News
Astronomy News
Pamela Yorks
Monday, June 10, 1996, 1:30-2:45 p.m.
Over 50 librarians, publisher reps, or guests attended the Monday afternoon session.
1) Survey for IAU
Ellen Bouton, NRAO Library, asked a few questions relating to the IAU Symposia for an NRAO staff member who is attending the IAU (International Astronomical Union) Executive Council meetings later in June. Seven of the 20 librarians responding buy all of the IAU Symposia, 13 of the 20 buy only some.
2) LISA III
Uta Grothkopf, ESO Library, led discussion over having another LISA (Library and Information Services in Astronomy) international meeting. LISA II was held in May, 1995, and most people felt there should be 3-5 years before a LISA III is held. Nineteen people showed interest in attending. Uta Grothkopf suggested an Eastern European site, but Liz Bryson suggested Hawaii (for Pacific Rim folks), since LISA I was in the eastern U.S. and LISA II was in Germany. Volunteers for a LISA III committee were: Brenda Corbin, Joyce Watson, Marlene Cummins, Liz Bryson, Jane Holmquist, and Uta Grothkopf.
3) Journal Delivery Date Survey
Marion Schmitz from Caltech gave a summary of a survey he did of receipt dates for Astronomy and Astrophysics (A&A) and A&A Supplement Series (A&AS). Ten percent of A&A issues were late and 15 issues had to be claimed, while 6% of A&AS were late and 31 issues were claimed. He concluded there is a definite problem with delivery in the U.S., but European subscribers do not have as many problems. Liz Bryson suggested people contact her (see below) if they have consistently late issues because she has a special delivery contract that might work for others.
4) NED (NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database)
Marion Schmitz also gave a presentation on NED, a free electronic research tool from the Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology. NED contains physical parameters for extragalactic objects, and journal references, as well as journal and theses abstracts. Objects can be searched by name, position, and characteristics; reference papers can be searched by author, year, and object. Internet access to NED is by Telnet or via the Web. Contact Marion for further information.
5) ADS (Astrophysics Data System) Update
Alberto Accomazzi, ADS programmer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, gave an update on ADS, the free World Wide Web data service with abstracts in three subject areas: 1) Astronomy & Astrophysics (240,000 abstracts), 2) Space Instrumentation (410,000), and 3) Physics and Geophysics (215,000). Abstracts are from journals, proceedings, symposia, Ph.D. theses, and internal NASA reports. The ADS has a home page and the abstract service has a home page.
ADS abstracts can be searched by author, object name (astrophysics only), title, or abstract text words with links to scanned full-text images of 22,000 articles from Astrophysical Journal Letters, Astronomical Journal, and Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific since 1975, and Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) since 1990. They are currently adding the rest of ApJ since 1975 and will soon be adding a number of other journals such as A&A. There are hyperlinks to data archives, SIMBAD, and electronic publications. The link to current electronic publications is especially useful because ADS cannot include full-text articles from the current year.
Future plans for ADS include creating a citation index (with hyperlinks), possibly a preprint database, and allowing searches by data set. However, they are no longer creating abstracts for outside literature. Usage has dramatically increased since their move to the Web, and they expect continued NASA funding.
6) AAS (American Astronomical Society) Update
Peter Boyce, AAS, announced that while only Part 2 of Astrophysical Journal (ApJ Letters) is now available online, plans are for the entire ApJ to be online in October, 1996. Current issues of the Letters appear on the Web approximately one month before the cover date. Online subscriptions to ApJ will begin in January, 1997, with site licenses available. The proposed cost for a paper plus electronic subscription will be $1250. AAS plans to have Astronomical Journal (AJ) online in June, 1997.
Peter Boyce then discussed issues relating to the inter-connectivity and interoperability of electronic publications. AAS has links to the Astrophysics Data System, and Boyce feels that ADS is an integral part of the future of electronic journals in astronomy and astrophysics. He talked about the need for linked databases with research literature, data, tables in standardized formats, and preprints. For a more detailed account, consult Boyce's article called "Building a Peer-Reviewed Scientific Journal on the Internet" in the May-June, 1996, issue of Computers in Physics (Vol.10, No.3).
Boyce also talked about ways that AAS could get more feedback from librarians. Suggestions were: 1) an informal get-together at the SLA meetings in Seattle, 2) a library alert service, 3) a discussion about inter-connectivity issues on PAMnet.
7) A&A Online
Liz Bryson brought up the concerns of some European astronomers about Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) going online. Copies of two letters from astronomers with their concerns, and of the original message from A&A, are available from Liz. Please contact her for them.
8) Other Topics
Time ran out for discussion of other topics on the agenda, such as other new electronic journals like New Astronomy, printing of electronic journals, and search engines on the Web. A group met informally to discuss printing issues and we will put a summary and request for comments on PAMnet. We may also bring up the other issues for discussion on PAMnet or at SLA Seattle 1997. Meanwhile, it was suggested that we discuss the continuing problem of insufficient time for the Roundtables at the Board Meeting.
Thanks to all who attended the Roundtable, and to Alice Primack for taking notes. Special thanks to the invited speakers (Marion Schmitz, Alberto Accomazzi, and Peter Boyce), who only got a beer for their efforts (and Marion didn't even get that). We hope to see everyone again next year in Seattle.