Chair Lenny Adams introduced our first speaker
Bill Thompson,
Head of Government Documents, University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
who gave an interesting talk about his recent sabbatical research
on map collections
and GIS. Bill visited various map collections throughout New
England and
beyond. The Library of Congress, which has 4.5 million maps that
take up
one city block, was his first stop. Bill said that LC stressed
that we
should not hesitate to call them for help, because their reference
service
is excellent. He also stated that we are fortunate in New England
to have
at least two outstanding CIS experts, Harvard's David Cobb and the
University of Connecticut's Pat McGlamery. Bill described
the various
map collections at the University of Connecticut, Harvard, Yale,
Dartmouth, Clark, the University of Vermont and Penn State and noted
that
one can find a wealth of GIS information at the home pages of these
sties
which include additional links to other map sites. Bill
recommends that
institutions need to focus on collection development, one's local
area,
promoting the map collection with enthusiasm and continued expansion
of
the GIS facility. He further advises that in-depth training
is needed
and that GIS presents a "financial challenge" in terms of equipment
and
staffing.
Julie Linden, Library Research Assistant, University
of Massachusetts
at Amherst, then gave an excellent demonstration of Landview III, a
GIS CD
that includes census demographic information such as race and ethnicity,
information about schools and hospitals, and the location of hazardous
waste sites. Julie advises that Landview's "Guided Tour" and
"Help"
screens are very good.
Lenny opened the business meeting at 12:10pm.
The minutes were
accepted as reported.
Pam Hays gave the treasurer's report:
Checking $1,342.34
Savings
980.39
Lenny and Steve Batt invite you to contact
them if you would be
interested in giving a demo of a government CD or other electronic
product, such as STAT-USA. CenStats or Data Miner. Various
demos are
being planned for the next meeting at NELINET on March 5.
John Fobert announced that he has moved the
GPLNE web page to a new
location and that he will post the URL on the discussion list.
He will
now be able to make changes easily.
Lenny announced that the May meeting
will be at Elms College in a
133 seat auditorium on Census 2000. GoDIG and ACRL will also
be involved.
Bette Siegel suggested that other New England state data centers should
be
invited.
Steve Batt announced that he has received 70-75
responses to his two
requests for mailing and discussion lists' updates. The original
mailing
list has approximately 200 names. The question now is when to
delete
those individuals who have not responded. Bette Siegel suggested
that
these individuals should be given a third and final chance to respond.
She recommended that a cover letter accompany the next mailing.
It was
decided that this cover letter would include the names of those who
have
responded, and that others would be invited one last time to respond
as
well.
Lenny commented that he will ask Robert Cunningham
to talk about
GPLNE's relationship to NELINET when we meet at the latter site in
March.
Some other issues that were very briefly mentioned
were the word
"Listserv" as a trademark name, year 2000 compliance of government
CD's
and interest in the cataloging of pre-1976 government documents.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:40pm.
There was a meeting of the
Electronic Resources Committee following the business meeting.
Submitted by Ralph Szymczak
Attendance:
Ralph Szymczak
Brandeis University
Susan C. Wells
Hampden Law Library
Bob Kehner
MIT
Bette Siegel
State Library of MA
Frances Nilsson
Babson College
Pam Hays
Harvard University
Julia Tryon
Providence College
Deborah Angelo
Providence College
Hans Raum
Middlebury College
Jim MacDonald
Connecticut College
Nancy Johnson
Western N.E. College Law Library
Sr. Mary Gallagher
Elms College
John Fobert
Roger Williams College
Ed Lonergan
Springfield Public Library
Kate Flynn
Hampden Law Library
Scott Schaffer
University of Vermont
Frances Schlesinger
UMass Boston
Julie Linden
UMass Amherst
Len Adams
UMass Amherst
Bill Thompson
UMass Amherst
Steve Batt
University of Connecticut
Valerie Carey
Brandeis University
Katherine Keefe
MIT - Lindgren Library
FINAL REMINDER!!!
IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO,
AND YOU WANT TO REMAIN ON THE GPLNE MAILING LIST
AND/OR
YOU WANT TO BE ADDED TO THE NEW GPLNE
LISTSERVE,
Contact:
Steve Batt
Homer Babbidge Library
University of Connecticut
369 Fairfield Rd., U-5RI
Storrs, CT 06269-1005
e-mail: sbatt@lib.uconn.edu
Be sure to include your name and full address.
Thank you for participating,
Len Adams
Chair GPLNE