NASIG Newsletter

CALL FOR NEWSLETTER CONFERENCE REPORTERS
Lillian DeBlois, Conference Editor

NASIG regularly publishes reports on the annual conference in the September issue of the NASIG Newsletter. The Newsletter needs volunteer reporters to cover the conference events, including the preconferences, vision sessions, strategy and tactics sessions, workshops, informal discussion groups, and user groups. I am soliciting your help in covering the sessions at the 2008 conference in Phoenix, Arizona for inclusion in the Newsletter. We would like to have all of the sessions covered. If you are planning to attend the conference and are interested in submitting a report on a session, please contact me directly (lillian_deblois@msn.com).

Please indicate the session(s) that you would like to cover since I do not have access to your registration preferences.

The following guidelines will apply:

•    The reporter’s name will appear in the byline as the author of the report.
•    The deadline for submitting a Newsletter conference report is July 1, 2008 (about 4 weeks after the conference) for inclusion in the September issue.
•     Reports are generally summaries of presentations and may vary somewhat in length, scope, and depth of coverage, at the reporters’ discretions; reports must be full prose (not outlines or written out notes) and preferably between 250-500 words.
•    The Newsletter Editorial Board reserves the right to edit reports to any degree, or to not publish any report it deems inappropriate or unsatisfactory.
•    Reporting for the Newsletter is not the same as recording for the Conference Proceedings; Newsletter reports are generally less substantial than articles in the Proceedings.
•    NASIG members, and especially the Newsletter Editorial Board, will be very appreciative and grateful for your report!

NEW EDITORS NAMED TO NASIG PUBLICATIONS

Allyson Zellner has been appointed as editor of the NASIG conference Proceedings. She will join the current editorial team of Carol Ann Borchert and Buddy Pennington in January 2008. In an announcement posted on NASIG-L, Proceedings board liaison Bob Schatz remarked:

“With this appointment, the continuity of this important team is assured. Allyson is currently a trainer for Ebsco, and comes to the editor’s work with experience in both editing and writing. We welcome her, and extend thanks to all those who applied for the position.”

Jennifer Duncan has joined the Newsletter Editorial Board as blog editor. Jennifer is electronic resources librarian at Utah State University. She has prior experience with blogs, including primary responsibility for Utah State’s LiBlog USU. She previously served on the Electronic Communications Committee, where she helped migrate the NASIG Jobslist from HTML to a blog format. The Newsletter Editorial Board looks forward to working with her.

NEWSLETTER NEWS
Kathryn Wesley, Editor-in-Chief

As mentioned earlier in this issue, Maggie Rioux, profiles editor extraordinaire, is retiring from the Newsletter.  After four years of exploring the inner workings of NASIG groups and individual members, while at the same time writing laugh-out-loud prose and beating deadlines by weeks, she’s hanging up her visor and taking off those sleeve garter things.

Our stalwart columns editor, Susan Andrews, is also saying goodbye.  Susan has been with the Newsletter for four years.  She’s been responsible for producing “Title Changes,” which is consistently one of the membership’s favorite features.  Throughout the year we’ve been working together, I have been amazed and gratified at how she has managed to keep it fresh and flowing.

As we say farewell to Maggie and Susan, we welcome our new columns editor, Kurt Blythe.  Kurt is serials access librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He’s fairly new to NASIG, and the Louisville conference will be his first.  We’re looking forward to working with him.  Please join us in welcoming him to NASIG and the Newsletter Editorial Board.

NASIG NEWSLETTER

ANNUAL REPORT, May 2007

Newsletter Editorial Board:

Lillian DeBlois, conference/calendar editor (Arizona Health Sciences Library)
Susan Andrews, columns editor (Texas A&M University-Commerce)
Kathy Kobyljanec, copy editor (John Carroll University)
Sharon Heminger, PDF editor (JSTOR)
Maggie Rioux, profiles editor (MBLWHOI)
Naomi Young, submissions editor (University of Florida)
Kathryn Wesley, editor-in-chief (Clemson University)

Board Liaison: Char Simser

2006-07 PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

Summer 2006 business issue (21: suppl.) [first blog issue]
Articles were posted to the blog between June 30-July 4, 2006.  The PDF was published on July 18.  The issue featured the Executive Board annual report, committee annual reports, and rosters of the incoming Executive Board, board liaisons, and committees.

