ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries Novem ber 1990 / 979 Recommendations for publishers of conference proceedings Prepared by the ACRL Science and Technology Section Recommendations developed in 1986 by the AC R L Task Force on Conference Proceedings. I n 1984 th e ACRL Science and Technology Section form ed an ad hoc C om m ittee on Designing a C onference Proceedings Style Sh C om m ittee m em bers included D orothy M cGarry (chair), G race Agnew, Carol C ubberley, E dw ard G arten, and Sara Shatford Layne. Given th e problem s found in cataloging and identifying conference proceedings, th e com m it tee thought it w ould b e useful to p rep are recom m endations th a t will assist editors and publishers in th e preparation o f proceedings for publication. A draft o f these recom m endations ap p eared in th e F eb ru ary 1986 issue o f C & R L News. Based on feedback from ACRL m em bers, th e C om m ittee revised th e draft. T he STS Executive C om m ittee approved th e draft in January 1987 and reaffirm ed th e ir approval in January 1989. Recommendations Published proceedings o f conferences are very im portant in research. It is often difficult, however, for people to locate th e proceedings o f a particular m eeting. O ften th e title pages o f th ese proceedings are confusing in th e ir layout, o r th e title pages contain insufficient inform ation for identifying a particular conference. This is critical because th e title page is th e established standard source for inform ation used to catalog a book. T he librarians who catalog th e book and th e library users who req u est it may not be sure w hat th e title is in ten d ed to be, o r w ho published th e book, o r even w hat th e nam e o f th e m eeting is. This confusion and u n cer tainty m ake it difficult for library users to know how e to cite th e book or how to look for it in a catalog. T hose who p re p a re and publish conference ept.r oceedings could contribute to th e usefulness of th e conference literature by applying th e following guidelines: Title page T he title page should include: A clearly indicated title. Examples: M icrocom puter software. M o d em problems o f surface physics. Clearly indicated inform ation beyond th a t o f th e title itself, including inform ation such as th e nam e o f th e m eeting if it had a nam e. Example: Proceedings o f the W orking Conference on C ir culation, Neurobiology, and Behavior, held Octo b er 4-7, 1981, in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. T he relationship o f th e book to th e conference should be indicated on th e title page. Examples: Proceedings o f the 23rd IE E E Conference on Decision & Control. Selected papers fr o m the W orkshop on . . . Layout and typography can assist in identifying th e various elem ents o f inform ation required. Include th e n u m b e r o f th e m eeting if any, and th e place and date th e m eeting was held. N am e o f sponsoring organization(s), w ith an explicit statem ent such as “sponsored by” o r “o r ganized by.” An explicit description o f function w ith th e 9 8 0 1 C& RL News nam e(s) o f th e editor(s), such as “e d ite d by,” o r “ch airm an /ed ito r.” Series statem ent, if th e publication is p a rt o f a series, w ith clearly indicated series title and n u m bering. Place(s) o f publication, nam e(s) o f publisher(s), and date(s) o f publication. C onfusion can arise d ep en d in g on how inform a tion appears on th e title page; i.e., th e initials o f th e conference may ap p ear at th e to p o f th e page followed by th e nam e o f th e conference o r “P ro ceedings o f t h e . . . ” followed byw ords w hich m ight actually b e th e book’s title m eant by th e p u b lish er o r th e editor. A library may choose a title th e p u b lish er o r ed ito r d id n ’t in ten d w hen describing th e book in a catalog, n o t being sure w hich o f th e p arts was m eant to b e th e title. T h e library u se r may com e up w ith two d ifferent citations for th e sam e conference, p e rp etu atin g problem s in retrieval. As an example: Proceedings o f the W orkshop on Geological D is posal o f Radioactive W aste (top o f page). In Situ E xperim ents in G ranite (m iddle o f page). This m ight result in one cataloger p u ttin g as th e title “P roceedings o f th e . . . ” and an o th er using “In situ experim ents in granite.” In this case, th e title on th e front cover was “Geological disposal o f radioac tive w aste,” w hich could add to th e confusion over w hat th e title was m ean t to be. All inform ation on th e title page should b e con sistent w ith inform ation on th e cover and spine; titles should no t differ from cover to title page, n o r should th e nam e o f th e m eeting n o r th e title o f th e series differ from location to location w ithin th e book. Back of the title page T h e back o f th e title page should include: N am e and address o f distributor, if d ifferent from p ublisher, w ith an explicit statem en t o f fu n c tion; e.g., “d istrib u ted in th e U.S. by,” o r “available fro m .” C opyright inform ation. Miscellaneous N am es o f conferences: C atalogers a ttem p t to d eterm in e, w hen check ing a conference publication, w h e th e r th e co n fer ence is “n am e d ” o r “u n n am ed .” A book w hose title page reads Sem iconductor physics: Proceedings o f an International Conference w ould not b e consid e re d to b e th e proceedings o f a “n am e d ” co n fer ence w hile Proceedings o f the International C on fe ren c e on Sem iconductor Physics w ould lead to access u n d e r th e nam e “International C onference on S em iconductor Physics.” In th e first case, “an international co n feren ce” is taken to be a purely generic description; in th e second case, “th e I n te r national C o n feren ce on . . . ” indicates a specifically n am ed event. In cases w h ere d ifferen t