Geoscience Information Society

Citation

Love, A.M. (2002), "Geoscience Information Society", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 19 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2002.23919bac.004

Geoscience Information Society

April M. Love

The Geoscience Information Society (GIS) facilitates the exchange of information in the geosciences through cooperation and coordination among scientists, librarians, editors, cartographers, educators, and information professionals. GIS is a member of the American Geological Institute and an affiliate of the Geological Society of America (GSA). For further information about the Society, including membership, please visit their Web page at: http://www.geoinfo.org/

Each year, GIS has a conference in conduction with the annual meeting of the GSA. This year, we met in Boston, Massachusetts, November 4-8, 2001. This year's program included a Topical Session with presentation of technical papers, a Collection Development Forum, Professional Issues Forum, Digital Forum, poster sessions, an exhibit booth, presentation of awards, a members' reception and a field trip.

The 13 papers in the Topical Session focused on the affects technology is having on information access to information specialists and their clientele, the interrelationships of staffing, space, preservation issues, and equipment, as well as instructing the end user in the use of this ever-changing technology. Papers presented at the Topical Session will be published in the annual Proceedings of the GIS, which will be available later in 2002.

This year's Collection Development Forum featured a monograph use analysis of the recently acquired earth science related monographs at the University of Wyoming Libraries. Investigator, Sally Scott, Head of the Brinkerhoff Geology Library, found that interdisciplinary titles circulated at higher rates and for a longer time period than purely geological titles. Use for geology monographs was very low for the first and second year, and dropped sharply after the second year. Her paper will be published in the 2002 Proceedings. During the forum, representatives from the American Geophysical Union also announced their new electronic journal publication of the Journal of Geophysical Research and other titles that they publish. The representatives explained the new pricing structure and licensing restrictions, which exclude consortial subscription arrangements. Welcome as the online content from this family of journals is to user populations served by GIS, the pricing structure challenges most library and institutional subscribers, and unfortunately licensing the content will be far more difficult than expected in this already challenged economic environment. And lastly, the forum always features an analysis of subscription increases for geoscience journals.

The Professional Issues Forum featured a discussion of librarians and stress. The Digital Forum offered a session on EndNote. The poster sessions this year were held concurrently with the field trip. Since I went on the field trip, I am unable to report on the poster sessions.

For the exhibit booth this year, I was co-chair along with Sally Scott. The GIS booth was entitled, "Information Odyssey", in keeping with the theme for the GSA Conference: "A Geo-Odyssey". Featured were photographs of eight libraries affiliated with the GIS. The exhibit was designed to highlight the interrelationships between libraries, publishers, information providers and authors, some of which have multiple functions, which is to say that often the author and the publisher are one and the same.

There is an awards presentation each year at the GIS luncheon. This year's winners included:

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  Mary B. Ansari Best Reference Work Award:Ronald Singer (editor). Encyclopedia of Paleontology, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999.

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  Best Paper Award:Patricia B. Yocum and Gretchen S. Almy. "Information literacy in the geosciences: report of a practical inquiry", GIS Proceedings, Vol.30, 1999, pp. 15-22.

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  Best Guidebook Award:Timothy F. Lawton, Nancy J. McMillan, and Virginia T. McLemore (Eds), Southwest Passage: A Trip through the Phanerozoic, New Mexico Geological Society, Socorro, NM, 2000.

The GIS has published Guidelines for Authors, Editors and Publishers of Geologic Fieldtrip Guidebooks, which is available online: http://www.geoinfo.org/guidelines.html

The GIS Field Trip was designed, organized and led by Michael Noga, Collection Manager of the Sciences, MIT. Entitled, "The Boston Shoreline: Historical Scouring and Accretion", this field trip, on Thursday, November 8, featured a walking tour to examine the gradual filling-in of the shorelines around the original Boston peninsula. We were shown the original center of town and how the local drumlins and other landforms were used to expand the land surface during the 400-plus years of European activity in the Boston area.

Next year, the GIS will be meeting in Denver, Colorado, October 27-30, 2002.

Information specialists in the earth sciences and other related subjects are welcome to participate. This year's attendees were very enthusiastic and committed to sharing their knowledge and expertise and look forward to welcoming new members.

April M. Love­ (amlove@uci.edu ) is the Chemistry & Earth Systems Librarian at the University of California, Irvine Libraries.