SLA PAM Division Practices Manual: Brief History of the Division: Part II


		Brief History of the Division: Part II By Dorothy H. Manderscheid, Archivist; November 2, 1999 The early history of the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics Division (PAM) is well presented in Jack W. Weigel's "Brief History of the Division, Part I". In October 1972 the SLA Executive Board had approved "provisional" status for PAM for a two year period. At the end of this two year period, provisional status was extended for two more years since PAM did not yet have the 100 members required for full division status. With the 100 member requirement met, PAM received full division status in June 1975 by vote of the SLA Board of Directors. Part II of the history of PAM covers highlights from the 1975-1999 period. The Late Seventies In 1976 the U.S. was celebrating its bicentennial. Three Mile Island suffered a near meltdown. Elvis Presley died. Bellbottom trousers were part of the official teen-age wardrobe. Disposable diapers were introduced. For PAM the 1975-1979 years were a time of high aspirations. There was talk of projects such as literature guides, bibliographies, union serial lists, acronym guides, journal exchanges, cataloging rare astronomy books of North America, microfilming observatory publications, and a job hotline. In 1976-77 it was decided that one project would be designated as "project of the year" with adequate support and funding provided. An improved PAM Directory with more information than provided in the SLA directory was chosen as the project for that year. The project for 1977-78 was the Union List of Astronomy Serials (ULAS). Unfortunately, this labor of love would not be completed until the eighties. An effort was made in 1978-79 to establish an exchange between the People's Republic of China and the PAM Division that would involve 10 American and 10 Chinese librarians. The exchange project had to be abandoned due to lack of funding. Physics, astronomy and mathematics workshop sessions had been held concurrently, but in 1976 the decision was made to schedule them separately so those working in different areas could attend all sessions. The first PAM Division Award, for outstanding contribution to the literature of physics, astronomy, or mathematics, was awarded to Dr. D. A. Kemp in 1977 for his annotated guide to the astronomy/astrophysics literature. Only the first recipients of the three different PAM awards will be listed in this history since the winners and their accomplishments as well as current award guidelines are available in the PAM Policy, Procedures and History Manual (http://www.sla.org/division/dpam/manual/awards/index.html). The 1979 SLA Annual Conference was held in Hawaii. PAM sponsored two field trips, one to the Bishop Museum and Planetarium and the other to Mauna Kea Observatory. The nine PAM members who made the ascent to Mauna Kea in two somewhat unreliable jeeps on unpaved and dangerously narrow roads agreed that this was the most memorable PAM field trip. The Eighties Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer. The Vietnam War Memorial was dedicated. After the Berlin wall was destroyed, communism had all but ceased to exist in Eastern Europe. The reunification of Germany took place. There were revolutionary developments in technology. It was proposed that the name of the Special Libraries Association be changed to the Information Management Society. While many of the ambitious PAM projects tackled in the seventies had not yet come to fruition, much progress had been made. With the support of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), a greatly improved PAM Directory was published in 1982. Some projects were abandoned as not practical. PAM was maturing as observed by Suzanne Fedunok: If organizations parallel their human members in their stages of development, I believe PAM is moving in to middle age along with many of us. PAM seems to have stopped growing in size, might be getting a bit set in its ways, and on the positive side, seems willing to contribute productive work, even though it is drudgery sometimes, to meet its goals. There might be a mid-life crisis ahead, but that can be a stimulating experience, life is change after all... May we grow old gracefully together! (Fedunok, 1982, p. 27) In 1983 PAM received tentative approval for a $4,000 loan from SLA for the publication of ULAS which was finally published in January 1984 under the leadership of Judy Lola [Bausch]. The plan was to sell 1,000 copies at $20 each and pay back the loan by the end of 1984. But early in 1985 PAM was still $1,000 in debt to SLA and there was only $9 in the PAM treasury. Sales continued, steadily but slowly, and by 1986 the loan was completely repaid. In 1988 PAM gave a copy of ULAS to each participant at the Colloquium on Library and Information Services in Astronomy (LISA I), held in Washington, D.C. SLA provided $2,000 in support money for this colloquium. One result of the colloquium was a "twinning" program in which one western librarian and one