BIBLIO-NOTES
91´«Ã½
NEWSLETTER OF THE ACRL ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE DISCUSSION GROUP
#18, Summer 1991
Biblio-Notes (ISSN 1076-8947) is published twice a year by the Literatures in English Section (formerly, English and American Literature Section) of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the 91´«Ã½. Paper subscriptions are free to members of the section.
Editor: Candace R. Benefiel, Sterling C. Evans Library, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-5000
ANNUAL CONFERENCE MEETING INFORMATION
ATLANTA, 1991
The general meeting for the Discussion Group at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference is Monday, July 1, 9:30-12:30. The meeting will in the Westin English Room. Please note that the room has changed from the one announced in the preliminary schedule!
Panel Discussion and Membership Meeting and discussions.
Date and Time: Monday, July 1, 1991
9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Place: Westin, English Room
9:30-11:00 a.m.: Panel Discussion:
"Contemporary Poetry in American Libraries" Topics and Speakers: see announcement, p. 311:00-11:30: Membership Meeting, Agenda:
1) New Officers--Loss Glazier
2) Program 1992--Candace Benefiel
3) Program 1993
4) MLA News (Scope and Overlap Committee)--Elaine Franco
5) Biblio-Notes editor
6) Biblio-Notes mailing list
7) Reports from other groups
8) Group discussion topic(s) and leader(s) for Midwinter
9) Other business11:30-12:30 Group discussion: "New Literary Periodicals," facilitated by Richard Centing.
1992 Program Planning Subcommittee
Date and Time: Sunday June 30 4:30-5:30 P.M.
Place: Westin Tower 4
All interested parties are welcome.1993 Program Planning Subcommittee
Date and Time: Monday, July 1, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Place: Radisson Tara 5
New officers and other interested parties are welcome.
MINUTES, 1991 MIDWINTER MEETING (Chicago)
The ACRL English and American Literature Discussion Group met on 13 January 1991. The meeting was chaired by Loss Glazier and was attended by approximately 40 persons.
1. Nominations were solicited for the offices of Vice-Chair/Chair Elect, Secretary, and Members at Large. Members of the Group were invited to nominate themselves or others. 1 February was set as the deadline for nominations to be received by Michaelyn Burnette.
2. Loss announced the summer 1991 program on "Contemporary Poetry in American Libraries." The program is described in Biblio-Notes, no. 18, p. 3. The fourth speaker is still to be announced. The Group is considering publishing the papers. This publication would include additional papers beyond those to be presented at the summer program. Members of the Discussion Group and others are invited to submit essays for possible inclusion in the publication.
3. Candace Benefiel solicited contributions and suggestions for Biblio-Notes. The deadline for the summer issue is 15 April, and the issue should be out in May.
4. Candace described preliminary plans for the 1992 program. She hopes to coordinate a panel with the Popular Culture Discussion Group.
5. A possible revision of the by-laws was discussed. The current by-laws call for elections to be conducted by the Members at Large. Since the pool of candidates of ten includes the Members at Large, Candace asked whether we should avoid the potential for conflict of interest by amending the by-laws to create a separate Nominating Committee. Those present felt that there was no real problem, and that the Group is too small to justify forming an additional committee for this purpose. It was decided not to amend the by-laws.
6. Cathy Johnson reported for Elaine Franco, the ACRL liaison to the Modern Language Association. She described the meeting of the Bibliography Scope and Overlap Committee on 12 January (see Biblio-Notes, no. 17, p. 2). The Committee is still taking additional members; Elaine is coordinating the subject areas. Members with expertise in Linguistics are especially needed. Loss reported that the Group's survey on the MLA CD-ROM product was mailed with Biblio-Notes.
7. Loss suggested that one discussion topic be scheduled for the summer meeting. He proposed that Richard Centing be asked to lead a discussion on new literary periodicals. The Group was in agreement with this proposal. The meeting will occur Monday morning.
8. Loss drew the Group's attention to the report of the ACRL Task Force on Recruitment of Underrepresented Minorities that was published in the December 1990 issue of College & Research Libraries News. He suggested that the Group consider this as a program or discussion topic in the near future.
The business meeting was followed by two discussion periods. The first was a dialogue on the MLA Bibliography with Daniel Uchitelle, Director of Information Services at MLA. The second discussion was on the image of subject specialists. William Baker, who led this discussion, compiled and distributed a bibliography entitled "How Others See Us: The Professional Image of the Librarian with Special Reference to Subject Specialists."
Respectfully submitted,
Timothy Shipe
Secretary
MLA BIBLIOGRAPHY SCOPE AND OVERLAP COMMITTEE
Elaine Franco
University of California, Davis
Work proceeds on the ACRL-MLA joint project announced in the Winter 1990 issue of Biblio-Notes. ACRL formed the MLA Bibliography Scope and Overlap Committee, and prospective committee members met at the 91´«Ã½ Midwinter Meeting. Daniel Uchitelle, Director of the MLA Center for Information Services, and the MLA Liaison for this ACRL-MLA project, reviewed the mission statement for the project.
