PRESIDENT@WHITEHOUSE.GOV

 In addition, I also suggest that we identify the office in the
 NSF which is responsible for INTERNET and register electronic
 protests with them.

 Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, especially in
 locating the e-mail address for the office in the NSF.

 * Carl H.A. Dassbach            BITNET:  DASSBACH@MTUS5               
 * Dept. of Social Sciences      INTERNET: DASSBACH@MTUS5.CTS.MTU.EDU
 * Michigan Technological Univ.  PHONE: (906)487-2115                  
 * Houghton,  MI  49931          FAX: (906)487-2468                    
 * U.S.A.                                                              
________________________________________________________________________

               TWO NEW FILES ADDED TO RLG'S CITADEL SERVICE
       Unlimited searching of special files in Hispanic studies and
           history of science available by annual subscription

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 26, 1993 -- Two new files -- Hispanic
American Periodicals Index and Isis History of Science Bibliography
-- have been added to CitaDel, the article-citation and
document-delivery service from the Research Libraries Group (RLG).

Hispanic Studies Index

Hispanic American Periodicals Index, an ongoing project of UCLA's
Latin American Center, contains over 165,000 citations to articles
from more than 400 scholarly social science and humanities journals
published in Latin America or treating Latin American and U.S.
Hispanic topics.  The journals are selected and indexed by an
international panel of librarians and scholars.  The index is
updated annually; coverage at present is 1970 to 1991.

History of Science Index, Exclusive to CitaDel

Isis History of Science Bibliography, compiled by the History
of Science Society, currently contains 60,000 citations to books
and articles about the history of science and the influence of science
on culture.  It indexes more than 600 journals and is updated
annually; coverage is 1976 to the present.  The index is available
online only through RLG's CitaDel service.

The Isis index has been combined with CitaDel's History of Technology
file to form a new CitaDel file called History of Science and
Technology.

Annual Subscriptions, Telecommunication Options

Currently, access to Hispanic American Periodicals Index and the other
CitaDel files is available by annual subscription.  For a fixed annual
fee, institutions can provide faculty, students, and staff with
unlimited access to the CitaDel file(s) of their choice.  The History
of Technology file has been available by annual subscription
and on a per-search basis; the new History of Science and Technology
file, which replaces the History of Technology file, will continue on
these terms with no change in fees.

Telecommunication options for all CitaDel files include direct dial,
the Internet, SprintNet, and RLG's private X.25 network.

For more information, please call the RLIN Information Center at
1-800-537-7546; email bl.ric@rlg.bitnet or bl.ric@rlg.stanford.edu
(Internet).

_________________________________________________________________________

SPRINGER JOURNALS PREVIEW SERVICE VIA INTERNET

Following the request of a great number of scientists (working in the
fields of medicine and life sciences) and librarians, Springer-Verlag
will offer the tables of contents and BiblioAbstracts of 30 important
scientific journals via e-mail before publication of the new issue. This
service is available since March 1 1993. Tables of contents are free of
charge and BiblioAbstracts are available for an annual token fee.

The files supplied are in ASCII format, structured in accordance with
accepted standards. They can be read on any computer without further
processing and but also easily integrated into local data bases.

For details please send an e-mail message containing the word HELP to
our mailserver
               SVJPS@DHDSPRI6.BITNET

or contact SPRINGER@DHDSPRI6.BITNET
Springer-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, New Technologies / Product Development
P.O. Box 10 52 80, W-6900 Heidelberg, Germany, fax: +49 6221 487 648

_______________________________________________________________________

PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIONS

by Kent Stephens, Reference Librarian, California State University, Chico, 
and John D. Ward, University of California, Davis Sacramento Medical 
Center.

Including a selective bibliography compiled by Mengxiong Liu

Science librarians do not often consider preservation and conservation of 
science and technology materials part of their routine.  They normally buy 
books and subscribe to journals for the basic information they contain, 
almost independent of the paper its written on.  Only the larger institutional 
libraries have a view to preservation of information for posterity--for 
whatever purpose.  Even in a large university library, science material is 
often considered ephemeral, soon superseded, especially if it is in an 
unusual format, or difficult to handle or to access the information in it.  As 
such, it is likely to be thrown away when pressure builds to liberate shelf 
space, or when fashions and emphases in collection management change.  
Some of this material is worth saving, and some is invaluable--but how can 
you separate the "jewels" from the "junk" in your science collection?