non-western librarian were paired for purposes of communication and possible exchange of library materials. Under the leadership of Robyn Shobbrock from Australia, a number of PAM members became heavily involved in the International Astronomical Union Thesaurus (popularly referred to as T-REX), a comprehensive compilation of astronomical terms in a hierarchical structure. An AMS Ad-Hoc Library Committee, including four PAM members and four mathematicians, was appointed in 1989 to study library issues affecting the mathematics research community. The committee's charge was to focus on obtaining data on (1) basic facts about mathematics libraries, (2) cost issues, (3) information-seeking behavior of mathematicians, and (4) new technologies. The astronomy projects and the participation on the AMS Committee are illustrative of the way in which PAM members became involved in projects with other professional organizations. While PAM was not always the official sponsoring organization, such activities are nevertheless an integral part of PAM history. In the early eighties, PAM sponsored many programs dealing with online searching and the use of computers in libraries. Consideration was given to adding computer science as a PAM subject area. It was recognized that there was overlap with other divisions and there was concern as to how other divisions might react to PAM adding computer science. The decision was made to add more computer science to PAM programs and attract people in that way. A computer science workshop was cosponsored with the Science and Technology Division at the New Orleans conference in 1983. The program was a grand success and eventually the decision was made that PAM would share the responsibility for the Computer Science Workshop on an alternating year basis with the Science and Technology Division. As the decade progressed, there was more emphasis on program sponsorship than in the seventies. There were programs on using magnetic tapes and CD-ROMs, accessing new databases, communications through networks, and space concerns for growing collections. By the end of the decade there was increasing discussion as to what to do about journal prices. A separate vendor's update became a traditional part of the Annual Conference program. PAM members were not adverse to taking a stand when considered appropriate. At the 1988 PAM Annual Business Meeting member Jack Weigel proposed that a resolution be adopted urging the SLA Board of Directors to oppose clearly and publicly the FBI's Library Awareness Program and requesting that the FBI end this program promptly. The resolution also urged that SLA cooperate fully with other national library organizations in their opposition to this FBI program. The motion to adopt this resolution was passed overwhelmingly by PAM. The SLA-PAM listserv, later nicknamed PAMnet by Bruce Pelz, was started in 1988 by Joanne Goode to provide a forum for the discussion of library and information resource issues relevant to the fields of physics, astronomy, and mathematics. It is the oldest SLA related mailing list. The listserv started with a small pilot group of PAM members but by 1989 it had been opened to all PAM members and it was possible to issue commands directly to the listserv at the University of Kentucky. Soon PAMnet was opened to all librarians who worked in subject areas covered by PAM. By the end of the eighties, PAM had 150 members and had become a thriving division. Helen Knudsen at the end of her service as PAM Chair commented: The Chair has found these last two years to be the busiest in living memory. It has been a richly rewarding experience to be entitled to (to have to!) get in touch with so many well-known librarians, scientists, administrators, speakers, writers, computer wizards, publishers, dealers, and others who would never have come into my experience had it not been a part of PAM duties. Hard work, late hours, myriad details, much writing and hours upon hours of calls, all add up to a time I would not exchange for anything and would not prolong for a minute longer than necessary. I am grateful for the experience, and glad to relinquish it to my successor. (Knudsen, 1989, p. 26) The Nineties The occupation of Kuwait by military troops from Iraq in 1990 was followed by Operation Desert Storm. Sports utility vehicles became the vehicle of choice for many. Gourmet coffee drinks were popular at neighborhood coffee houses. Clark Kent proposed to Lois Lane in the Superman comic book. SLA published a new magazine, Information Outlook. The early nineties found PAM in a better financial position than the early eighties. A money market account was opened with SLA in 1990. (It is a divisional goal to have one year's operating expenses in reserve.) Marlene Cummins, as Chair, compiled the first Policies and Procedures Manual for the division in 1990. A library budget survey was conducted in 1990 and 1991. The PAM Bulletin now had its own ISBN. A list of new mathematics journals was established by Richard Funkhauser and Janice Jaguszewski and eventually taken