Here are the minutes from the LITA/ALCTS Serials Automation Interest
Group's Midwinter meeting.

Margaret Mering
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
mvm@unllib.unl.edu
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  LITA/ALCTS Serials Automation Interest Group

  The LITA/ALCTS Serials Automation Interest
  Group met at Midwinter 1992 for a discussion
  on the "Processing of Electronic Journals."

  Peggy Johnson (University of Minnesota-St.
  Paul) began with a brief history of printing
  as an overview from which to look at the
  issues regarding the electronic journal.
  This new technology has presented some global
  issues that need to be resolved:  the need
  for standards for publishing materials with
  tables, scientific notation, etc.;
  bibliographic access to titles that may not
  be housed in your library;  the need for
  cooperation for storage and retention to
  preserve scholarly communications;
  standardization of citations and indexing for
  retrieval.  Local issues, which often are the
  same issues as for print publications,
  include:  budgeting for hardware, software,
  journal costs, electronic mail;  selection;
  implications for service, such as access and
  distribution;  user education for access to
  this format.

  Marilyn Geller (MIT) spoke about the findings
  of MIT's Electronic Journals Task Force
  regarding electronic journals:  the range of
  access and delivery options available;
  differing archival patterns;  the need to
  develop expertise in using these materials;
  limitations imposed by licensing agreements;
  the need to contribute to the development of
  this medium through involvement in the
  scholarly community.  The task force also
  discussed non-network electronic journals,
  the impact on the serials crisis, and the
  role of commercial publishers.  Current
  projects underway at MIT include education of
  staff and Project Mercury.

  Gail McMillan (Virginia Tech) concluded with
  a report on providing access to this format.
  At Virginia Tech, electronic journals are
  stored on the university's mainframe computer
  for access via LAN, with transferring,
  downloading and printing of files treated as
  routine operations.  Easy-to-use screens
  provide access to the titles available,
  tables of contents, and individual articles.
  Gail described the steps required to
  subscribe to an electronic journal, receive
  issues, retrieve articles as a separate
  package, scan for proper text storage, check-
  in issues, update MARC holdings, claim
  issues, update library holdings,
  electronically forward titles for new or
  maintenance cataloging in the opac, and
  describe the mode of access via the network
  or on the university's mainframe.

  --Kristin Lindlan, University of Washington