"Treasures in the Stacks: Seeking and Saving Jewels in Your Collection," is 
the title of a recent one-day program on the assessment, conservation and 
preservation of sci-tech books and other materials in library collections.   
The treasures--the jewels in the stacks--are the books that should be 
preserved.  But how do you separate the jewels from the junk?  Five 
speakers addressed various topics during a meeting on January 8, 1993 at 
the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, sponsored by SEAL-
North (Science and Engineering Academic Librarians), a California Academic 
Reference Librarians interest group.  This material is taken from that 
program.

Maralyn Jones, the Assistant Head of the Conservation Department, 
University of California Libraries, Berkeley presented "CALIPR: an automated 
needs assessment tool."  

Most libraries are doing very little in terms of the preservation of their 
collections.  One reason is a problem with the perception of preservation.  
Ms Jones reported, "It has been my experience in talking with people who do 
not have preservation programs, and also those who do, that preservation is a
bottomless pit of needs that never finish--kind of discouraging.  And not only
that, nobody knows where to start because its all a terrible urgency and if we
don't do something soon, catastrophe will (happen) and our collections will
fall apart...I think these perceptions lead to paralysis, they just leave us 
sitting there (saying) 'I don't know what to do and I can't ever do enough of 
it, so maybe I just won't do anything.' That is an unfortunate situation which 
I don't believe is necessary."

The preservation needs assessment will replace the discouragement and 
inaction with actual data that will tell you a scale of action, depending upon 
level of available resources, even if they are limited.  This information then 
enables you to use your available resources wisely.

CALIPR is just such a tool.  CALIPR (an acronym for California Preservation 
Program) was developed to assist the California State Library to do a 
statewide preservation needs assessment survey, with its results used to 
help prepare a California Preservation Plan.  It was developed by the 
Conservation Department of the Library, University of California, Berkeley, 
which tested it in manual form during 1989.  Further testing and 
improvements followed during 1990-9l, including extensive testing in forty-
two California libraries, ranging from the big (UC Berkeley) to the small (two 
public libraries in Humboldt County).  A group of preservation librarians, 
who worked together as a preservation task force within the Research 
Libraries Group, were also involved in the testing of CALIPR.  The Systems 
Office of UC Berkeley Libraries automated CALIPR during 1991.  During the 
same year, a different version of this needs assessment tool was automated 
by the Research Libraries Group for use by their member libraries.

The original purpose of CALIPR was a needs assessment survey to gather 
statewide aggregate information for the California Preservation Plan.  But its 
design allows it to be used in stand-alone surveys by a single library whose 
staff have little or no expertise in preservation.  It is "an automated 
preservation needs assessment instrument that provides some of the 
expertise of a preservation consultant to help assess, quantify and prioritize 
the preservation needs of your collection.  CALIPR is applicable to 
collections of bound materials, archives, manuscripts, photographs or other 
documentary media"  (quotation from CALIPR sales brochure).  The software 
is on four 5-1/4 inch diskettes for use with IBM compatible personal 
computers.  It requires 1.8 MB disk storage capacity.

A librarian can work on a lap-top computer right in the stacks.  A sample of 
the collection is selected (optimum number is 400 items); then each item is 
recorded in CALIPR.  There are two results from using CALIPR on a sample, 
according to Ms Jones--first, it gives data on "...the number of items in your 
sample that require any particular solution...45 out of the 100 [sample) need 
rebinding" (for example); the second result is that the data "tell you what the
 
scale of action needs to be...the number of items for which the scale of 
action is high, medium or low priority by crunching the data" that came 
from your answers on each item in the sample.

CALIPR generates four reports.  The main report gives a breakdown of 
needed treatment for the entire sample.  You can work from this, or from any
or all of three sub-set reports.  The first is a sub-set of all items of high 
value (for example, the item is the only copy in the region or the state, or a 
rare item).  Second, a sub-set within the sample that targets only the high 
use items.  The third option is sub-set that combines both high value and 
the high use items in an overlap.  This is the narrowest report, which targets 
only the highest priority items in the sample.

