ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 6 6 8 / C & R L N e w s P rin c e to n , Ms. L. Virgin o f th e U niversity o f C h i­ cago, a n d S. N oguchi. D u rin g th e colloquium , th e M ulti-S cript W o rk ­ statio n (M SW ) for R L IN CJK was d e m o n s tra te d . An exhibition on th e th e m e o f “Byways in Japanese I llu s tra tio n ” was on display in th e K ing’s G allery. P a rtic ip a n ts also h a d th e o p p o rtu n ity to preview , d u rin g th e second evening recep tio n , m ajo rp ieces in th e H yde c o llectio n o f im p o rta n t Ja p an e se m anuscripts and illustrated books before th ey w ere a u c tio n ed by C h ristie ’s in New York on 7 O cto b er. T h e final session on th e th ir d day in c lu d e d a discussion on th e d e sira b ility a n d feasibility o f fo rm in g a E u ro p e a n A ssociation o f Japanologist L ib rarian s. V arious opinions w e re exchanged and th e f u rth e r discussion a n d decision will take place in B erlin, O c to b e r 1989. T h e e ndeavor o f Yu Ying Brown, w ho is th e head o f th e Japanese Section, O rien ta l C ollection o f th e B ritish L ibrary, a n d was th e o rg a n iz e r a n d c o n ­ v e n e r, was very m uch a p p re c ia te d by all p a rtic i­ pants. C opies o f th e p re s e n te d p ap ers w ere d istrib ­ u te d at th e C olloquium a n d will la te r be p u b lish e d as a v olum e by th e B ritish L ibrary. ■ ■ Consumers as producers By H elen MacLam Social Science Subject E d ito r Choice A report on the International Group o f Publishing Libraries. A lth o u g h c o m p arativ ely few in n u m b e r, lib ra ries w ith p u b lish in g p ro g ra m s o c ­ cupy a significant, if special, niche in th e publishing com m unity. Mainly research facilities, th ese librar­ ies m a y b e p riv a tely fu n d e d , such as th e H u n tin g - ton Library; th ey m aybe affiliated w ith a university; or th e y m ay b e n atio n al in stitu tio n s , such as th e L ib rary o f C o n g ress o r th e K oninklijke Biblio- th e e k , T h e H ag u e. T h e irp u b lic a tio n s ran g e from m ajor rese a rc h tools to postcards. T he In ternational G roup o f Publishing Libraries g rew o u t o f a 1983 s e m in a r o f lib ra ry pu b lish in g h e ld at th e B ritish L ibrary. R e p re se n ta tiv e s from a b o u t th irty in stitu tio n s in th e U.S., U .K ., a n d W estern E u ro p e gath ered to share ideas and exper­ tise h a rd won from th e ir experiences as publishers. T h e IG P L , w hich rem ains an inform al group ra th e r th a n a form al o rg an izatio n , m ee ts b ien n ia lly to sh a re e x p e rien c e s an d explore th e p o ssib ilities o f active collaboration am ong research libraries o p e r­ ating p u b lish in g p ro g ra m s. L ibrary publishing has a long if not widely known history. D avid W ay (th e B ritish Library) indicates th a t th e B odleian L ibrary, O xford, issu e d its first catalog in 1605, an d th e first volum e o f th e B ritish M u s e u m ’s C atalogue o f A d d itio n s to th e M a n u ­ sc rip ts (to w hich volum es are still b e in g a d d ed ) cam e o u t in 1843. W ay f u rth e r sta te s th a t “T oday several libraries o p e ra te p u b lish in g p ro g ram s on a scale extensive enough to qualify th e m as m ed iu m ­ sized publishers: for exam ple, th e National L ibrary o f A ustralia and th e British Library each issues well over fifty titles a y e a r.”1 In this country, th e L ib rary o f C ongress a n d th e 1David Way, “Publishing in Libraries.” Scholarly P u blishing 20, no. 1 (O c to b e r 1988), 35. S e p te m b e r 1 9 8 9 / 669 New York Public L ibrary are m ajor publishers. LC brought o u t its first title , a book list, in 1801, and now publishes ab o u t th irty title s a year. NYPL has produced a v ariety o f m ate ria ls, a m o n g th e m , monographs, facsim iles, b ibliographies, and exhi­ bition catalogs. A ccording to R ic h a rd N ew m an, director o f p u b lic a tio n s, th e N Y PL p u b lish in g program has b e e n rev italiz e d in th e last few y ears, issuing works th a t e xtend from th e very scholarly to the very p o p u la r, an d w hich re fle c t holdings from all parts o f th e library, in c lu d in g th e b ra n c h e s. Newman stated th a t th e NYPL has gone a long way in surm ounting th e financial p ro b le m s th a t p re v i­ ously h a m p e red its