The scope and overlap project is in tended to identify subject areas in which the MLA Bibliography replicates bibliographic coverage provided by other, similar reference sources, as well as to identify subject areas within the defined scope of the MLA Bibliography which are not being adequately covered. The information provided by this analysis process will be used by the Modern Language Association to help insure an allocation of bibliographic resources that will best serve the needs of humanities scholars in the coming years.
Twenty-six librarians have volunteered to work individually or in groups to cover fourteen subject areas. Their analysis of overlap will not be based solely on a quantitative similarity between the bibliographic sources, but will consider variations in currency, subject indexing and format. Project participants are asked to assemble and assess information on scope and overlap, but not to provide policy recommendations on changes in coverage for the Bibliography. Some concern has been expressed about project participants' inability to make recommendations on MLA Bibliography coverage based on their analyses, but most committee members feel that they can nevertheless make a significant contribution through the project as now structured. This joint project, while not perfect, can serve as the important first step in communication between the two organizations. Several committee members have expressed interest in joining MLA and/or becoming field bibliographers.
The Scope and Overlap Committee will meet again at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference on Saturday, June 29, 1991 from 9:30-11:00 a.m. (Room to be announced.) Each person or group working on a subject area should have drafts of their reports prepared in time for discussion at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference. Each draft should include a list of the works to be compared, and some preliminary analysis. According to the Committee's revised timetable, the Committee's composite report should undergo final revision in January, 1992, and be presented to the MLA Executive Board in February,1992.
Other upcoming meetings of related interest include sessions on "The Future of the MLA Bibliography" planned by MLA tentatively for the ACRL national Conference in Salt Lake City, April, 1992.
For more information on the MLA Bibliography Scope and Overlap Committee contact Elaine Franco, Catalog Department, Shields Library, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-5292, (916) 752-9860.
1991 Program, Atlanta
CONTEMPORARY POETRY IN AMERICAN LIBRARIES
Contemporary poetry--how do you define it, what access is there to it, how is it crucial to the library?
This program will cover contemporary poetry and its situation in the library--not only as a practical exigency but in its convergent bibliographic, sociological and cultural contexts. Topics covered will include poetry collections, determinations about which poetries are appropriate for a collection and sources for their acquisition, the social significance of the poetry collection, and library poetry collections and their alliance to community.
"American Literary Collections since 1950"
Dr. Robert J. Bertholf, Curator, Poetry/Rare Books, State University of New York, Buffalo"Why Libraries Don't Buy Contemporary Poetry: Resources and Resistance"
Mary Biggs, Director of Libraries, Mercy College, New York"Experimentation and Politics: the Sociology of Contemporary Literature"
Dr. Hank Lazer, Professor, Department of English, University of Alabama"Poetry, Libraries, and the Community: the Pueblo Poetry Project"
Tony Moffeit, Assistant Director, University Library, University of Southern Colorado and Poet-in-Residence, University of Southern Colorado.
For further information, please contact Loss Glazier, Lockwood Library, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260, (716) 636-2817.
NEW LITERARY PERIODICALS SURVEYED
Richard R. Centing is editing an annual survey of "New Literary Periodicals" in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook. The number of titles covered each year are: 29 (1987), 22 (1988), and 39 (1989). The yearbook for 1990 is due to be published May 1991, covering 26 titles. He is anxious for feedback from members on the survey, especially for information on 1990 titles he may have missed, and for any leads in new 1991 titles. He surveys both critical journals and literary reviews. Contact him directly at the following address:
Richard R. Centing
The Ohio State University Libraries
1858 Neil Avenue Mall
Columbus, Ohio 43210
THE USUAL CALL FOR ARTICLES ...
Are you on tenure track and looking for publications? Let us help! Once again, your friendly newsletter editor is on the lookout for articles, ideas, helpful citations, etc. to inform and enlighten the faithful readers of Biblio Notes.
Areas of primary interest to our readers include collection development, database searching, user education, reference work, and acquisitions and cataloging issues, as they relate to the field of English and American Literature.
No reasonable material is refused, and articles are accepted in all formats, although the editor prefers material on diskette, as this saves her from having to retype it. Direct inquiries and articles to:
Candace R. Benefiel,
Editor, Biblio-Notes
Reference Division
Sterling C. Evans Library
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-5000
(409)845-5742 FAX: (409) 845-6238
Biblio-Notes is published semiannually by the ACRL English and American Literature Discussion Group. Editor: Candace R. Benefiel, Sterling C. Evans Library, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-5000
Comments may be directed to the Web Editor at ruotolo@virginia.edu. Last update: 15 September 2011
