FROM THE EDITOR
Jain Fletcher
In putting together all the contributions to this issue, I could not help being struck by the abundance
and breadth of the entries. There are core columns, including Book Reviews
(three of them!) sent by Vicki Toy Smith, News and
Announcements sent by Barbara Vaughan, a report of Membership
activities sent by Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator, Ian Fairclough and Nancy Olson’s cataloging advice
(Everything You
Always Wanted to Know). Then there are the columns expected after an ALA meeting has occurred,
including Conference
Reports sent by Jan Mayo and OCLC News sent
by Jay Weitz. There were also contributions in anticipation of OLAC’s biennal conference, including an
announcement of the Conference
Scholarship and a Call for
Posters (please also see the Membership
Minutes for a very brief update on Conference preparations, which includes the address of the Conference Website for further updates). Added to these
are entries for the upcoming OLAC
election, including the candidates’ resumes, as well as a few calls for
participation, one from our President, Cathy Gerhart, for a few openings in OLAC and another
from the CAPC Chair, Iris Wolley. A new entry appearing in this issue, and expected to continue, is a
list of OLAC’s
newest members sent by Bobby Bothmann.
After numerous readings and much closer scrutiny (an editor’s job!), I found what appeared to be almost
a theme running through this issue. This being the Spring issue, there are aspects within the various
contributions that resonate with the classic view of Spring: a period of rebirth and renewal. In our
context, this might be rendered as change and opportunity. One example of our theme is found in the Media
Resource Committee’s report, which indicates that changes in their structure are providing
opportunities both for that group and for OLAC; the potential for both groups looks promising. Another
example is in NASIG’s
announcement about its archives, which provides a glimpse into one potential direction for OLAC's
Archives.
Prospects for members
to renew their contribution or begin contributing to
OLAC are found in various calls for participation--including one position whose character is
expected to undergo a conversion during the service period of the next position holder. There are
revisions in the structure of familiar cataloging tools. One of these structural changes is described
in John
Attig’s report on the future of AACR. Other changes to familiar tools are found in the OCLC report,
where one item describes how the FRBR algorithm can change the look of bibliographic databases and
another item announces the new policy on parallel records in OCLC's database. In short, change is in
the air and OLAC members are witnessing it. With awareness comes opportunity. Let's watch what our
organization and its members do with that!
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Last updated: March 9, 2004
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