p ro g ra m . This past J u n e th e In te rn a tio n a l G ro u p o f P u b ­ lishing Libraries conference was held in E dinburgh, hosted jo in tly by th e N ational L ib ra ry o f Scotland and E d in b u rg h U n iv ersity L ibrary. T h e c o n fe r­ ence was in fact m ore o f a working session, w ith free exchange on th e issues g e n e ra te d by p resentations. In his discussion o f lib ra ry p u b lish in g policy, Peter F re sh w a te r (E d in b u rg h U niversity Library) began by stating objectives th a t p re tty well sum m a­ rized th e goals o f I G P L m e m b e rs as a w hole: to publicize th e collections a n d services o f th e library and to p ro m o te th e ir use as reso u rces for learning, teaching, a n d research ; to g e n e ra te incom e for th e library; an d to exploit m ate ria l in th e lib ra ry ’s co l­ lections in o rd e r to achieve th ese objectives. F re sh ­ water also rem a rk e d th a t pub licatio n is a conserva­ tion m easure th a t gives access to closed collections. Research in science and technology T h e F o ru m for S cience a n d T ech n o lo g y L i­ brary R e se a rc h T ask F o rc e , a new ly fo rm e d com m ittee in A C R L ’s Science a n d T echnology Section, has r e q u e s te d a b stra c ts o f r e c e n t r e ­ search o r rese a rc h in p rogress o f in te re s t to sci­ ence o rte c h n o lo g y lib ra ria n sh ip . T h e c o m m it­ te e will se le c t individuals to p r e s e n t re p o rts o f th e ir re s e a rc h a t th e 1990 A nnual C o n fe re n c e in Chicago. T h e re s e a rc h sh o u ld focus on tim ely, r e le ­ vant, a n d significant a sp ects o f sc ie n c e a n d /o r technology lib rarian sh ip . T h e pro p o sal should not exceed o n e page, w hich will in clu d e th e r e ­ s e a rc h e r’s n a m e , in stitu tio n , p h o n e n u m b e r, and an a b s tra c t n o t to ex c ee d 250 w ords. T h e deadline for subm ission is D e c e m b e r 15,1989. T h e p a rtic ip a n ts will b e ch o sen at th e M idw in­ te r M e etin g . All p ro p o sa ls sh o u ld b e s e n t to Susan Stew art, Life & H ealth/Physical Sciences L ib ra ria n , U niversity o f N e v ed a, R eno, NV 89557; (702) 784-6616. All o f th e o b jectiv es w e re im p licit c o m p o n e n ts o f th e co n fe re n ce p rese n ta tio n s, as w ere th e issues o f m a rk e tin g a n d d istrib u tio n , a n d th e physical as­ p e c ts o f p ro d u ctio n . A m ajor o ng o in g c o n c e rn is p re s e rv a tio n , s p e ­ cifically, th e n e e d fo r u se o f alkaline p a p e r. G w y n n e th E vans r e p o r te d th a t th e N a tio n a l L i­ b ra ry o f C a n a d a is e x p e rim e n tin g w ith a c id -fre e p a p e r for its p a rlia m e n ta ry p u b lic a tio n s. D avid W ay said th e British L ibrary used alkaline p a p e r for th e m ajority o f its re fe re n c e p u b lic a tio n s a n d is b e g in n in g to u se it fo r o th e r books. T h e re was co n sen su s am o n g U.K. lib ra ria n s on th e im p o r­ tan ce o f co o p eratin g to develop th e use o f acid-free paper. O th e r sessions tr e a te d th e ro le o f lib ra rie s as p u b lish e rs o f scholarly jo u rn a ls (Clive F ie ld , John R ylands U n iv ersity L ib ra ry o f M a n c h e ste r; G uil- land S uth erlan d , H u n tin g to n Library); m icroform p u b lis h in g c o n tra c ts (K e n n e th C a r p e n te r, H a r ­ vard); a n d p ro d u c tio n technology. A b r ie f d isc u s­ sion o f c o p u b lish in g a n d o u tsid e p u b lish in g h ig h ­ lig h te d w h a t D a n a P ra tt, d ire c to r o f p u b lish in g , L ib ra ry o f C ongress, h a d previously r e f e rr e d to as th e “OPM factor,” i.e., use o f o th er people’s money.2 T hese alternatives have also b e e n u se d successfully by o th e r lib ra ry p u b lis h e rs , e.g., th e N ew York P ublic Library. At a g e n e ra l session o p e n to n o n -IG P L m e m ­ b e rs, p ro b le m s o f sm all-scale p u b lis h in g w e re ad d ressed by Alison H arley o f th e Scottish P ublish­ ers A ssociation, an organ izatio n o f a b o u t 65 m e m ­ b e rs. H a rle y id e n tifie d key p ro b le m s as sales, m ark e tin g , a n d d istrib u tio n , saying th a t a good sales r e p is critical b e c a u s e m ost o f th e A ssocia­ tio n ’s sales a re m ad e th ro u g h b ookstores. A ndrew M iller (G lasgow D is tric t L ib ra rie s) r