Book Description

Serials Canada: Aspects of Serials in Canadian Libraries offers a new perspective on serials from a Canadian viewpoint. It provides a sampling of the variety and a sense of the importance of work--work which is less well-known and less covered than that of the U.S.--which Canadian libraries, scholars, and publishers are doing on serials. It presents valuable information not documented elsewhere, giving new insights and ideas to serials librarians worldwide. Authors in Serials Canada take a variety of approaches--historical and descriptive, argumentative, critical, and bibliographical--to their subject matter. Chapters offer close-up, in-depth snapshots of some important topics in Canadian serials. They cover topics including: electronic serials serials pricing, including new developments in the areas of cancellation, funding, cooperation, access, and electronic initiatives Canadian newspapers the historical development of Canadian ethnic serials publishing the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (CIHM) the editing, production, distribution, circulation, and marketing of the scholarly journal The Canadian Historical Review the purpose, focus, objectives, and future directions of the Canadian Serials Industry Systems Advisory Committee (CSISAC) the history, mandate, and organization of the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information's (CISTI) Document Delivery service Some of the peculiarities of the Canadian serials situation are discussed in the various chapters, especially in speculating about the future of librarianship. Serials Canada includes a unique bibliography of works on electronic journals either published in Canada or with some other Canadian connection. It also sheds some light on the evolution of the Canadian Periodicals Price Index study so that librarians will find the Index to be more useful in future years. It emphasizes the common elements and some of the problems inherent in newspaper preservation and management by giving an overview of the Decentralized Plan for Canadian newspapers. The discussion of CISTI assists readers in understanding the various services offered by Document Delivery and discusses how technology has been used to ensure that CISTI's Document Delivery services remain relevant to its clients and cost effective in a competitive environment. The information in Serials Canada is of particular interest to librarians of all levels and library professionals and scholars. It will help the Canadian librarian stay up-to-date with developments at home and help those from other countries gain a more international and comparative perspective.