As Ms Jones pointed out, the report generation by CALIPR is not the end of a 
project.  The reports only tell you what you need to do.  The staff that 
developed CALIPR is now brainstorming on developing an additional report 
that does a comparison of the preservation needs against the available 
resources--i.e., a feasibility report that will guide you through the 
recommendations.  (The present CALIPR is version 2.1, Sept. 1991, prepared 
by Barclay Ogden and Maralyn Jones.  It is available for purchase from  
California State Library Foundation, PO Box 942837, Sacramento, CA 94237-
0001.  Single copy $30 plus $2.50 S&H.)

Second speaker was Henry Lowood, Bibliographer for History of Science & 
Technology Collections, Stanford University Libraries.  He stated at the 
beginning of his presentation "...few science librarians would easily admit 
that they acquired jewels or junk for their collections.  Both words stand for 
concepts that have become unpopular in library circles and beyond and for 
similar reasons.  On one hand recently trained historians and other scholars 
sneer at phrases like jewels of the collection now seen as representing icons 
of research industries that produce stacks of publications devoted to great 
works and great scientists.  Their focus has shifted to a great diversity of 
topics too numerous to enumerate here.  They require deeper, more varied 
collections no longer defined by the exclusive club of big books...as new 
studies in science and technology have emerged, the traditional jewels have 
lost some of their sparkle; one person's junk has become another's jewel."  

He defined collection assessment as "a decision about the historical or 
material value of an individual title and this decision, junk or jewel, can be 
a bottleneck holding up the entire process."   The remainder of his 
presentation was divided into three parts: the "afterlife of science and 
technology collections;" secondly, "where does your library fit into the 
mosaic of resources;" and last what can a librarian do.

He pointed out that a librarian's judgment on the "possible afterlife of books 
from science collections" is subjective.  It is hard to define it to 
administrators, and there are "sticky questions" when doing assessment and 
weeding.  For example, what do you do with old textbooks (examples of the 
teaching of the period) or holdings of early issues of a microcomputer 
magazine.  Dr. Lowood stated that in evaluating science and technology 
collections, a librarian should "think locally, act globally", evaluating the 
collection in terms of local needs, but "think globally" when disposing of the 
material discarded from the collection.  On collecting and retaining old 
scientific and technical materials, "putting it bluntly, if you do not have a 
programmatic need for retaining historical materials, then don't."  If an 
institution doesn't have a need for historical materials, then he would feel 
comfortable giving away textbooks published before 1950 or journal runs 
published prior to 1950.

The third speaker was Colleen Power (Extended Campus Librarian, California 
State University, Chico), who titled her talk, "Weeding a general collection: 
identification through citation analysis."  She began with the comment, 
"citation analysis has to be one of the dullest-sounding items imaginable." 
Leading into her subject, Ms. Power pointed out that weeding library 
collections is done in two separate processes; first in the day-to-day 
decisions on individual titles; secondly by a project.  During the course of 
her career in four libraries, she has worked with collections ranging in size 
from 50,000 to 100,000 to 600,000 volumes, doing weeding and collection 
assessment.  Her weeding projects raised a problem with old editions.  "Do 
they mean anything?"  At one point, she used BOOKS FOR COLLEGE 
LIBRARIES (BCL), basic collection of 100,000 volumes, appropriate for a 
four-year college.  There are, however, two problems with using BCL in a 
weeding project; first, it doesn't include textbooks, and second, it only 
includes the latest editions.  Thus a librarian using it might not know 
whether an earlier edition is a classic.

After being hired by CSU Chico Library to develop a collection assessment 
program, she decided that she needed a list of significant older editions.  
She contacted SCIENCE CITATION INDEX and discovered that they had 
eliminated monograph designators, so they couldn't generate a list.  By 
going through the 1981 SCI, she developed her list manually, counting 
6,000 titles cited 15 times or more.

The SCI project revealed some interesting differences in editions.  J.  
Hirschfelder's MOLECULAR THEORY OF GASES AND LIQUIDS, 1954 edition, 
was cited 154 times; the 1964 edition was cited only 61 times.  She noted 
that this was more than twenty five years after publication of the 1954 
edition, the library might be thinking of getting rid of it but the faculty
were still using it.  She asked, "Now, what is going on here?"  Many faculty 
members bought the 1954 edition during or shortly after their doctoral 
program and were still using it.

