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    July 22nd, 2009LISWire aggregatorLISWire

    Developers of Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) Receive Coutts Award for Innovation in Electronic
    Resources Management

    SERU Recommended Practice from NISO Offers an Alternative to E-Resources Licenses

    Baltimore, MD - July 22, 2009 – The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) is pleased to announce that Judy
    Luther, President of Informed Strategies, and Selden Lamoureux, Electronic Resources Librarian at North Carolina State
    University Libraries, are the recipients of the Coutts Award for Innovation in Electronic Resources Management for their
    work in developing SERU: A Shared Electronic Resource Understanding, a NISO recommended practice.

    The award, sponsored by Coutts Information Services, is given by the Collection Management and Development Section
    (CMDS) of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS). It was presented to Luther and
    Lamoureux in an awards ceremony at the American Library Association Conference in Chicago on July 12, 2009.

    "Selden Lamoureux and Judy Luther brought together librarians, publishers, and subscription agents to address the labor-
    intensive process of negotiating licenses for electronic resources, a process that has increasingly overwhelmed both libraries
    and publishers," explained Andrea Imre, chair of the selection committee and Electronic Resources Librarian, Morris Library,
    Southern Illinois University Carbondale. "SERU offers a congenial and painless method for achieving a mutual
    understanding between publishers and libraries. With the potential for drastically reducing the amount of time and money it
    takes to bring resources to users, SERU is a significant step forward in the electronic resource acquisition process."
    "It's amazing to realize that the idea for SERU was first shared at the Charleston Conference a little more than three years
    ago," stated award recipient, Judy Luther. "Thanks to Karla Hahn's leadership as co-chair with me of the working group and
    the support from NISO, consensus was reached among librarians, publishers, and agents, leading to the adoption of a best
    practice that can streamline acquisition of electronic products."
    "The experience of working with SERU has delivered on its promise of fast, effective turnaround time for ordering e-journals
    from what used to take months to what can now take as little as an afternoon," confirmed award recipient Selden Lamoureux.
    "A number of organizations have been quick to sign on and the value of SERU will continue to expand with the growing
    number of participating publishers and libraries."
    "This is wonderful recognition of the contributions that the SERU project has made to the community," Todd Carpenter,
    NISO Managing Director, declared. "Licensing is a significant bottleneck in the information distribution supply chain.
    Through its consensus process, NISO is able to bring together libraries and publishers to address these inefficiencies and
    SERU is a great example of the results that are possible. Hopefully, this award and the recognition of its impact will continue
    to spur adoption of SERU."
    NISO hosts on its website (www.niso.org/workrooms/seru/) the free SERU recommended practice and related support
    materials, including the SERU registry of publishers and libraries who have indicated interest in using SERU for electronic
    resources. Currently, the registry lists 35 publishers and content providers and over 100 libraries and consortia.
    About NISO
    NISO fosters the development and maintenance of standards that facilitate the creation, persistent management, and effective
    interchange of information so that it can be trusted for use in research and learning. To fulfill this mission, NISO engages
    libraries, publishers, information aggregators, and other organizations that support learning, research, and scholarship through
    the creation, organization, management, and curation of knowledge. NISO works with intersecting communities of interest
    and across the entire lifecycle of an information standard. NISO is a not-for-profit association accredited by the American
    National Standards Institute (ANSI). More information about NISO is available on its website: www.niso.org. For more
    information please contact NISO on (301) 654-2512 or via email on nisohq@niso.org
    FOR MORE INFORMATION:
    Karen A. Wetzel
    NISO Standards Program Manager
    Tel.: 301-654-2512
    E-mail: kwetzel@niso.org

  • scissors
    July 22nd, 2009LISWire aggregatorLISWire

    The Executive Board of the American Library Association approved
    the establishment of a certification program for library support staff
    at its meeting last week in Chicago. The LSSC Program is the
    first national, voluntary certification program for library support
    staff. Funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library
    Services, the program will now enter a testing phase in five library
    organizations across the United States.

    Camilla Alire, ALA president, said, "This innovative certification
    program demonstrates the value of all library support staff to our
    national association and to our nation's libraries. LSS are critical to
    the success of our libraries in meeting the needs of our users."

    Here is the document that was approved by the Executive Board.