REQUEST TO POST (fwd)

[Mike Eisenberg <mike@eryx.syr.edu>]

          *==========================================================*
          |       Mike Eisenberg   <mike@ericir.syr.edu>             |
          |      Professor, School of Information Studies            |
          | Director, ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology |
          |      Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244             |
          |      Phone: 315/443-4549   Fax: 315/443-5448             |
          *==========================================================*


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 04 May 1994 09:11:09 GMT
From: JOHN P CELLI <CELLI@MAIL.LOC.GOV>
To: mike@suvm.BITNET
Subject: REQUEST TO POST

Mike Eisenberg:

          Please post the following information on LMNET.

                                                       Thank you.



          Effective July 1993 a decision was made to suspend
summaries for juvenile non-fiction titles.  This decision arose
from a need to honor the Library of Congress's commitment to
publishers in the CIP program to process materials within 10 days
of receipt.   Timely processing has always been a key to the
success of this vital program.

          If the CIP Division fails to get the data to the
publisher in time, the data does not appear in the book,
negatively affecting those libraries (most school and small
public libraries) who depend on the CIP data in the book as a
principal source of cataloging.

          This decision did not effect subject headings for non-
fiction Juvenile titles.  CIP records for these works will
continue to include Subject Headings appropriate for the young
reader.  Neither did it effect works of fiction which will
continue to include summaries as well as juvenile subject
headings.

          The decision to suspend summaries for non-fiction
children's books was not arrived at easily.  Various options were
discussed with the CIP Advisory Group, the AAP/ALCTS Joint
Committee, and the ALCTS/CCS Cataloging of Children's Materials
committee.  In the final analysis, however, this option was the
only that could be implemented within a reasonable timeframe
without incurring additional expenditures of resources.

          Recent statistics indicate that throughput time has
improved for juvenile titles.  This improvement has been gained,
however, by not providing summaries for approximately 2,300
titles.  Some additional staffing has been added to the
Children's Literature Team and that has also helped, but the
workload for this team remains heavy.  Since 1987 overall CIP
production has increased 21% from 40,076 to 48,772.  During this
same period, however, CIP data production for juvenile titles has
increased 68% from 3,567 to 6,000.

          Nonetheless, at the ALCTS/CCS Cataloging of Children's
Materials meeting at the Midwinter ALA Conference in Los Angeles,
the Library of Congress agreed to consider gradually resuming
summaries for a very few, select priority subject areas if
members of the committee would identify and forward their
recommendations to the Library of Congress.  Any change we make
must be based on the fact that we cannot jeopardize throughput
time; for to do so would jeopardize the availability of CIP
(printed in the book) for the many public and school libraries
who depend on it as their source of cataloging.

          The Library of Congress will report any further
developments relating to this issue at the upcoming ALCTS/CCS
Cataloging of Children's Materials Meeting at the ALA annual
meeting in Miami.