December 2000

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Automation Activities Are Planned For 2001 The Board of Trustees of the North Country Reference & Research Resources Council has approved the 2001 plan for Automation Activities under the Regional Bibliographic Database Program (RBDB). The 2001 Plan will allow the Council to continue to provide several popular services. The Council will continue to assist libraries in the retrospective conversion of their collections. In 2001, five school library systems, one public library system and two academic libraries will receive assistance in this endeavor. The program will once again support the use of OCLC's Group Access Capability (GAC) for thirty-two libraries in the form of a subsidy for GAC use. ICEPAC, the region's online union catalog of holdings, will be funded for four quarterly updates in 2001. NORPAC, the CD-ROM version of the regional catalog, will be supported in the form of one updated edition. Other ongoing projects to continue under the 2001 RBDB plan include the maintenance of the Union List of Serials, and support for HOBO, the electronic messaging system used by many libraries for Interlibrary Loan communications. The Council will continue to support the purchase of passwords for several full text databases, including Wilson Omnifile Full Text Select and OCLC's WorldCat. As in past years' plans, funds are provided for at least one continuing education conference or workshop on a related topic. The preparation of the RBDB Annual Plan is the responsibility of the Regional Automation Committee. Members of this committee are appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Council, and serve a three-year term on the committee. Committee members are representative of the full spectrum of library types and sizes in the region. The Board of Trustees traditionally makes new appointments to this committee at its May meeting. Library staff with an interest in this committee should contact the Council at (315) 386-4560 or doyle@northnet.org