A section officer asked me a question today about who could be notified electronically that a newsletter issue is available. Thinking the question might interest all of you as you consider the issue of electronic newsletters I wanted to share with you what I found out.

If a section decides to have electronic-only newsletters everyone in the section who has an email on file with ALA could be emailed
notification the issue is available with a link to the newsletter.

The most restrictive communications preference, pasted below, includes in its definition of “official communications” as those journals and newsletters listed in the ALA Handbook. The section newsletters are listed in the Handbook so we should be able to notify members in all communication preference categories as to the availability of the electronic newsletter.
Official communications only. I only want to receive official membership communication (ballot, renewal and membership card, American Libraries and division journals and newsletters specified in the ALA Handbook of Organization).

Let me know if you have further questions.

Best,
Mary Ellen

1) I often help researchers locate state, federal and international government reports, statistics, and demographic information for their research. Depending on how specific the desired information is, sometimes this information can be fairly easy to find, or it may not exist in an accessible published form. Perhaps in part because Women’s Studies is such an interdisciplinary topic, trying to find which government agency may be publishing relevant information is sometimes a challenge.

2) We are lucky enough to have a Government Documents Librarian at my university. She is an excellent resource for me, and she puts together resource pages (online and in print) that are very helpful to me and my Women’s Studies patrons. I haven’t put together any resource lists about Women’s Studies and government documents yet, but I’d like to work with her on ways to make gov docs more easily usable for my researchers. Finding this kind of information can be daunting, especially to those who haven’t worked with gov docs before.

3) Some of us (like me) could use quite a bit of training. Most of my gov docs knowledge is incomplete and was learned-on-the job, and it’s very easy to forget skills if months go by before I’m called to use them again. I’m always happy to attend gov docs workshops or learning breaks, and I’m still kicking myself for not taking the gov docs reference class when I was an LIS student.

4) Publications by state, federal, and international government(s). Though I do tend to focus on US government documents. Most of my patrons request help with finding information on statistics, government reports, and the history and/or text of bills and laws.

However, I also agree with Diana’s concerns about archiving and preservation of the newsletters. In my Conservation and Preservation class last fall, we learned that electronic forms of preservation, while innovative, are not the most permanent. Formats change, and the media we save our newsletters now might not be readable or available when WSS celebrates its 50th anniversary. Thus some sort of print archival copy can and should be required.

This question is a double edged sword, and there is no easy answer.

Kate Kosturski
Pratt-SILS student