Bibliography Committee of the Africana Librarians Council

Minutes

Nashville, TN, November 15, 2000

Present: Helene Baumann (Duke U), Julianne Beall (LC), Ruby Bell-Gam (UCLA), Phyllis Bischof (UC Berkeley), Simon Bockie (UC Berkeley), Davis Bullwinkle (University of Arkansas at Little Rock), Joe Caruso (Columbia), Jill Coelho (Harvard), Dalvan Coger (U of Memphis, retired), Moore Crossey (Yale, retired), David Easterbrook (Northwestern), Greg Finnegan (Harvard), Karen Fung (Stanford), Miki Goral (UCLA), Beverly Gray (LC), Marietta Harper (LC), Margaret Hughes (Stanford), Al Kagan (U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Deborah LaFond (SUNY Albany), Joe Lauer (Michigan State U), Bob Lesh (Northwestern U), Ken Lohrentz (U of Kansas), Peter Malanchuk (U. of Florida), Edward Miner (Indiana U), Wonki Nam (Central State), Lauris Olson (U. of Pennsylvania), Hans Panofsky (Northwestern, retired), Afeworki Paulos (U of Iowa), Loumona Petroff (Boston U), James T. Simon (CRL), Elisabeth Sinnott (NYU), Gretchen Walsh (Boston U), David Westley (Boston U), Marion Frank-Wilson (Indiana U), Dorothy Woodson (Yale)

1. Welcome

The meeting was called to order at 4:05pm by Chair Ken Lohrentz. Introductions were made.

2. Minutes of the Spring 2000 meeting held in Los Angeles were accepted as corrected. They will be sent to the Webmaster at LC.

3. Announcements
A. Lohrentz reported that Bob Palmeri was interested in becoming a vendor for Côte d'Ivoire material. Anyone interested should contact him directly or may contact Lohrentz, who has Palmer's e-mail address. ALC does not have a policy of supporting individual vendors. This proposal launched a discussion about whether ALC should develop guidelines or standards for librarians to consider in selecting a vendor. Lohrentz will notify Palmeri that the announcement was made.

B. Walsh reported that the newest version of "AFRICANA LIBRARIANS COUNCIL WORKING DOCUMENT" was on the Web. Comments should be sent to Walsh via email.

C. LaFond and Walsh announced that there will be an Africa-themed issue of Reference Librarian. Anyone interested in submitting an article should contact them.

D. Lohrentz reported on the Conover-Porter Award. Finalists are Al Kagan and Yvette Scheven's Reference Guide to Africa: a bibliography of sources (Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 1999) and John Middleton's Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara (New York : C. Scribner's Sons, c1997). Lohrentz raised the issue of whether the "Request for Nominations" should include an explicit inclusion of electronic sources. It was agreed that the next request will indicate that electronic format publications are eligible for nomination.

E. Bishof and J. Simon began a discussion of a possible union list of microform collections and their contents.

4. Bibliography Committee Web Project.
Lohrentz reported on responses to inquiries about including material on the ALC BC Web page. Ulrich's Periodical Directory asked for assistance in gathering bibliographic data for African periodicals in exchange for mounting some of their titles on our page. Lohrentz will respond to them about other sources to consult for this information.

5. Olson reported on the Foreign Official Gazette (FOG) Task Force. Many libraries are de-accessioning their FOG collections and sending them to CRL. CRL is microfilming them and adding non-MARC records to their catalog.

6. Digital Access to Statistical Data.
Lohrentz opened the discussion. Two major sources for statistical data are the Current National Statistical Compendiums on Microfiche (CIS) and African Official Statistical Serials, 1867-1982 (Chadwyck-Healey). Should the Bibliography Committee encourage vendors to convert statistical data to the web? Olson reported that U of Pennsylvania is putting information online. for the African Census Analysis Project at http://www.acap.upenn.edu

7. Finnegan suggested that ALC sponsor a panel on statistical sources at the next ASA conference. The Bibliography Committee will propose this at the ALC Business Meeting. Bishof suggested a title "Electronic Scholarship: New Initiatives." Caruso suggested putting references to statistical sources on the ALC website. Fung, Olson, and Caruso will work on this project.

8. Bibliographies completed, in progress, or contemplated.

A. Westley reported that his Swahili Language and Linguistics Bibliography is just about complete.

B. Bullwinkle mentioned his three bibliographies, searchable on the web. < http://WWW.AfricaBib.Org/ > He reported that the periodicals index covers 290 journals from volume 1 to the present and now includes full-text sources. The women's bibliography have 25,000 citations and attempts to cover all English-language material.

C. Caruso asked for submissions to the Electronic Journal of African Bibliography.

D. Bishof is working on a bibliography of autobiographies of 20th century people in the African Diaspora.

E. Sibyl E. Moses' bibliography, "'Engendering Mutual Respect, Strengthening the Bonds of Unity, and Underscoring Inevitable Interdependence Among Nigerian Peoples'": Nigerian Government Information on Official Visits: An Analysis of the Documentation" will be published in 2001 in the Journal of Government Information.

9. ALC Liaison to the ASA Publications Committee Malanchuk asked for issues to raise at the meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 6:05pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Miki Goral