In 1991 Ms Power revised her 1981 list.  After a decade, use of most of the 
titles had dropped significantly.  She ran a check against the 1991 SCI for 
the most used titles--131 which were cited 100 times or more--and found all 
were still being cited.  The lowest number of citations for a title was five.  
Somewhat surprisingly 33 of these titles were actually cited more in 1991 
than they were a decade earlier.  She also did a comparison of how many of 
the 131 titles were in BCL.  According to BCL, a four year college needed only
44 of the 131 titles.  Six additional titles had a different edition listed 
in BCL.

There is no secondary market in 20th Century science texts in general, and 
very little work has been done compiling objective criteria to evaluate their 
intrinsic worth.  Only a very small fraction of them has any value in today's 
market.

Jeremy Norman, of Jeremy Norman and Company, Inc. in San Francisco, is 
an appraiser of science collections, outlined a method for evaluating the 
market worthiness of science books.

In general, a book may be considered "rare" only if it meets at least one of 
these six criteria.  The presence of one makes a book valuable--worth 
preserving--in itself:

1)  Scarcity.  Limited press runs and special conditions of publication give 
an otherwise undistinguished book value for collectors.
2)  Significance of its content for a particular subject or collection.  Books 
that are "classics", or are becoming such.  First editions and the works of 
Nobel laureates  should be preserved.
3)  Character as a physical object.  These are books with unusual format, 
binding, or printing, or something that makes them special in some way.
4)  Imprint.  Books printed in a special place, especially "firsts": first from
 
that press, first in that town, first by that author, etc.
5)  Association with notable people.  Books that have ownership marks, 
notes or inscriptions by famous people are intrinsically valuable to 
collectors and historians.
6)  A book in perfect condition can be valuable for that fact alone.

To get an idea of the market value of your collection, or of a portion of it, 
there are two considerations to keep in mind.  First, decide which books are 
worth pricing, the process itself takes some time and research; then 
evaluate the value of a book to your library, as opposed to its market 
value.  This depends on the purpose of your institution and the use your 
collection is put to.  If yours is primarily a research collection, you may not
 
want to hold many volumes that have a high intrinsic market value, and 
which do not contribute to the actual research of your institution.  Old and 
beautiful books have great display value, but often have very little research 
value.

Know the context of your collection, and the state of your commitment to 
maintaining it.  Axel Borg, the Wine librarian at the University of California,
 
Davis, gave a summary from the point of view of a science librarian vitally 
concerned with preservation.  It is important to know what you have, and to 
know what you do not have.  Only then can you see your own library in the 
larger context of what can be done, and what needs to be done to give an 
appreciation of the actual value of your own collection to you and to the 
larger community.

Selective bibliography for additional reading (compiled by Mengxiong Liu, 
January 1993):

Blecker, S. "What is going on out there? A novice librarian's search for 
'usable' technology."  CONSERVATION ADMINISTRATION NEWS, no. 51 
(October 1992): 12-13.

Branin, Joseph, ed.  COLLECTION MANAGEMENT FOR THE 1990'S.  Chicago, 
IL: ALA.  1992.

Brown, N.B.  "Preservation in the research library; its past, present status, 
and encouraging future."  In: TECHNICAL SERVICES TODAY AND 
TOMORROW.  Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. 1990: 105-129.

Burdick, Amrita J.  "Science citation index data as a safety net for basic 
science books considered for weeding."  LRTS 33(4): 367-373.

Clark Lenore, ed.  GUIDE TO REVIEW OF LIBRARY COLLECTIONS: 
PRESERVATION, STORAGE, AND WITHDRAWAL.  Chicago, IL: ALA.  1991.

DIRECTORY: INFORMATION SOURCES ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH RELATED TO 
THE PRESERVATION OF BOOKS, PAPER, AND ADHESIVES.  Washington, DC., 
Commission on Preservation and Access, 1990.  (Address: 1785 
Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 313.  Publication is 28 pages).

Henderson, Kathryn Luther and William T. Henderson, eds.  CONSERVING 
AND PRESERVING MATERIALS IN NON BOOK FORMATS.  Univ. of Illinois at 
Urbana-Champaign: Graduate School of Library & Information Science.  
1991.

Jones, M.  "More than 10 years after: identity and direction in library 
preservation."  LIBRARY RESOURCES AND TECHNICAL SERVICES, 35 (July 
1991): 294-306.

Kovacs, Beatrice.  "Preservation of materials in science and technology 
libraries."  SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIES, 7 (3)  March 1987: 3-13.

