Information Alliance
IRIS Counterparts Meeting - Rugby, TN
November 10, 2000
IRIS subject librarians and bibliographers in history and physical sciences met in Rugby, along with collection development officers from all three IRIS institutions. Participants were:
University of Kentucky:
- Jim Burgett, Head, Collection Development
- Judy Fugate, History, Italian, Political Science, Sociology, Spanish
- Maggie Johnson, Director, Science and Engineering Libraries
University of Tennessee:
- Anne Bridges, History, Classics
- Linda Phillips, Head, Collection Development & Management
- Molly Royse, Humanities Coordinator
- Flora Shrode, Science & Technology Coordinator
Vanderbilt University:
- Peter Brush, History, African American Studies, East Asian Studies
- John Haar, Assistant University Librarian for Collection Development
- Kitty Porter, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering
- Carlin Sappenfield, Physics, Astronomy, Mathematics
Collection development counterparts shared information about their respective collections and services. Comparing budgets for similar funds, collection size, and areas of emphasis in the curriculum and faculty research, librarians discussed similarities and differences among their institutions. History participants observe that their collections are nearly identical, with strengths in American, especially 19th and 20th centuries. Vanderbilt is particularly strong in Latin American studies. Kentucky has some emphasis in the Middle East. To support their U.S. collections, Kentucky recently acquired several research sets on microfilm. Tennessee is strong in the Civil War period, 19th c. Britain and Ireland, and medieval studies. Unique areas to be considered for future cooperation include Cherokee Indians, Tennesseana, bioethics, history of science, Latin American studies, and history of medicine.
In physics and chemistry all three libraries spend similar amounts on serials. Each counterpart reported some different areas of emphasis. Kentucky has particular interests in chemistry, radiochemistry, cell membrane chemistry, laser chemistry, and anything to do with the chemistry of Alzheimer's Disease. Tennessee has recently become the Oak Ridge National Lab manager and construction of a spellation neutron facility has begun. All Vanderbilt physics requests are routinely checked in the IRIS catalog before they are ordered. If the IRIS catalog were more robust, Technical Services at all three libraries could be encouraged to check IRIS as a part of all pre-order searching. Science librarians discussed their greatest needs for electronic resources. Kentucky has a website devoted to locating engineering standards. A Vanderbilt science librarian created a paper union list of engineering standards for Tennessee years ago. Counterparts agreed that collaboration among Information Alliance libraries in adding Tennessee locations for engineering standards could be valuable for library users.
The heads of collection development worked on a paper that they will present at the Denver ACRL conference in March 2001. Titled "The Persistence of Print in the Digital Age," the paper describes Information Alliance collection development initiatives and explores issues such as convincing colleagues to participate in collaboration, appropriate performance outcomes, and cost-benefit analysis. Subjects suggested for next year's counterpart meetings include engineering, philosophy, and religious studies.
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