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As the Editor of the Information Bulletin of
the Western Association of Map Libraries, I'd
like to request your thoughts and opinions on
the following.
Over the past year or so, those of us who
work on putting the IB together has been
trying to figure out the best route for
the IB for the future.  WAML's Publications
Advisory Committee is working on a report
on this.  The following statements and
questions are an effort to find out how
other persons perceive the situation.
 
As IB Editor, I read about 5 or so map-libraries
journals, and in the news-and-notes portions,
I see considerable overlap (but not complete!).
It seems to me that it would be sensible if
the editors of the various journals sent in
their (non-association-specific*)
news and notes to a central electronic
node.   Persons who are on email could
receive news and notes the same way; persons
who aren't could receive a laser-printout-
photocopy.  [Initially, this should be
done as an experiment; I'm aiming toward the
Nov.'94 issue of the IB to try it out.] The
email version of news and notes should be
free of charge; it's up to the receiving
person/library whether or not to print off/have
bound/whatever.  The hardcopy version would
cost whatever it takes to photocopy, staple,
and put in mail (time of staff, plus postage).
 - This would leave the associations free to
put extra time and effort into journals
that publish scholarly papers.
 - The news would really be new.
 - It would save the various editors some
very precious time.  This is especially important
at a time when many (most?) of us are having
to get more done in less time, and anything
not part of our primary assignment - running
a specific spatial-data collection - is
difficult to get to.
 
(*keeping in mind that some of this - e.g.,
conference programs - is of interest to
all associations)
 
So - what are your thoughts on this?
Any other ideas as to how to deal with the
situations?
I'll look forward to hearing from you.
Mary Larsgaard
Map & Imagery Lab, Library
University of California
Santa Barbara CA 93106
USA
fax 805/893-8799; 'phone 4049
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