Montori, C.J.  "Preservation planning" the vital first step."  In: Henderson, 
Kathryn Luther and William T. Henderson, eds.  CONSERVING AND 
PRESERVING MATERIALS IN NON BOOK FORMATS.  pp. 147-156.

Mount, Ellis, ed.  PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF SCI-TECH 
MATERIALS.  New York, Haworth Press.  1987.
(Reprint of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIES, 7 (3)  March 1987, cited 
above.)

Overmier, Judith A.  "Table d'Hote and A La Carte: collecting rare science 
books."  COLLECTION MANAGEMENT 12(3/4): 113-124.

Stankus, Tony.  SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS: IMPROVING LIBRARY COLLECTIONS 
THROUGH ANALYSIS OF PUBLISHING TRENDS.  New York, NY: Haworth Press.  
1990.

Schwartzberg, Susan G.  "Basic preservation bibliography"  CONSERVATION 
ADMINISTRATION NEWS, no. 44 (January 1991): 10-12.

Schwartzberg, Susan G.  LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES: DESIGN AND 
RENOVATION WITH A PRESERVATION PERSPECTIVE.  Meetuchen, NJ: Haworth 
Press.  1992.

Wood, Richard J. and Katina Strauch, eds.  COLLECTION ASSESSMENT: A 
LOOK AT THE RLG CONSPECTUS.  New York, NY: Haworth Press.  1992.

____________________________________________________________________________

EMPOWERING THE PUBLIC: THE ENVIRONMENT CONNECTION

By:  Susan Magee, Library Instruction Coordinator
        Centennial Science and Engineering Library,
        University of New Mexico
        smagee@hal.unm.edu

The Rio Grande Chapter of the Special Libraries Association sponsored
a one day workshop entitled "Empowering the Public:  The Environment
Connection."  Gayle Alson, a health education specialist for the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in Atlanta,
was the main guest speaker.  Jackie Calligan, the librarian for the
New Mexico Environmental Department, did a presentation on sources
for New Mexico environmental information.

There were three objectives for the workshop.  These were to enable the
participants to:  identify and describe state and federal agencies and
their environmental role; identify printed sources of environmental
information (monographs, newsletters, journals, etc.); and identify
electronic sources of environmental information (databases, CD-Roms,
bulletin boards, etc.).

The morning was given over to explaining federal governmental
agencies, their interactions and functions; environmental programs or
agencies which will provide free or low cost materials and some of the
finding aids available on environmental subjects.  A fairly complete
list of everything environmental - agencies, programs, laws, etc. can
be found in the EPA's "Glossary
of Environmental Terms and Acronym List."  This will help any initiate
into these materials through the alphabet soup that is used to
communicate.  It is available on request from:  Publications Division,
Office of Communications and Public Affairs, A-107, USEPA, Washington,
DC, 20460.

Many agencies and organizations provide environmental information,
often for free or a small fee.  These materials range from newsletters
to brochures to electronic bulletin boards to teacher packets and fact
sheets on a variety of topics.  Among those mentioned were
EPA Info Access; Fish and Wildlife Reference Service; INFOTERRA;
National Drinking Water Clearinghouse; USEPA Public Information Center
and USGAO (General Accounting Office).  Look in either the U.S.
Government Manual or the Encyclopedia of Associations for addresses to
these and other organizations whose materials might be of interest.
Government publications can be especially useful and are, in general,
greatly underused.

Various other specific documents looked very useful. "Access
EPA", (a series of seven directories including 'Clearinghouses and
Hotlines'; 'Major EPA Environmental Databases'; and 'Library and
information Services' available through the GPO, stock number
055-000-00406-4 for $21.00).  The "Gale Environmental Sourcebook"
which lists international and national agencies, organizations,
educational programs, scholarships, and research facilities as well as
publications and information services (ISBN 0-8103-8403-5).  "Who is
Who In Service to the Earth" indexed by people, project, keyword and
geography (ISBN: 0-9628405-2-1).

Environmental journals are many.  Gayle provided examples of the
selection for young people:  Disney Adventures; Kind News Jr.;
Otterwise; Puddler; Ranger Rick.  General Audience journals mentioned
were Buzzworm: the environmental journal (ISSN 0898-2996); 
E Magazine (ISSN 1046-8021); and the EPA Journal (ISSN 0145-1189).
Looking through various serials directories will garner you a far more
complete list, there are several on every aspect and every side of
environmental issues.

