NASIG Newsletter

GUEST EDITORIAL:
DIGITAL AND/OR ANALOG: TECH SERVICES ORGANIZATION
JoAnne Deeken, Team Leader, Technical Services and Digital Access, University of Tennessee

There is no one correct way of organizing technical services. But the general tendency of the past was to separate them into serials and non-serials areas. In my library, over time, that distinction has been blurred to differentiate not by bibliographic format, but by payment format: everything that is paid for one time (with the exception of back issues of periodicals) and what is paid for multiple times.

For whatever reason, the move from analog to digital materials hit serials first. And it is the serials folk who first had the pleasure of working with licenses, IP ranges versus sign on, limited or unlimited simultaneous users, loss of access issues, etc. And hasn’t it been fun learning? But in the last year or so, more non-serial materials have been moving towards electronic. We have an entire set of people who need to re-learn all the lessons that serials people are already familiar with. Continue reading 23:1 (2008:03) Guest Editorial: Digital and/or Analog: Tech Services Organization…

WHY I DIDN’T VOLUNTEER AND WHY YOU SHOULD
Erika Ripley, Co-Chair, Program Planning Committee

My first NASIG conference was at Trinity University in 2001. I was new to librarianship and to NASIG. I knew a few other attendees before I arrived in San Antonio, but I admit to feeling a little lost at the conference. Everyone else already seemed to know each other. During the conference, I introduced myself to the people sitting next to me in programs and at meals. By the end of that weekend, I knew a few more people and I felt a little less new.

One conversation from that conference has stayed with me, though. At lunch one day, I asked someone at my table about volunteering for a committee. She discouraged me from submitting an application. She told me that I was too new, that I would not be appointed because nobody knew me. Unfortunately that seemed all too reasonable, and I knew she had served on NASIG committees for many years. I don’t know what would have happened if I had volunteered that year because I didn’t submit an application. However, I have learned since that being new or unknown needed not to have been an obstacle. When I did volunteer the next year, I was placed on a committee. Continue reading 22:4 (2007:12) Guest Editorial: Why I Didn’t Volunteer and Why You Should…