Thank you all for your comments on how to handle this flash drive.
Thanks, Marie, for pointing out that this was discussed before on
SERIALST, so now I went to the archives and looked at those messages,
too.  I think when I saw those messages earlier I deleted them thinking
I would probably not have to deal with that situation.  I enjoyed the
accidental message about this from Jane, because I have thought the same
thing sometimes.

As someone mentioned, the flash drive is not write-protected, so anyone
can delete its contents or add to it, and the contents are not protected
if it is circulated.  Many of the people who commented on SERIALST and
AUTOCAT indicated that their libraries are printing and binding this. We
considered this, but lately we have been re-examining whether we should
be printing and retaining PDFs of copyrighted material.  We also
considered copying it to a CD-ROM, but this results in similar problems
with copyright.  Another option is to put it in an institutional
repository, but we don't have one yet.

We learned that this is available online, through the organization's web
site, although we can't tell that there is any guarantee that it will be
available online long-term.  The subject selector who wanted to keep the
flash drive didn't know the information was available online.  When she
learned this, she was agreeable to adding the URLs of the online version
to our serials cataloging records for the abstracts and program, instead
of cataloging the flash drive.  So that is how we will handle this one,
although we may regret it later if the online access disappears.

Thanks again for all your help!

Lori Osmus Kappmeyer
Head, Cataloging & Metadata Department
Iowa State University Library
Ames, IA 50011

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Marie Peterson
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:10 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Cataloging a flash drive

We also received this flash drive.

After consulting with the subject selector, we printed the files, had
them
bound (pamphlet binding) in-house in our Preservation Department, and
added
them to the print record.

There was some discussion about this on the Serials list a couple of
months
ago, when the flash drives first starting arriving in various libraries.

Marie Peterson, M.L.S.
Technical Services Associate
Continuing Resources/CTS
134 Lockwood Library
SUNY University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY  14260-2210

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
> [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Kappmeyer, Lori O [LIB]
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 2:45 PM
> To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: [SERIALST] Cataloging a flash drive
>
> Recently we received a flash drive that came on our subscription to
the
> Journal of Great Lakes Research.  The flash drive contains two pdf
> files, one for the abstracts and one for the program of the 51st
annual
> Conference on Great Lakes Research in May 2008.  A half-sheet of paper
> accompanying the flash drive said that this was a "green initiative"
to
> reduce paper at the annual conference.  Up until now, the program and
> abstracts have been published in paper.  In the recent past, we have
> cataloged the program as a serial and the abstracts as another serial.
>
> =20
>
> We think we will be keeping the flash drive and housing it in our
media
> collection with other kinds of accompanying software.  Has anyone ever
> cataloged a flash drive, or do you have any suggestions for how to do
> it?  As an alternative, someone suggested we could print off the PDFs
> and catalog and bind them.  What would you do?
>
> =20
>
> Thanks for any advice!
>
> =20
>
> Lori Osmus Kappmeyer
>
> Head, Cataloging & Metadata Department
>
> Iowa State University Library
>
> Ames, IA 50011
>
> =20
>
> ------------------------------