If you are interested in information on the various electronic sources
of environment related material try "Environment Online:  the Greening
of Databases" (ISBN 0-910965-05-6).  It includes general interest,
scientific, technical, business, and regulatory databases as well as
reprinted columns from Database and Online magazines which cover
search tips for some of the more difficult databases.

Gayle ended the day with a series of environmental education
programs available.  ASTDR sponsors a series of self-instructional
publications entitled "Case Studies in Environmental Medicine"
which are 'designed to increase the primary care provider's knowledge
of hazardous substances in the environment and to aid in the
evaluation of potentially exposed patients.'  Each of these can earn
the care provider AMA continuing medical education credit.  They take
the student through a realistic case study with sections on
physiological effects and treatment and management.  Each section has
challenge questions and a reading list is given for further study of
the subject.  A similar type publication from ASTDR is the Public
Health Statement series.  These identify for the layperson potential
health hazardous and how to recognize exposure.  Both publications are
available from ATSDR, Division of Toxicology, 1600 Clifton Road,
Atlanta, GA 30333.

Other programs, classroom materials, dissemination networks and
curricula are described in EPA's "Environmental Health Risk Education
for Youth: A Resource Manual".  This manual is intended for virtually
anyone interested in environmental health risk education.  It is also
available through Communications and Public Affairs of USEPA.

It was a program rich with information.  The participants had the
opportunity not only to gain from Gayle's expertise but to also
network with others in New Mexico of similar interests.  The task now
is to sort through and use the seminar materials to our, and our
patrons', best advantage.
________________________________________________________________________

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY/CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS SERVICE: INSTRUCTIONAL ISSUES
  A Series of Reports Including the Program for "Chemical Information
  Instruction in the '90s: Facing Reality"

By Arleen Somerville, Carlson Library, University of Rochester
                      Rochester, New York ANSV@db1.cc.rochester.edu

Chemical Abstracts Service Committee:  Open Meeting

    Dr. Lura Powell, new Chairman of the Chemical Abstracts Service
Committee, began the meeting with a report of Committee activity at
the Executive Committee session on the previous Friday.  She noted
that the Committee spent a good deal of time planning for its new role
"as a channel for information flow between the Chemical Abstracts
Service Governing Board, society members, and individual Chemical
Abstracts Service users to help assure that each party's needs and
support are researched, recognized and appreciated."  The Committee is
enthusiastic about its new challenges and looks forward to this
opportunity to shape a new committee role.  Joe Clark was appointed
vice-chairman.  Dr. John Crum, ACS Executive Director and Chairman of
the CAS Governing Board reported on the Board's activities.  He
stressed his strong support for the Committee and the importance of a
strong relationship between the Committee and ACS members.

    Dr. Powell noted that the Committee will work between meetings
and communicate with users of CAS databases.  She noted that three
focus groups have been established in key areas: 1. Improving
interactions between the Committee, and such ACS Divisions as Chemical
Information and Computers in Chemistry, including identification of
ways to make the Open Meetings productive and effective.  Jean Marcali
will chair this group.  2. Effective means and required resources for
teaching students to access CAS databases on STN.  Arleen Somerville
is chair of this group.  3. Trends in information needs, e.g., how
have information needs and access changed over the last 5 years? how
will things look in the year 2000?  Edlyn Simmons is chair of this
group.  The 3 chairmen were introduced and attendees were encouraged
to contact them.  Preliminary reports from each focus group are
expected by mid-April, with fuller reports planned for the August
meeting.

    Dr. Paul Walter, Chairman of the ACS Board of Directors and member
of the CAS Governing Board, reported on the Governing Board's
activities.  He began by commending Dr. Joe Dixon, who he termed
"Father of the Governing Board" and observed that Joe deserves an
accolade for his efforts.  Two meetings of the Board have been held
since August 1992.  The November meeting included approval of the 1993
budget, a strategic assessment of STN International, and a discussion
of providing subscriptions of CA for east European locations.  The
February 1993 meeting included a financial report of 1992, review of
online pricing issues, an update of the strategic plan, marketing
issues, and a detailed review of CAS including a discussion of how to
improve relations between CAS and its customers to provide better
service.  He concluded his report with the observation that the
Governing Board sees the CAS Committee as an essential communications
link between users and CAS and the Governing Board.