September 2006 issue (21:03)
Blog postings took place August 29-September 23.  The PDF version was published and announced on NASIG-L on September 1.  This issue featured conference reports. 

December 2006 issue (21:04)
Articles were posted to the blog version November 20-November 30, 2006.  The issue was announced on NASIG-L on December 1 with the first Newsletter Newsflash.  The PDF version was published and announced on NASIG-L on December 13. 

March 2007 issue (22:01)
Blog articles were posted February 13-28, 2006.  A Newsflash was posted to NASIG-L on March 1 announcing the issue.  The PDF was published March 12.

May 2007 issue (22:02)
The target for publishing the May issue is May 25.  Since the conference takes place in late May/early June this year, a late May date will allow for publication of committee annual reports in this issue.  A summer supplement issue will therefore not be necessary.  The PDF will probably not be published until after the conference, early to mid-June.

OTHER ACTIVITIES 2006-07
Blog version of the Newsletter
The html version of the Newsletter was replaced this year with a blog version.  The blog version debuted with the summer business supplement.

Advantages of the blog include the capacity to publish articles individually instead of all at once, and to assign categories to articles, allowing sorting by topic.  Blog software also allows user comments.  In addition, the blog provides more in-depth and sophisticated usage statistics.  On the downside, posting is time- and labor-intensive. 

The blog’s commenting function was enabled for the March 2007 issue.  Many thanks to our board liaison, Char Simser, for her technical assistance with this process.  Comments have been added at the top of the sidebar.

NEWSLETTER NEWSFLASH
In fall 2006, the Publications/Public Relations Committee suggested that announcements of Newsletter issues on NASIG-L include snippets of articles with links to the full articles.  This was instituted with the December issue and continued with the March issue.  In addition, a Newsflash was posted to NASIG-L well ahead of the full March issue when the article on the 2008 conference site was posted.

The Newsflashes have been very successful.  Blog statistics consistently show spikes in user views on the days that Newsflashes are posted, and on the business days immediately following.  The number of views on the posting day plus the following business day have consistently been 1000+ (editor’s views are not included).  Thanks to Pub/PR for the great idea! 

PERSONNEL CHANGES
2006/07
Sharon Heminger, formerly columns editor, took over as PDF production editor with the summer business issue.  Naomi Kietzke Young assumed the position of submissions editor at that time.

2007/08
Maggie Rioux, profiles editor, and Susan Andrews, columns editor, will retire from the Newsletter Editorial Board following the 2007 conference.  Their writing talent, rock-solid dependability, and unwavering dedication to meeting or beating deadlines will be sorely missed.

Kurt Blythe, a new NASIG member from UNC-Chapel Hill, will take over as columns editor following the conference. We look forward to working with Kurt. 

The profiles editor position has not been filled yet.  A blog editor position will be established and filled this year.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION
Blog stats of interest as of April 24, 2007:

 Total views (since June 30, 2006): 11,317
 Best day ever: 729
 Views over the last 30 days (March 26-April 24, 2007): 754
 (editor’s views not included)

REPORT ON BOARD ACTION ITEMS
The only action item from the board this year was to push specific news items to the membership via NASIG-L.  This was implemented as the Newsletter Newsflash.

REPORT ON GOALS FOR 2006/07
The big goal this year was to make the switch from the html version to the blog version.  Starting up the blog, experimenting with workflows, learning its quirks, and actually posting all the articles this year has been so time consuming that it has been difficult to make much progress on other goals.

I have made some new guidelines on general stylistic matters and given them to the copy editor, Kathy Kobyljanec.  These will be included in the manual this summer.

GOALS FOR 2007/08
1. Find a blog editor.
2. Find a profiles editor.
3. Continue update of manual.
4. Post items to the NASIGWeb news page regularly.

KUDOS
Many thanks to the Newsletter Editorial Board for their hard work, high standards, and positive attitudes.  And to Char Simser, our board liaison, for her experience, support, and unfailing zen-like calm. 

Submitted by Kathryn Wesley, editor-in-chief
April 24, 2007

RIOUX RETIREMENT
Maggie Rioux, Profiles Editor

Gentle readers – This will be my last column as your NASIG Newsletter Profiles Editor.  I’ve been doing this for four years now and I think that’s enough, so I’m retiring from the Newsletter Editorial Board. Kathryn Wesley, my esteemed and talented editor, said I could have some space in this issue to say a few final words to you all (after all, it’s only a few extra electrons, not like it costs more money to publish or anything).

