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July 22nd, 2009LISWire
Developers of Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) Receive Coutts Award for Innovation in Electronic
Resources ManagementSERU 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 -
July 22nd, 2009LISWire
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.
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