ALA program on print collections

There's Gold in them thar Stacks: The Importance of Print
Collections in the Digital Age
ALA Annual Conference
Monday, June 26, 9:00-11:30
McCormack Center, N227

The 1995 ALCTS (Association for Library Collections and Technical
Services, ALA) President's Program will investigate the paradox of
the increasing value of print resources in the digital age.
Increased access through improved technology has made it possible to
"mine" these resources.  Previously under-used materials, such as
government documents, major microform sets, newspapers, and archival
collections, are increasingly available in the online catalog.
Keyword searching makes every word in the record a potential access
point. Such additions to the catalog record as tables of contents
and summaries provide greater indexing depth for books. Periodical
indexes in the online catalog and on CD-ROM simplify patron access
to the journal literature.  Finally, large numbers of online
catalogs are available for Internet browsing.

Print collections are the "gold" built up by generations of
librarians.  Improved bibliographic access is meaningless if the
collections are not there to provide the documents. These
collections will also provide the source materials for digitization.
Finally, as the "gold" gets "mined," increased use requires
libraries to pay more attention to preservation.  Even with
digitization, books will continue to be published for the
foreseeable future.

    Peter S. Graham, associate university librarian for Technical
    and Networked Information Services, Rutgers University, will
    give the keynote address.

    Diane K. Kovacs, reference librarian, Media Services, Kent State
    University, will provide the public service perspective.

    James W. Marchand, professor, Department of Germanic Languages
    and Literatures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
    will give his view as a library user.

The program will conclude with a panel discussion by
representatives of the five sections in ALCTS.

Geoffrey D. Reynolds
Room 106 Kresge Library
Wayne State University
Detroit MI 48202
313-577-0109

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                   Conservation DistList Instance 9:2
                  Distributed: Saturday, June 17, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-9-2-008
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