Now Maggie will have more time for her origami 

First off, I want to thank Kathryn and her predecessor, Char Simser, for allowing me to occupy this bully pulpit for four years.  As I was finishing my past-presidential year in 2003 I figured out that I was sure to get tagged for some other assignment the minute I was off the board, so I thought I’d find my own slot.  One of the things I enjoyed most about my term as president was writing the “President’s Corner” column for the Newsletter.  Unlike a formal professional article, with the column I could relax and just write as if I were talking to you all face to face.  The profiles editor slot was vacant at the time so I harassed Char until she hired me for it. (I reminded her that she owed me one since I’d appointed her as editor-in-chief the year before.)  I promised her three things: 1) I would always answer any email she sent me; 2) I would not disappear from the face of the earth without notice and 3) I would always get my copy in by deadline.  I think I’ve kept my promise pretty well.

I also want to thank the subjects of all the profiles I’ve written over the past four years. Thank you for responding to my emailed questions and demands for CVs with good grace, reasonable promptness, and not too much nagging on my part.  Thank you also for being good sports when I teased you in print and destroyed whatever shreds of dignity you might have been clinging to.  I did have one bit of leverage in getting subjects to answer questions (which I never had to resort to, I’m glad to say): I threatened that if I didn’t get answers on time, I reserved the right to make something up.

Maggie can also spend more time hanging out with her friends

And a final thank you to you, gentle readers.  Thank you for reading the profiles and taking them in the spirit of fun in which they were meant. It’s been a lot of fun for me and I hope for you all too.
 
One last note – I’m retiring from the Newsletter, but not from my place of employment or from NASIG. I’ll hope to see you all in Louisville real soon.

See you around!

CALL FOR NEWSLETTER CONFERENCE REPORTERS
Lillian DeBlois, Conference Editor 

NASIG regularly publishes reports on the annual conference in the September issue of the NASIG Newsletter. The Newsletter needs volunteer reporters to cover the conference events, including the pre-conferences, vision sessions, strategy and tactics sessions, workshops, informal discussion groups, and user groups. I am soliciting your help in covering the sessions at the 2007 conference in Louisville, Kentucky, for inclusion in the Newsletter. We would like to have all of the sessions covered. If you are planning to attend the conference and are interested in submitting a report on a session, please contact me directly (lillian_deblois@msn.com). 

Please indicate the session(s) that you would like to cover since I do not have access to your registration preferences. 

The following guidelines will apply: 

· The reporter’s name will appear in the byline as the author of the report. 

· The deadline for submitting a Newsletter conference report is July 1, 2007 (about 4 weeks after the conference) for inclusion in the September issue. 

· Reports are generally summaries of presentations and may vary somewhat in length, scope, and depth of coverage, at the reporters’ discretions; reports must be full prose (not outlines or written out notes) and preferably between 250-500 words. 

· The Newsletter Editorial Board reserves the right to edit reports to any degree, or not to publish any report it deems inappropriate or unsatisfactory. 

· Reporting for the Newsletter is not the same as recording for the Conference Proceedings; Newsletter reports are generally less substantial than articles in the Proceedings. 

· NASIG members, and especially the Newsletter Editorial Board, will be very appreciative and grateful for your report!

[Ed. note: Excerpted from the January committee report to the Executive Board]

NEWSLETTER
Kathryn Wesley, Editor-in-Chief

KATHRYN WESLEY
Maggie Rioux, Profiles Editor

The more of these profiles I write, the more I am struck by the preponderance in our field of accidental serialists – for many of us our karma seems to have caused us to just fall into some aspect of serials and then gotten hooked on them. Serials definitely are addictive.(1) Also their showing up at odd intervals (particularly the irregulars) causes them to fall into a pattern of random-interval reinforcement, which I learned, in a graduate course in a former lifetime, is the most strongly addictive of all.

This issue’s profile subject, Kathryn Wesley, exemplifies both the accidentalness and the addictiveness of this area of endeavor. Kathryn first got hooked on librarianship as a way of making herself employable. She started in college (Northeast Louisiana University – she’s definitely a southern girl) as a biology major, switched to English, and was persuaded by a cousin to get a minor in library science. She became both employable and a cataloging junkie. She worked for several years at the public library in Natchez, Mississippi, doing reference, cataloging and acquisitions (no serials yet to speak of).

