As members of the Board of ACQNET (The Acquisitions Librarians
Electronic Network) and law librarians, we would like to express our
concern about the developing situation in Hawaii. In March 1996 the
Hawaii State Public Library System signed a contract with Baker &
Taylor, outsourcing its book selection, acquisition and cataloging.
There has been a flurry of email, phone calls and letters on the
subject in recent months, indicating great concern over the eroding
quality of service and the implications for our profession. We
believe the cause for alarm is quite real. We hope that AALL and
other professional groups such as ALA and SLA will take firm stands
on this. Years ago, when the law library budgets were being
crippled by unreasonable publisher price hikes on supplementation,
the AALL membership rallied as a unified front, resulting in
stabilized prices and a willingness to communicate on the part of
certain publishers and vendors. As members of AALL, we felt proud of
our profession during that period.
We need not be adversaries with vendors and publishers but we do need
to respond effectively if they take actions that imperil our future.
We welcome you to share ideas with us on how best to do this. Right
now the word must be spread on what is taking place. If problems are
found, there is nothing to stop us as professionals from letting both
Baker & Taylor and the State of Hawaii and the media in general know
our feelings on the topic. Perhaps the Chinese curse "May you live in
interesting times!" will make 1997 a year to remember.
Jack Montgomery
Technical Services and Collection Management Librarian
University of Missouri Law Library
Anna Belle Leiserson
Collection Development Librarian
Vanderbilt Law Library
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