| The major component that had to be established before travel to Cochabamba could take place was the Group Access Capability (GAC) membership in OCLC that provides an OCLC symbol for each Latin American partner. The symbol is essential to the table of contents database since it identifies the member library inputting bibliographic records and allows document delivery by electronic ILL request via Ariel as well as the OCLC ISO/ILL implementation included in the database's upgrade. The University of Texas at Austin agreed to serve as primary agent in the GAC but had to further investigate to its own satisfaction what terms or conditions this might involve. |  |
Further discussion with OCLC Resource Sharing Division staff also pointed out that GAC membership for Biblioteca Inca and future Latin American partners will designate them as selective OCLC members that can function in the OCLC ILL subsystem. This avoids the possibility of creating a temporary "clearinghouse" in which a North American partner library might have to intervene between US requests and Latin American document delivery. On the other hand, not all details of the GAC were in place by the time of my departure on May 3, and the "I love you" virus prevented OCLC staff on the following day from doing any further work to supply the code for Biblioteca Inca. While a stopgap measure was established at the University of Georgia libraries so that I could temporarily use our GUA code to take the place of Biblioteca Inca, this emergency workflow was not necessary. By mid-day Friday, May 5, OCLC was able to supply the code B4I for Biblioteca Inca. A few details to implement the GAC need to be finalized, but we will be able to request OCLC symbols for future partners with greater ease.
Once on site at Biblioteca Inca, my objectives were to: review the partner agreement document with Alfredo Montalvo for his signature; train designated Biblioteca Inca staff in inputting table of contents records; oversee selection of journals for the database, add assigned journal titles into the database; and check that the grant computer equipment was in place and then install Ariel.
Agreement: In general, Mr. Montalvo was agreeable to the points contained in the agreement. He did request that a brief statement be included on modifying the document's terms by mutual agreement of all parties involved. I agreed to this and anticipated scanning the document (since I neglected to bring a copy of diskette) to add the new point, and print out two copies with the revision for Mr. Montalvo's signature. Instead, trying to use the scanner led to the discovery that it had not been properly installed. Rather than face further delays even when the scanner was put to rights, I decided to postpone preparation of the document for Mr. Montalvo's signature until my return to Athens. Since I will see Mr. Montalvo soon at the annual SALALM meeting, I can deliver the documents their for his signature and then forward them to ARL for Duane Webster's signature.
Training: Five staff at Biblioteca Inca were present but absent at different periods of my stay owing to illness and other work demands though I did provide them with a preliminary overview of the Project and a demonstration of the database. Miss Mónica Montoya, the Biblioteca Inca director, and I agreed that it would be more efficient for me to train her alone in entering table of contents records into the database, and then she would begin training the remaining staff. I entered the table of contents of one issue of an assigned journal to show her what to do in conjunction with the Spanish training manual I prepared. Miss Montoya then began inputting other issues so that I could examine her work and be available to answer questions that came up. This worked very well. Miss Montoya is very thorough and will be able to continue training the other staff to enter records. Our work together over three days raised many points on how to proceed, and allowed me to begin making certain revisions, additions, and changes to the training manual. The greatest challenge that will remain for Miss Montoya and other staff will be with dealing with portions of the records that are recorded in English. Miss Montoya has only some slight reading knowledge of English and the staff appeared to have even less. While they will be able to use the training manual's translations between English and Spanish for dates and the terms for book reviews and interviews, the procedure for umbrella title entries may still cause confusion. Despite my efforts to find examples in issues and the database and talk them through, the use of English in setting up these particular records may be a deterrent.
Journal Selection: The Biblioteca Inca had submitted a preliminary list in preparation for the grant last year though it omitted Chile, one of the six countries to be included in its assignment of Andean journals. Once the Biblioteca Inca code was available on May 5, Advisory Committee members back in the U.S. assisted me in adding Biblioteca Inca's assigned titles to the database. Two titles from the initial list were excluded since they are currently indexed in the Hispanic American Periodicals Index, and further identification of one title was necessary. Upon arrival, I needed to prepare more titles for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, as well as select all of the Chilean titles. At my request, Miss Montoya sent a list of Chilean titles held at the Biblioteca Inca prior to my departure for Cochabamba. This allowed me to search for them on OCLC and bring the printouts with me to aid in final title selection. Once present, Mr. Montalvo also had his staff bring out additional journal titles arranged by country so I could review them for assignment. This new group of titles has not yet been added to Biblioteca Inca's assignments pending some final bibliographic checking that I will complete in the United States.
