Minutes
June 7, 2004
SALALM, Ann Arbor, MI

Present: Peter Stern (U Mass), Eduardo Lozano (Univ of Pittsburgh), Joe Holub (Penn), Geoffrey West (British Library), Peter Altekrüger (Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut), Lourdes Vázquez (Rutgers), Patricia Figueroa (Brown), César Rodríguez (Yale), David Block (Cornell), Roberta Astroff (Penn State), Daisy Domínguez (NYU), Angela Carreno (NYU), Fernando Acosta-Rodríguez (Princeton), Dan Hazen (Harvard), Pamela Graham (Columbia), Lynn Shirey (Harvard, Chair)

I. LANE WEBSITE

Fernando presented an update on the LANE website, which has a new address: http://www.lanelibraries.org/.

Action item: Fernando requested that LANE members check links to our own institutional pages, OPACs, and email addresses and report any changes or updates to him.

II. LANE Union list of newspapers and magazines

Fernando suggested that we check the links to online versions of newspapers for our respective country assignments. He will send out a list of the country responsibilities.

A discussion then ensued over whether the union list should include information about newspapers that are available online via subscription databases, and if so, whether details of online holdings should be listed. Should we be selective in including information about online newspapers, or comprehensive? It was noted that such information would be useful to SALALM members in general, and perhaps the SALALM electronic resources subcommittee might want to take on such a project. It was also suggested that vendors might be able to provide information about titles/holdings available in their online products. No conclusions were reached over whether online database holdings should be part of the Union list, as further discussion is needed.

Action items:
" David Block volunteered to find out whether Serial Solutions can break down information about what's included in large news databases.
" Members should send any union list updates to Fernando, who will continue to maintain page.
" LANE should contact the SALALM Electronic Resources subcommittee and get their feedback on this project.

III. El País and licensing of foreign electronic resources

Angela gave us an update on the status of NERL negotiations with the publishers of the Spanish newspaper, El País (Prisacom?). After our November 2003 meeting, it was decided that El País could serve as a pilot project for NERL in developing standards and practices for negotiating consortial licenses to foreign online resources. The standard NERL license was translated, and the group's basic requirements were communicated to El País. El País wanted to use their own basic license, but this did not meet NERL's basic requirements. The last communication with El País/Prisacom was in January 2004, and negotiations have stalled since then. It appears that the technical issues of access have been addressed (several North American libraries have successfully set up access based on IP recognition), but licensing issues have not been satisfactorily resolved.

LANE members discussed NERL's role, the nature of vendor relations in this situation (i.e. lack of interest in satisfying North American academic library requirements), and possible strategies for addressing these issues. Patricia will explore institutional ties that might be pursued with Spanish institutions, with the aim of learning about how those institutions have set up access. The Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional of the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación is one possibility. (??) While the SALALM Electronic Resources Subcommittee has set up a task force to examine vendor/librarian relations with respect to online products, there was skepticism over El País' interest in being "educated" on North American academic library standards.

IV. Latino Newspapers

Continuing our discussion from previous LANE meetings, we re-visited the issue of collecting U.S. -published Spanish language and/or Hispanic/Latino newspapers. Fernando reported that Nélida Pérez of the Hunter College Library is working with a consultant and the Library of Congress to take over the filming of El Diario/La Prensa (New York). An independent filmer, Mark Zeitschik of Praxess, will film copies held at NYPL, and will film new issues as well. Columbia is still interested in subscribing to the newspaper, Hoy, but has not been able to initiate a subscription. Pamela will also look into the possibilities of having the paper filmed.

It was agreed that we should add these papers to the union list. It was also suggested that we invite representatives from Hunter College's Library and possibly the Dominican Studies Institute at City College to the Fall LANE meeting.

V. Institutional Reports:

Rutgers: In cooperation with IDC, the library will be organizing and filming approximately 4,500 Latin American pamphlets from 1940-1960 dealing with labor history. A database is being developed to inventory the collection and the database will be used to access material on the microfilm.

Brown: Patricia reported a major microfilm purchase of 100 years worth of the Portuguese newspaper, Diario de Noticias, 1864-1964.

Yale: César reported a major purchase of the Los Angeles Spanish language newspaper, La Opinion. Yale has also purchased backfiles of Mexican gazettes, focusing on border states, and the microfilm of the Diario de Noticias from Portugal. Yale is seeking funding from NEH to preserve and possibly digitize parts of a Cuban collection of film and photographs. The funding would also support organization of the collection, and production of finding aids. The materials are currently available for use.

Cornell: David reported the acquisition of the Huntington Free Library Collection, consisting of artifacts and documents related to native American ethnographic studies. The collection includes materials on South and North America.

Columbia: The Rare Book and Manuscript Library has acquired the archives of Human Rights Watch, including institutional documents, country reports and files. The Library is hiring a project archivist to process the collection and Pamela will provide more information about the collection's contents and access policies when this information becomes available.

Harvard: Lynn reported the purchase of access to the online version of the Argentine journal, Sur. This will complement Harvard's holdings of primary source materials of major writers associated with Sur's production. Lynn completed an online finding aid to 18th and 19th century Cuban papers held at Harvard. The papers include material collected by José Agusto Escoto from Matanzas, historical and literary materials, correspondence and statistical information. As of July 1, Lynn will assume the position of Acting Librarian for Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, and in the coming year Harvard will conduct a search for a permanent replacement for Dan, who is now Head of Collection Development at Widener Library. Dan reported on the ongoing project to digitize Cuban pamphlets, and to link the digital versions to the records in Harvard's OPAC. About 3,000 pamphlets will be available in the near future.

U Mass: Peter S. reported that he has been acquiring Latin American and Spanish films in the past year.

VI. Gifts & Exchanges

Brief mention was made of the gifts and exchanges database created at Florida International University. Some LANE members have used this system to dispose of unwanted duplicates. Yale mentioned briefly that they have "profiles" of materials wanted by partners, and they periodically send suitable items. The gifts and exchanges situation is a possible agenda item for the next LANE meeting.

Columbia University will host the Fall LANE meeting.

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