    Robert Maissie, Chemical Abstracts Service Director, began his
report by noting the recently completed realignment of the CAS
management team.  He introduced Suzan Brown, new Director of
Marketing, who just joined CAS the previous week.  He noted several
general policies that are being looked at closely.  First, ways to
provide cost effective and user-oriented programs, to enhance chemical
information efforts of customers.  He is also stressing the importance
of increased communication between CAS and customers.  He noted that
pricing is THE critical issue and CAS staff are working on that.  CAS
will try to moderate price increases.  A cap has been placed on costs
of SDI searches.  Staff are investigating additional price options
such as subscription options.  Alternative pricing options are
expected to be in place by summer.

    Dr. Powell then opened the floor for questions.  Stuart Kaback
noted that he was encouraged by new attitudes at CAS, but continued to
be concerned about the same issues, such as offering abstracts to
other vendors.  He noted the greater search retrieval when abstracts
can be searched and offered the compromise of searching, but not
printing abstracts.  He urged consideration of this issue.  A
discussion of CD-ROM covered several issues, including factors that
make it so popular.  In response to the questions urging the provision
of cassi on CD-ROM, Rudy Potenza reported that the survey conducted by
CAS during the previous several months did not support the need to
offer CASSI on CD-ROM.  CAS plans a proactive strategy to deliver many
CD-ROM products in the future.  Meeting attendees were urged to visit
the CAS booth at the exposition, where everyone was invited to vote
for possible CD-ROM products.  In response to questions about the life
expectancy of CD-ROM, Rudy Potenza noted that parallel technologies
are developing, so CAS seeks to be broad minded about different
technologies and not limit its efforts to currently popular
technologies.  CAS is working to provide information as FTP via
Internet.

CAS Committee Focus Group: Teaching Students

    The Focus Group, "Effective Means and Required Resources for
Teaching Students to Access Ca on STN", includes Professor R. Bruce
King (University of Georgia), Arleen Somerville (University of
Rochester), Chairman, Professor Peter Stang (University of Utah), and
Professor John Verkade (Iowa State University of Science and
Technology).

    The Group defined the target groups as both undergraduate and
graduate students.  The scope of databases will include CA, as well as
structure and reaction searching.  Other possibilities include full
text searching of chemical journals, including the new Chemical and
Engineering News online.  Major issues identified included:cost of
searching and training materials; training options; and trainers.

    Some factors that need to be considered include: nature of
institution (institutions vary by size, degrees offered funds
available. etc.); extent of faculty support and nature of library
support; different levels of training (learning to search and learning
power of searching); varying practices in industry concerning extent
of searching conducted by individual chemist; and the increased
reliance on electronic resources expected in the future.

    Training ideas included: importance of providing alternatives, not
just one option; targeting of key faculty and librarians to aid
efforts; providing training at regional centers and at ACS Regional
Meetings; offering training packages; and conducting a mini-survey
which would follow up on ideas derived from the survey of all
chemistry departments currently being conducted by the Division of
Chemical Information's Education Committee.  This survey would ask for
reactions to possible scenarios.

    If you have ideas about training students to search the CAS
databases on STN, please contact Arleen Somerville, Carlson Library,
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY  14627-0236. Phone:
716/275-4465; FAX: 716/473-1712; Internet: ANSV@db1.cc.rochester.edu


American Chemical Society National Meeting, August 1993

American Chemical Society National Meeting, August 22-27, 1993 in
Chicago.  Registration and housing, as well as the complete program
will be listed in an upcoming issue of Chemical and Engineering News.
Librarians who are not members (national affiliates or full members)
are asked to pay non-member registration fees.

This program is especially valuable to academic librarians.  The
various symposia and other technical sessions are listed below.
Titles of programs of interest to chemistry librarians (all programs
are part of the Division of Chemical Information unless specified
otherwise):

"Training Scientists in the Use of Information" (i.e., in industry)

"New Technologies for the Delivery of Chemical Information"

"Chemical Information Careers in Transition"

"Spectroscopic Databases:  Computer Innovations for Search and
     Interpretation"

"Copyright Issues Relative to Chemical Information"(Poster session)

Open Meeting of the Copyright Committee, joint with the Division
     of Chemical Information.  One-hour round table discussion
     on issues such as uses of databases and downloading, online
     databases vs. internal company databases, electronic format
     issues, etc.