Though I accomplished this part of the journal selection on my own, I used the final groupings to discuss with Miss Montoya the types of criteria needed for making future title selections. Having examples of different types of publications, both those chosen and rejected, was a convenient way of discussing selection criteria. While I explained why science, medical, and technical journals are generally excluded, the issue arose with regard to including law journals. Biblioteca Inca collects legal journals and would like to add them to their project journal commitments. I realize the U.S. partners probably do not collect any law titles since most of them are held and budgeted separately in the law school collections on their campuses. Also, it may be that the topic is considered too esoteric to be included in the database. However, this should be a topic for further discussion with regard to the policy on subject coverage.
Journal selection was also a topic with regard to how Biblioteca Inca will commit to maintaining its assigned titles. Biblioteca Inca is operating different environment than an academic setting or even a special library. Its existence depends (for now) on the existence of Editorial Inca, Mr. Montalvo's book business. For the time being, Mr. Montalvo is enthusiastic and willing for Biblioteca Inca to be a member in the Project, and he is very proud that Biblioteca Inca is the first Latin American partner. He understands how the library's participation in the Project will benefit its future growth and development, and how it can bring further benefits to the people of Bolivia. For that reason, he brought a journalist from the local newspaper, "Los Tiempos" to interview me on how Biblioteca Inca was the first Latin American participant in a U.S. grant project! Since Biblioteca Inca's collections result from Editorial Inca's purchases, the question remains how will Biblioteca Inca ensure that future issues of assigned titles will be added to the collection since the library does not have "active subscriptions" in the same sense that an academic library does. An important issue also brought up in a series of discussions with Mr. Montalvo and Miss Montoya was the understanding that simply adding countless new issues of any journal titles that come in with Editorial Inca's shipments was not desirable in terms of contributing a steady of growth of bibliographic records to the database. Rather than having a database with many hundreds of Andean titles with only one or two table of contents records entered, the expectation is to be as comprehensive as possible, to follow up on title assignments and work through the Editorial Inca's purchasing to continue receiving issues until a particular journal title ceases to exist so that Andean titles will be thoroughly documented in the database. Mr. Montalvo recognized the challenge inherent in this discussion, and authorized Miss Montoya to establish appropriate work routines and record keeping that would take account of assigned journals added to the Project.
Computer equipment: Again, we noticed on my second day at Biblioteca Inca that the scanner required some upgrade in installation. All other equipment purchased through the grant was in place by my arrival and ran with no difficulty. What remains to be seen is if Biblioteca Inca will be able to install a direct Internet connection that will allow a better turn around time for inputting records and using the Ariel software for delivery. The computer purchased by the grant and at least two others in the library have modem-access connections and these were very slow. Biblioteca Inca is presently negotiating with two Internet service providers in Cochabamba who are apparently offering some type of free direct connection that will give the library an IP address. Mr. Montalvo indicated that he is willing to subsidize this increased cost in access if needed. The UT-LANIC staff also are seeking some type of subsidized access. I had no difficulty in implementing the Ariel software but demonstrating how it works with the database when Biblioteca Inca's symbol and records will not be present for a few weeks made it a challenge to "virtually" demonstrate it to Miss Montoya. This may be an ongoing challenge with future Latin American partners that I will need to address so that they will have a better idea of what it does and how it does it.
Conclusion
Though a few delays occurred, in general, I was able to accomplish what I expected in this first site visit. I warned the Biblioteca Inca staff that by necessity they were my experiment for establishing procedures, but they were very helpful in assisting me and asking good questions. I also came up with my own list of future expectations. I should bring a diskette with the agreement and training manual to make on the spot revisions and changes. And for future visits, it would be a good idea for me to indicate that the computer will be for my use during the stay. At Biblioteca Inca, the computer equipment was conveniently placed so that it became my workstation during my stay, though I had not told the staff to set aside the computer for my private use. This was important since I had access to my e-mail account and needed it on a daily basis for information on the project, as well as for other tasks that I needed to do. Finally, although the next partner will probably have a different collecting pattern than Biblioteca Inca, it may still be necessary to emphasize the idea that the initial journal list submitted for their assignments must definitely be active subscriptions and/or titles to which they are dedicated to collecting indefinitely.
Gayle Williams
ARL Coordinator of Latin American Partnerships