Documents Users Group

September 12, 2003

John Peace Library, UTSA 1604 Campus

Attendance:  John Barnett, Camille Fiorillo, Amory Irby, Michael Kaminski, Ben Longoria, Tina Petimezas, Claudia Shaw, and Kathy Amen.

John was re-elected president by acclamation, since he said he didn't mind doing it.

An item recently being discussed on GOVDOC-L--the idea that OCLC should recommend that holdings be attached to documents records--elicited some strong opinions. At present, documents are exempted from this requirement, but some librarians think that especially older (pre-1976) titles should have holdings noted for interlibrary loan purposes. Tina is very opposed to requiring, at least, 1976 and later titles to have holdings attached. Cost would be prohibitive, certainly to add the holdings retrospectively. Apparently some cataloging consortia around the country do not charge their members to attach holdings, but AMIGOS does.

Enrollment is up this fall everywhere except St. Mary's and Trinity.

Kathy will be attending the FDLC in Washington in October and will report on it at the November meeting.

Thanks to John for the hospitality, especially the yummy treats!

News from our members:

• UTSA. John noted that they have been making some significant purchases of microfiche sets of interest to our field in the past year or two. He sent us this list via email:

  • American Statistics Index (ASI) Microfiche Library

  • CIS (Congressional Information Service) Microfiche Library
  • CIS Unpublished U.S. Congressional and Committee Hearings
  • CIS U.S. Congressional and Committee Hearings
  • CIS U.S. Executive Branch Documents, 1789-1932
  • CIS U.S. Serials Set
  • Major Studies and Issue Briefs of the Congressional Research Service
  • Statistical Reference Index (SRI) Microfiche Library

  In addition to these titles, they also have Ethnic Newswatch back to 1960, Inspec (a big engineering database) and RefUSA (which used to be American Business Disk). He will keep us posted if any items suited to consortial purchase come up. They will be getting Marcive WebDocs soon. They have done some personnel reorganizing, with John dispersing some of his collection development responsibilities. As a result, Darcy will not be working with documents directly any more.

• Trinity. Michael reported on their massive shifting and moving project, completed in record time this summer. Documents are now in compact shelving on the bottom floor of the Library, along with some of the book collection. The third floor is now an "information commons," and they have a new electronic classroom. In addition to the coffee bar that opened in the library last year, they now also have a Kinko's. They are also getting a new theft detection system, one that uses electro-magnetic instead of radio technology. One change coming about as a result of this switch is that documents CDs will begin to circulate outside the library.
• St. Mary's. Ben put together a page of Spanish-language government resources and invites comments and suggestions. Take a look at: library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/doc/spannew.htm. The page was done as the capstone project for his MLS from North Texas, which was conferred in August. Congratulations, Ben!
• TLU. They also did some major shifting this summer, and the Library is getting a "make-over" with a new inside paint job. They will also start putting in new carpeting next week. Also, an extra range has been cleared to house the growing docs collection.
• Palo Alto. The administrators that lost their offices to mold are still in the library. The A&M satellite operation that is housed at Palo Alto is increasing its enrollment.
• SAC. Tina reports being happy with their RandUSA collection.

We tentatively set meetings for the rest of the academic year:

• Nov. 7--Our Lady of the Lake. (Steve Wise would like for us to come for a meeting but was unable to attend today. Kathy will check with him about this date.)

• Dec. 12--Trinity. Michael will check on the availability of this date. In addition to the Christmas lunch, we want to see the compact shelving and other new attractions at Trinity.

• Feb. 6--Palo Alto

• April 2--St. Mary's (if the landscaping construction is finished)

• May 7--SAC

Respectfully submitted,

Kathy Amen, Secretary/Treasurer

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