Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground: Serials Vision and Common Sense. Proceedings of the North American Serials Group Inc., 13th Annual Conference, June 18‐21, 1998, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

Citation

Taglienti, P. (2000), "Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground: Serials Vision and Common Sense. Proceedings of the North American Serials Group Inc., 13th Annual Conference, June 18‐21, 1998, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado", Collection Building, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 168-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/cb.2000.19.4.168.4

This volume covers in detail NASIG’s 1998 conference. The four‐day event focused heavily on electronic publishing issues and included an astounding number of sessions – 11 pre‐conference, 3 plenary, 12 concurrent sessions and 20 workshops. The conference offerings ensured a busy four days for the approximately 700 attendants.

The focus of the pre‐conference sessions was Web site construction. Three sessions were on HTML, but most of the others were on design and aesthetic issues. The summaries of these sessions provide good overviews but with little detail. The three plenary sessions represent different perspectives on Internet publishing. The speakers represent publishers, authors and librarians. Patricia Schroeder’s informal talk on the complexities of authors’ intellectual property rights in the digital age is entertaining and a point of view librarians rarely consider.

The majority of the 12 concurrent sessions focus on electronic journals and full‐text databases. Although the topics are varied, many of them present the same introductory information. This does make the proceedings appear redundant. However, once the speakers laid this groundwork they provided pertinent recommendations and insights. During one session, Jim Mullins presented the Guidelines for Statistical Measure of Usage of Web‐Based Resources, developed by the JSTOR Users Group, as part of a task force project. The guidelines are broad enough to be applied to other databases and include a few usage concerns that are not obvious. Another session on telecommunications and IT infrastructure by C.J. Duckenfield, also proved insightful. It discussed the possible relationships and problems.

One of the few sessions not dealing with electronic publishing was Diane Lunde’s fascinating account of Colorado State University’s flood in 1997. As the Preservation Librarian, Lunde’s response was rapid and thorough. Luckily, the library had a disaster plan in place and appropriate funding. The experience has since been recorded on video, and further information is available at www.colostate.edu/floodrecovery/ In addition to electronic publishing and Web design, the workshops offer some notes on serials cataloging and serials automation. After four days of heavy coverage of technology, the inclusion of more traditional and low‐tech subjects is welcomed.

Although this conference was held in June 1998, there is still relevant material in this volume for the serials professional. The main issues covered in the proceedings are currently of great concern to serials librarianship and continue to be debated. Libraries that are in the planning stages of expanding their paper and microform collections to include electronic formats will find much useful information in this volume.