Southern belles Carol Green, Kathryn Wesley and June Garner discover the
joys of Polish food during NASIG 2004 in Milwaukee. Photo courtesy of NASIG
member Paula Webb.

In 1991, Kathryn tried to break away from the path that fate had laid out for her, but even though she tried this before serials had taken hold as the final addiction, her attempt was doomed to failure. Seeking a life outside of librarianship, she took a job related to her original field of biology as a lab technician for a mid-sized poultry company in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was now living (how’s that for a career change?). The company had several feed production and processing plants scattered across Mississippi and Alabama and the lab was a separate facility which did quality-control testing of various sorts. It was a broad range of test subjects: nutritional content of feed and feed ingredients, pesticide residues in fat samples, assorted microbiological subjects (salmonella, listeria and other bad guys) and even QC testing on the wax-covered boxes that are used to ship chicken to restaurants and grocery stores. She started out doing calcium and phosphorus assays, then moved to doing prep work on fat samples. She says that wearing a lab coat to work was wicked cool, but unfortunately, that was about the only perk – the job paid minimum wage. She moved to an administrative assistant position and ended up in charge of the HazMat database for the company. There she was – cataloging and organizing data again, but not near as much fun as doing it in a library.

About this time Kathryn’s spousal unit decided he needed more education and they packed up and moved to Mississippi State University where our intrepid heroine found herself another library job (no lab coat, but decent pay), this time in acquisitions and serials. While hubby studied, Kathryn got herself hooked on serials.

Hubby finished his schooling and it was Kathryn’s turn. They went straight to library school at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she received her MLIS in 1997. The next stop was Clemson University in South Carolina (moving steadily east, but definitely staying south) where she started in March 1998 as a serials cataloger. She gets to solve all sorts of interesting database and cataloging problems, but no lab coat. No salmonella, either.

It was here, as soon as she started, that Kathryn was told by her supervisor that she was going to want to join NASIG and attend the conference. That first conference was Boulder, Colorado, and Kathryn says it was great positive reinforcement for both serials and NASIG. She was hooked on both. She decided to get involved in committee work and volunteered for Database & Directory, figuring that her experience in both cataloging and the database in the chicken lab gave her a solid background. She was right. Kathryn spent four successful years on D&D, the last two as chair. She was also a consultant to the group which developed our online conference registration system. She then moved on to spend two one-year terms on the Nominations & Elections Committee, again as chair in her second term. This past spring (for her sins), Kathryn was appointed editor-in-chief of the NASIG Newsletter (succeeding the wonderful Char Simser) and is now my new boss.

What’s next? Well, first there are a whole bunch of Newsletter issues to get out. Kathryn was well-oriented by her predecessor and thinks she’s starting to get the hang of it (Of course, she’s aided by a marvelous and highly-talented staff, especially the profiles editor). She’s done a lot of editing for friends and colleagues over the years, although on an informal basis, and says she’s actually more comfortable editing than writing. And of course we know she’s really well organized (there’s that chicken lab again). She also sees the Newsletter continuing to evolve. First we went all-electronic and now we’re starting to move from the static html format to a potentially-interactive newsblog format. “The Newsletter has always been one of the primary avenues of communication for the organization, but now that communication has the potential to be two-way.” Also, she says we should look for less capitalization – she wants less capitalization of Non-Proper Nouns. Yes, ma’am.

And after the Newsletter? Well, who knows. Our last two editors-in-chief have gone on to become NASIG presidents, so who can say, but if she’s elected, I think she should open the conference wearing a lab coat and maybe even carrying a rubber chicken. Don’t you agree with me, gentle reader?

NEWSLETTER  COMMITEE
Char Simser, Editor-in-Chief

Board Members: Kathy Kobyljanec  (Copy Editor, John Carroll University); Sharon Heminger (Columns Editor, JSTOR); Susan Andrews  (Columns Editor, Texas A&M); Maggie Rioux (Profiles Editor, MBLWHOI); Beth Bernhardt (Submissions Editor, University of North Carolina-Greensboro); James Michael (PDF Editor, University of South Florida); Lillian DeBlois (Conference/Calendar Editor, Arizona Health Sciences Library); Mykie Howard (HTML Editor (thru Dec. 2005), National Library of Medicine), Joyce Tenney (Board Liaison)

PERSONNEL CHANGES
Mykie Howard stepped down as HTML editor in December.
James Michael, PDF editor, will step down from his position in May.
Beth Bernhardt, submissions editor, will step down from her position in May.

