SIGALO

Serials Interest Group for Academic Libraries in Oklahoma

May 2, 2003

OSU Center for Health Sciences

Tulsa, OK

The Spring, 2003 SIGALO meeting was held at the campus of the OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa, OK on Friday, May 2.

We were very fortunate that three difference vendors could give us presentations on "Taming of Electronic Resources in Academic Libraries - Open URL Products". Chris Pierard from Serials Solution (http://www.serialssolutions.com), Sean O’Doherty from Ex Libris (http://www.sfxit.com/OpenURL.html), and Jean Bryan from Endeavor (http://endinfosys.com) each gave informative presentations on their various products.

Each started with a basic explanation of OpenURL which you can find at http://library.caltech.edu/openURL. The basic premise of each of the products is that links are provided directly to the article when ever possible from your current databases. Links can also go to your local catalogues and in some cases to the internet. Go to each products internet site for more information. These products all look extremely useful in this age of multiple databases and sources for our students.

Beverly Dowdy of University of Central Oklahoma, and a member of the Programming Team, then gave us a presentation on "Budget Cuts: Making Journal Cancellation Decisions." Some of the areas that she reminded us to take into consideration when making cuts are: use of the print source, do you also have it in electronic, relative use by subject area, cost, is electronic format stable (Project Muse) or unstable (EBSCOhost), publisher’s package deals which could include either print or electronic, is the journal indexed and where, does another nearby library subscribe, and look at the physical journal - does it add value to your collection. She also mentioned ISI which is a source of Journal Citation Reports that lists the top journals for subject areas.

After Beverly’s presentation, Nancy Jurney led our short business meeting. UCO has volunteered to host the fall meeting. A possible program suggestion is to review CONNEXION. The Programming Team will check into this further. The Programming Team next year will consist of Michael Kim (Chair), Marla Roberson, Beverly Dowdy, Nancy Jurney, Michele Seikel, and Louisa Payne. Marla, Beverly, and Nancy will rotate off next year. Michael will stay on for another 2 years.

We then adjourned to the library for a tour. One interesting thing about the library is that, as a medical library, they have teaching material that includes body parts. Thanks to Janet Hughes, Wallee Chotikavanic, and Beth Freeman for hosting our gathering.

Report submitted by Marla Roberson, UCO

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