If you have ever been involved in scheduling or participating in a group photograph, you know how difficult it can be to agree on a date, to get everyone to show up at the right time and to look his/her best on that day. Even when each individual has s truck a pose and that shutter clicks, some will look better than others. But in the end, most will want a group picture to call their own.
Here in Region 7, we have scheduled the group photograph (one of those BIG panorama pictures) of our Region's serials holdings, to be taken on May 1, 1997, by the NLM "photographer". This date is NLM's next quarterly deadline for producing a regional SERHOLD tape. NLM will now produce only one tape per year for each of the nation's eight NN/LM Regions and will no longer produce any subsets of a region's holdings for groups within the region who want a union list product. This means th at if any individual library or group of libraries wants a union list product, it will have to be generated from this one regional tape.
In the January/February 1996 issue of Latitudes, Irene Lovas indicated that the PSRML would no longer be able to utilize UCLA for the production of union list subsets from thi s NLM SERHOLD tape, as it has done in the past. However, through an arrangement with NLM, the Pacific Northwest Regional Medical Library (PNRML) will now be providing union list products for all of the RMLs. Once the annual regional tape has been produce d by NLM, PSRML will request that a copy be sent to PNRML. Products for regional, state, and consortia groups or individual libraries can all be produced from this tape. Any group or library wanting a union list product must contact PSRML with their re quest. These requests will be forwarded to PNRML for the required programming to produce the desired products which can be made available in hard copy or electronic (FTP or diskette) formats. The costs of these products can be quite variable, depending on the amount of programming time (approximately $30/hour) required for a given output format, and on the number of libraries sharing the cost. The time required to produce and send the product can vary from days to weeks, depending on the availability of the Seattle programmer. Each group desiring such a product is responsible for duplicating and distributing the Union list product to their participants.
Last November (Latitudes, vol. 5, no. 6) I issued a challenge to all participating libraries in our Region to update their holdings records in SERHOLD by the end of 1996, knowing that this challenge was going to be met to varying degrees. Man y libraries have been successful in updating their serials holdings; for various reasons other libraries have not. In the next few months, I will be working closely with Area SERHOLD Coordinators and representatives from the Medical Library Groups to en sure that ALL participating libraries have updated their holdings.
The two most common problems I have identified from your calls about updating via the Online SERHOLD Updating Systems are (1) accessing an NLM computer that requires 3270 terminal emulation and (2) determining the extent and quality of your existing h oldings.
The solution to the first problem is to obtain telecommunication software that provides this type of emulation for dialup access (we usually recommend Procomm software from Datastorm) or to obtain a separate tn3270 telnet client for Internet access (se e "Connecting to DOCLINE and SERHOLD via the Internet", Latitudes, vol. 5, no. 6).
The solution to the second problem is less straightforward. Many of you have requested a current list of your library's serials holdings, because you have an incomplete list. At this time I can only recommend that you refer back to the latest "gr eenbar printout" and reconstruct, as best you can, any changes made subsequent to July, 1995. I hope, in the near future, to be able to remedy this situation, as this current holdings list is one of the basic tools you need in order to update holding s. Again, we can only generate these individual library lists from a SERHOLD tape that reflects updated holdings.
As the saying goes, "We must all hang together, or we will hang separately." Please help yourself and your library colleagues provide the optimal sharing of resources within our Region by updating your SERHOLD records before MAY 1, 1997. If you are having difficulties with equipment or telecommunication software, or if you need training or training manuals, first contact your Area SERHOLD Coordinator. If you do not know who your Coordinator is or you need additional assistance, don't hesita te to contact me at PSRML.
Say "Cheese", say "SERHOLD"!