NEW STAFF/POSITION CHANGES FOR 2006/2007
Sharon Heminger, columns editor, will assume responsibilities as PDF editor.
Naomi Kietzke Young, University of Florida, has been appointed as submissions editor.
Kathryn Wesley, Clemson University, has been named editor-in-chief effective post-annual conference.

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
Five issues were planned for publication 2005/06 to accommodate the earlier conference schedules in 2005 and 2006: July (a special ‘business’ issue), September, December, March, and May.  (The May issue is on target for a May 1 publication date as of this writing.) In the past, NASIG committees provided their annual reports for publication in a June issue. The 2005 mid-May conference provided the opportunity to rethink the annual contents cycle so last year’s June issue was pushed up to May. The special summer issue included committee annual reports and wrapped up their business for 2004/2005 in a timely manner.  

Publication of the September and December issues were within the month of issue, but there were delays with both the HTML and PDF versions.  March and May issues were published close to the first of the month while we were in training mode with the new editor-in-chief and PDF editor.  Communication was certainly stepped up during that time! Kudos to everyone involved! 

REVIEW OF ACTION ITEMS FROM BOARD MEETINGS
Serve on the Newsletter editor-in-chief search committee.

• COMPLETED.  Kathryn Wesley appointed.

Discuss the need for an HTML version: should the Newsletter go blog-style? Based on board discussion, determine needs for HTML position description.

• Per discussion at the January board meeting, I provided incoming editor-in-chief Wesley with information concerning implementing a blog format for the HTML version of the Newsletter.  Wesley was interested in pursuing this format, therefore no recruitment for an HTML editor has taken place.

 Recruit a new submissions editor.

• Wesley and I reviewed applications in late February/early March.  Naomi Kietzke Young will assume her responsibilities as submissions editor at the end of the 2006 conference.

2005/2006 GOALS REVIEW

• Complete the Newsletter manual
  o        A number of updates were made to the style guides to reflect changes.  Training with Wesley, Kobyljanec and DeBlois provided the opportunity to do a close review of many sections of the manual.
  o        Three sections of the manual (copy editing, PDF & professional liaisons processes) remain in draft form.   One section (professional liaisons process) is on hold while the Board determines the mission/purpose of that group.
  o        The HTML section has not been updated to reflect the current template use because Wesley will investigate using a blog format, which will require major changes to the HTML process section of the manual.
• Review position descriptions.
  o        COMPLETED.  All positions reviewed and updated where applicable.
• Train new conference/calendar editor.
  o        COMPLETED. 
• Provide training and instruction for new copy editor.
  o        COMPLETED.
• Work with incoming EiC.
  o        ONGOING.  Wesley started training by helping with review of the HTML and PDF versions for the March and May issues.  

CONCLUSION
It has been my pleasure to be a member of the Newsletter Editorial Board since late 1998 and serve as its editor-in-chief since mid-2002.  I never imagined I would have such an opportunity.  My thanks go out to those who gave me that chance and who have been very supportive of my activities: to Steve Savage, who first asked me to be the HTML editor; to Steve and former NASIG President Maggie Rioux, who offered me the editor-in-chief job.  Thank you to my board liaisons Eleanor Cook, Anne McKee and Joyce Tenney.  To current and past members of the editorial board:  thank you for giving me the chance to get to know you – mostly via email – I appreciate your efforts to provide timely communication and get reports turned in on time.  Big thanks to those who have served as the PDF and HTML editors and have had to endure my constant nit-picking on style and format issues, implementation of templates that caused some technology hang ups, and multiple changes to the look of the Newsletter.   

I will miss my work with the Newsletter.  It has provided me an opportunity to see the inner workings of the Board and NASIG; to understand the frustrations and the joys of an all-volunteer organization, especially one that essentially works in a virtual environment; and to see the true spirit of volunteerism at work.   

I’ve had the opportunity to work with incoming editor-in-chief Kathryn since late February so I know that I leave the Newsletter in excellent hands.