form s o f a conference nam e ap p ear in d ifferen t locations, th e cataloger m ust d e te rm in e w h e th e r th e nam e o f th e confer ence m ight be, for example: C o m p u ter Society Conference on A rtificial In tel ligence A pplications (title page) Conference on A rtificial Intelligence A pplica tions (cover) IE E E C o m p u ter Society Conference on A rtifi cial Intelligence Applications (preface) W hile in som e situations this m ight not m a tter m uch, in p u ttin g a reco rd for this work into a catalog for p atro n s’ and librarians’ use it is im por ta n t to re m e m b e r th a t th e reco rd could ap p ear in any one o f th re e d ifferen t locations in th e catalog. F u rth e rm o re , if th e conference is one in a series o f sim ilar co n feren ce s, an d each y ear th e re is a change in th e o rd e r o f th e w ords in th e nam e, such as C ondensed M a tter Physics Sym posium : Sym po siu m on C ondensed M a tter Physics, th e records for th ese conferences will n o t ap p ear next to each o th e r in th e catalog and th e works will not appear next to each o th e r on th e shelves. T h e nam e o f th e conference, if it has one, should ap p ear clearly on th e title page, back o f th e title page, pages before th e title page, th e cover, or th e spine, in o rd e r for provision o f clear and prim ary access to th a t nam e in bibliographic records; li brarians w ould appreciate it if it actually ap p eared on th e title page. I f th e nam e o f th e m eeting does n o t ap p ear in any o f th e places m e n tio n ed above, access to th e nam e o f th e conference on a reco rd w ould d e p e n d on w h e th e r th e cataloger noticed th e nam e elsew here (e.g., in th e preface o r in tro duction) and w h e th e r a note an d an additional access po in t w ere m ade. O f course, if th e m eeting has no nam e as far as th e conference arrangers are concerned, it is n o t necessary to create one. I f a nam e is u sed for th e conference it should be th e sam e in all locations in th e book. I f a nam e o f a conference changes from one m eeting to th e next, and th e in te n t is th a t th ey be considered to b e related (e.g., earlier and later nam e o f conferences in a sequence) indicate in th e la ter publication th a t th e nam e o f th e previous m eeting was different. N am es o f corporate bodies: I f th e nam e o f a corporate body is placed on th e title page, provide w ith it som e explanation o f th e relationship o f th a t body to th e conference o r to th e publication, e.g., “pub lish ed by,” “sponsored by,” “organized by,” “su p p o rted by.” N um bering: I f a conference is given a n u m b er, and previous November 1 9 9 0 1 981 conferences in th e sequence had no num ber, p ro vide a list o f th e conferences, w ith title, nam e o f conference (if different), and date and w here held, so th a t related conferences can be referred to or linked through cross references. I f conferences are num bered, and th e p ro ceed ings o f a particular conference are not published, provide th a t inform ation in a later volume. N u m b er th e pages consecutively, if possible. “V o lu m e” an d “e d itio n ” have very specific meanings In libraries. “Volum e 2,” e.g., should not be used for th e proceedings o f th e second confer ence in a sequence. “V olum e” should be used only if th e proceedings o f a particular conference are published in two or m ore physical volumes. A statem ent th a t calls som ething a “second edition” should refer to th e same text rew orked or reset, not to totally new text. Proceedings o f a second confer ence w ould not, therefore, b e eith er a “second edition” or a “volum e tw o” o f th e first conference. Although librarians are am ong th e prim ary col lectors o f conference proceedings, catalog records for these proceedings appear in m achine-readable databases which make th e inform ation available to millions o f library users. P ro p er access to these proceedings makes th em m ore valuable to the scientific, academic, and business com m unities. W ith th e help o f those who p rep are and publish conference proceedings library users will be able to locate and use those proceedings m ore efficiently. The 19 9 0 Annual Conference of German Librarians By Siegfried Feller C h ie f Bibliographer University o f M assachusetts Expectations and speculation in the Saarland. TJH L h e 80th co n feren ce o f G erm an [Aca- dem ic/R esearch] Librarians (Bibliothekartag) was held June 5-8, in Saarbrücken, capital o f th e Saar land, a state adjacent to Luxem bourg and n ear th e F ren ch city o f Metz. T he prim ary host institution was th e University o f Saarland; it lies a few miles outside th e city, b u t is w ell-served by m unicipal buses. All open sessions, except for th e formal o p en in g cerem o n ies, w ere h e ld on cam p u s— mostly in a building n ear th e library. T he V erein D eutsche B ibliothekare (VDB) and th e V e re in d e u t s c h e r D ip lo m -B ib lio th e k a re (VdDB) are th e ch ief sponsors o f each annual conference, and this year, for th e first tim e, th e annual m eeting o f th e G erm an L ibrary Association (D eu tsch er Bibliotheksverband, DBV) was held in conjunction w ith th e Bibliothekartag—th e U.S. analogy w ould be if th e annual ARL m eeting w ere held at th e same place and tim e as ALA Annual C onference. Also participating (for th e second or th ird tim e) was th e Association o f Library Support Staff (B undesverein d e r Bibliothekassistenten/in- nen, BBA). “Libraries in E u ro p e ” was th e th em e o f this year’s conference, and th e new p resid en t o f th e VDB, E n g elb ert Plassman (rector o f th e Profes sional School for Librarianship and D ocum enta tion, Köln) m ade a considerable effort to attract professional colleagues from o th e r countries. An unusually large percentage o f these visitors deliv