e la te d th e p h e n o m e n a l success o f o n e o f th e ir p u b lic a tio n s, M ichael M u n ro ’s The P atter, a scholarly yet hilari­ ous dictionary o f G laswegian sp eech g u a ra n tee d to a p p e a l to Scots a n d a nyone o f S cottish d e s c e n t worldwide. T h e final presen tatio n s covered two o th e r m eans o f p ro m o tin g co llections a n d g e n e ra tin g rev en u e: b o o kshops a n d exhibitions. Ja n e C a rr (th e B ritish L ibrary) d e s c rib e d th e se arc h fo r a site fo r th e lib ra ry ’s b o o k sto re . Several e x te rn al sites w e re e x a m in ed b u t n o n e was satisfactory. U ltim ately, th e sh o p was lo c a te d in th e G ren v ille L ibrary, o p p o site th e B ritish M useum stores. A lthough th e shop offers a mix o f p ro d u cts, C a rr believes it could succeed ju st selling books. C olin W ight (th e British L ibrary) said th e sto re sold m any re fe re n c e books, h a n d b o o k s, a n d th e sa u ri. H e c o n firm e d th e value o f a c c e p tin g c re d it cards: 15% o f th e s to re ’s sales 2D avid W ay, e d ., L ib r a ry P ublishing (L ondon: British L ibrary O ccasional P apers, no. 2,1985), 45. 670 / C & RL New s are paid by VISA; 7 % by Mastercard/Access. Ruth Ann Stewart (Library of Congress) reported on the successful opening of L C ’s new store, which sells a mix of books, gift items, folk art, juvenalia, and stationary products. Nigel Thorp (Glasgow University Library) re­ counted details o f the exhibition The Glory o f the Page, consisting of Renaissance and illum inated m anuscripts from the Glasgow University Library. From initial planning to actual production the exhibition took nearly five years. Thorp personally supervised packing and unpacking at each exhibi­ tion site, driving a truck across Canada and North Am erica (an adventure itself worthy of a book). IGPL will next m eet in 1991 in Cam bridge, M assachusetts. The conference will be cospon­ sored by Harvard University and the M assachu­ setts Historical Society. As Jane Carr put it, “The issues have been raised; now solutions m ust be explored.” ■ ■ INNOVATIONS Humor and creativity: Basic technology By Norman D. Stevens Director, The M olesworth Institute Those among us who are intelligent, and fortu­ nate, enough to have become skilled inform ation professionals have dem onstrated that academ ic Feeling funny? Having taken leave o f my peculiar pursuit of library hum or for a brief period of time, I find I have become more irritable. Having taken leave of my senses, I have allowed the editor of C&RL N ew s, and both of the readers who have re­ sponded positively to my efforts to date, to per­ suade me to resum e my efforts to enlighten and amuse you by searching out and offering up these tales o f creativity and hum or in academic librarianship. For the time being my idle threat in the April 1989 issue to leave you to your own devices has been postponed. So I once again renew my quest for appropriate examples of this genre. Please send examples of your crea­ tivity, and that of your colleagues, to me at 143 Hanks Hill Road, Storrs, CT 06268 along with— you guessed it— your business card, a postcard of your library, or any other kind o f library ephem era. librarians can m aster the com plexities of a new inform ation age with all of its new technologies. CD-ROM s, OPACs, and other m ysterious firm ­ ware, hardware, software, and even vaporware don’t faze some of us. We can hold our own with the other technocrats who have come to dom inate academic communities. Then there are the rest o f us. For some academ ic librarians technology still is, as it has always been, a true test of our mettle. The incredible expertise of our m ore know ledgeable colleagues may utterly baffle us as we struggle with low technology or the simpler aspects of high technology. Fortunately it is m ost often the rudim entary aspects of the librar­ ian ’s love affair with technology that provides us, when we are either frustrated or inspired, with our greatest opportunities to use hum or to put technol­ ogy and technocrats in their proper niche— the vacant recessed nook in the corridors of older libraries once reserved for the bust of Shakespeare. Paperclips That the challenge o f the sim pler forms o f tech­ nology is not something new is amply demonstrated by the little known, and seldom recalled, contro-