Suvorova V. M., Cole J. E.

MODERN INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS ON LIBRARY SCIENCE

(¬ статье рассматриваетс¤ проблема опубликовани¤ статей библиотечных и информационных работников в иностранных и международных профильных научных издани¤х. ѕриводитс¤ опыт ÷ентральной научной сельскохоз¤йственной библиотеки –оссельхозакадемии и ее сотрудничество с редакцией международного журнала УThe Serials LibrarianФ).

The promotion of books and reading is impossible without the exchange of experiences among librarians and information specialists who are involved into the process of information provision. It is important nowadays to publish articles both on innovations in library science and on everyday library activities that may be of help to thousands of librarians all over the world. We have at our disposal a range of professional publications, including not only domestic and foreign ones but inter-national ones as well. Among them are the well-known The Library of Congress Information Bulletin (USA), issued eleven times a year by the Public Affairs Office of the Library of Congress and distributed abroad free of charge on an exchange basis to publicly supported libraries and research institutions, academic libraries, and learned societies. The Bulletin is also available on the World Wide Web. Another publication is National Library News, published ten times a year by the National Library of Canada and available free upon request. It is important to mention here our new professional journal, Slavic &East European Information Resources, edited by Dr. Karen Rondestvedt and published by the Haworth Information Press. This journal aspires to become a truly international forum for the discussion of issues and changes that affect all of us, both East and West. Librarians may join this discussion by contacting Dr. Ronsdestvedt with ideas for articles and even shorter pieces, or simply by sending the material directly to her.

Thus librarians and information specialists may choose from any of the above mentioned publications Ц or others Ц to gain new insights or to share experiences. For example, the staff of the Central Scientific Agricultural Library (CSAL) has become great friends another Haworth Information Press publication, The Serials Librarian. To tell the truth, we access to the journal in advance as the headquarters of the editor was at the Iowa State University Library, with which we maintained a fruitful cooperation according to a memorandum of agreement between our parent institutions. This included international book exchange and an exchange of specialists.

The Serials Librarian, published by the Haworth Press in New York, began in the fall of 1976. The first twenty six volumes we-re under the editorship of the late Peter Gellatly, the recipient of the 1995 Bowker/UlrichТs Serials Librarianship Award from the American Library Association. Since volume 27, the journal has been edited by Jim Cole. Editorial roles have evolved over time; Cole is now the Editor-in-Chief, and Mary Curran of the University of Ottawa is the Senior Editor. Prior to assuming responsibility for SL, both Cole and Curran had been members of the journalТs Editorial Board. It was due to Cole that the CSAL published an article on the history of its international book exchange program in volume 27, number 1 (1995) of the journal. More recently Ц in volume 41, number 2 (2001) Ц the CSAL published an article on the development of AGROS database and the libraryТs electronic catalog (see the Database of CSAL staff publications: http:// www.cnshb.ru/intra/rdr.asp).

SLТs Editorial Board and column editors include international experts drawn from across the entire spectrum of serials work. They come not only from the United States, but also from elsewhere, including Bulgaria, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, New Zealand, Russia, Scotland, and the United Kingdom. Two members of the Editorial Board are from Russia Ц Vyacheslav.G. Pozdnyakov, the director of the CSAL, and Valeria. M. Suvorova.

When The Serials Librarian was founded, it dealt primarily with paper and microform serial publications. Today, how-ever, a growing number of serials are accessed electronically. Moreover, the universe of publications has been redivided, with serials now a subgroup of the larger set of Уcontinuing resources.Ф In keeping with these developments, and acknowledging its actual coverage, SL has adopted a new subtitle, УThe International Journal of Theory, Research & Practice on Serial, Con-tinuing, & Integrating Print & Electronic Resources. ФSL today strives to cover all aspects of the management of continuing resources in any format, ranging from their publication, to their abstracting and indexing by commercial services, and their collection and processing by libraries.

Not only has SLТs coverage expanded with time, but its columns have as well. In addition to book reviews and its traditional summary of the most important news related to serials, the journal now includes such columns as Уe-scape,Ф and УE-Ventures.Ф e-scape, which began in 2000, is devoted to e-serials cataloging. УE-Ventures: Notes and Reflections from the E-Serials Field, which Mary Curran edits, first appeared in volume 41, number 2 (2001) of SL. It has covered such topics as УAn Open Source Solution to Managing Electronic Journal Links with Database-Generated Web PagesФ, УPeriodicals Reference Service and EBSCOhost MasterFILE Elite,Ф and УImpacts of the Abandonment of Catalog Records for Electronic Serials.Ф

The most recent addition to the list of columns is УVoices of the Future,Ф edited by Rick J. Block. The column highlights writings by the best and the brightest of the students in the library and information science fields today, who soon will be helping shape the future of libraries, and, it is to be hoped, of serials and continuing resources as well.

A longstanding tradition of SL has been the publication of special, thematic issues. The even numbered volumes of the journal are devoted to the proceedings of the North American Serials Interest Group. Volume 41, numbers 3/4 (2002) were devoted to УE-Serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources via the Catalog and the WebФ(by the way, this issue is also available free of charge on the Web: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~gerrymck/SLv41n3-4.pdf).

As librarians and information specialists we may choose either to lead sheltered, provincial lives or to gain new insights and profit from the experiences of others through reading the journal literature. At the same time, we can allow others to benefit from our experiences and opinions through articles that we ourselves write. We would like you to do so.

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