"Computer searching of the Beilstein database" (Part of the Division
     of Computers in Chemistry programming)

Open Meeting of the Chemical Abstracts Service Committee

Informal social receptions on Sunday and Tuesday evenings.

"Chemical Information Instruction in the '90s:Facing Reality"
Symposium, Division of Chemical Education, Monday, 8/23/93

Morning:

Moderator: Arleen N. Somerville

9:00-9:25          "Planning for the transition from printed to
                    electronic sources." Carol Carr (University of
                    Pennsylvania)

9:25-9:50          "Chemical information instruction in academic
                    institutions: Survey results and ideas from
                    300+ chemistry departments. Arleen N. Somerville
                    (University of Rochester)

9:50-10:15          Break

10:30-10:55        "Undergraduate chemistry literature search - A
                    course segment approach."  Ron C. Cooke
                   (California State University-Chico

10:55-11:20        "Reflections by a relatively novice chemical
                    information instructor:undergraduate experience".
                    Fred A. Turner (Roosevelt University)

11:20-11:55        "A graduate chemistry course in chemical
                    information."  Allan L. Smith (Drexel University)


Afternoon:

Moderator: Arleen N. Somerville

1:30-1:55          "Sources and resources in inorganic chemistry".
                    Adrienne W. Kozlowski (Central Connecticut State
                    University)

1:55-2:20          "Organic chemistry literature:the old and the new".
                    Samuel Wilen (City College of New York)

2:20-2:45          "Environmental toxicology: answering the need for
                    tabulated data". Charles Huber (University of
                    California at Santa Barbara)

2:45-3:15          "Finding that elusive polymer information". Ann D.
                    Bolek  (University of Akron)

3:15-4:30          Poster session (Note:CAS Open Committee meeting
                   will begin at 4:30)

Posters:

1.  "How the Clearinghouse for Chemical Information Instructional
Materials (CCIIM) can help you". Gary Wiuggins and Diana
Hernandez-Szczurek (Indiana University)

2.  "The Chemical Information Instructor". Arleen N. Somerville
(University of Rochester)

3.  "Teaching Environmental Toxicology Information". Charles Huber
(University of California, Santa Barbara)

4.  " Chemical Information: Online and Library Searching". Fred A.
Turner (Roosevelt University)

5.  "Working Together:  the Development of a Chemical Information
Course." Loren Mendelsohn (Wayne State University)

6.  "Instruction Programs for Graduate Students: Two Different
Programs, Two Different Environments". Patricia O'Neill (Cornell
Unviersity), Donna Hudson (Emory University)

7.  "Information Infusion:Toward Chemical Literacy". Carol Drum, Anita
Battiste, Evelyn Barratt, Kathryn R. Williams (University of Florida)

8.  "Chemical information Instruction for Chemists:Experiences and
Curricula Examples". Engelbert Zass (ETH Zurich)

9.  "Incorporating Information Instruction into Chemistry Courses".
Arienne W. Kozlowski (Central Conneticut State University)

10.  "Online searching in the context of senior seminar." Jerry A.
Jenkins (Otterbein College)

11.  "Inexpensive exercises in on-line partial structure searching".
Henry I. Abrash (California State University, Northridge

12.  "Teaching in the Electronic Age: Use of Non-Traditional Sources
in Chemistry Courses". Wil Stratton, Sara Penhale (Earlham College)

13.  "A Networked Chemistry Computer Laboratory:  Gateway to Chemical
Information". Sandra Lamb (UCLA)

14.  "Interface Software for End-User Database Searching on Public
Service Microcomputer Workstations". Tina Chrzastowski, Timothy C.
Cole, William H. Mischo, David Stern.

*****************************************************************
Issues In Science and Technology Librarianship is  a  publication
of  the  Science  and  Technology  Section  of the Association of
College and  Research  Libraries,  a  division  of  the  American
Library  Association.   The Editor: Harry LLull. Editorial Board:
Lynn Kaczor, Gregg Sapp, and John Saylor.
This publication is produced at  the
Centennial  Science  and  Engineering  Library, University of New
Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and sent out in electronic  form
only  over  the internet.  Opinions expressed in the articles are
those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Section  or
Division.  Articles and requests for subscriptions may be sent to
the editor at ACRLSTS@HAL.UNM.EDU.
*****************************************************************
END OF FILE
*****************************************************************