over by the AMS and posted on its Web page. A PAM journal cancellation list was established by David Stern. A PAM Web page was established. The first PAM-wide roundtable was organized by Nancy Anderson. This roundtable became an annual event, allowing more time for discussion of issues common to all. There was an increased emphasis on PAM members becoming more proactive in the entire information network. A goal of division leadership was to build links with publishers and societies in our subject disciplines. Some of the items to be addressed included subscription fulfillment and service expectations for vendors. By the end of 1999 formal or informal liaisons had been established with 14 different publishers. The PAM Division has been recognized for its leadership role in networking and its relationships with publishers. Work with other professional organizations continued. Acronyms like NED (NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database) and SIMBAD (Set of Identifications, Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) were followed by the Astrophysics Data System which provided an interface for things astronomical. The IAU Astronomy Thesaurus (T-REX) was officially released in 1993. To celebrate, there was a party in the PAM hospitality suite in San Francisco. A green dinosaur was seen cutting the cake and riding the hotel elevators. A second edition of the Union List of Astronomy Serials was completed in 1993 and made available via FTP with paper copy to the archives. The Multi-Lingual Supplement to T-REX was published in 1995. LISA II was held in 1995 at the European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany. LISA III was held in the Canary Islands in 1998. The SLA Board approved $2,000 in support money for both of these meetings to assist librarians from developing countries in attending. The AMS Ad Hoc Library Committee became a standing committee, meeting to discuss issues on a regular basis, doing library surveys, and sponsoring programs and exhibits at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. The Committee also facilitated communication with the Library of Congress regarding cataloging and classification of mathematics materials. Later in the decade PAM asked the American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) to provide a more searchable version of Current Index to Statistics (CIS) to better serve the needs of libraries. The end result was a Web version of CIS. PAM celebrated its 20^th Anniversary in Montreal in 1995. The anniversary party was interrupted by an alarm set off by a laundry room fire. PAM was not about to let something like a fire spoil the fun. When the hotel was ordered evacuated , David Stern, PAM Chair, adjourned the party to a nearby bar. There was a greater emphasis on international relations during the nineties with the establishment of an International Relations Committee for PAM in 1992. PAMnet had many international subscribers. PAM's International Relations Committee tried to identify overseas mathematics librarians. A Former Soviet Union (FSU) Library Partner's program was established. In 1998 a new regional forum was announced, the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics and Computer Science Asia-Pacific Forum (PAM-APF). PAM-APF aimed to foster information exchange among colleagues and ensure that publishers were aware of technological weaknesses in the developing world, especially in the Asia-Pacific Region. The group had its own electronic discussion list and eventually a mirror site which provided Chinese translations. The PAM International Relations Committee set up a program for SLA Global 2000 on the topic "Equity of Access to Information Resources: Networking Resources". At the end of the nineties PAM members were trying to jointly solve the new problems created by online journal access. The PAM Strategic Planning Committee completed a PAM survey to serve as a basis for the division's future plans and aspirations for the coming millennium. The resulting strategic plan identified four areas of need: (1) communications and networking; (2) conference programming; (3) mentoring and professional development, and (4) liaison relationships with vendors and publishers. A Mentoring Subcommittee of the Professional Development Committee set up a Buddy Program for the 1999 Annual Conference to help new members feel part of the division and provide help. The Mentoring Subcommittee planned to help establish long-term mentoring relationships as well and involved PAM members in an expertise database which would connect people with expertise with people with needs. The PAM Bulletin Online was launched in 1995 under Bulletin editor Thurston Miller, but the paper version was continued since many PAM members were not subscribers to PAMnet. PAMnet was moved to Yale University in 1996 with David Stern as the new list owner. A new post of PAMnet Monitor was established to summarize important PAMnet postings in the PAM Bulletin for those not on PAMnet. Since the listserv could not be archived at Yale, a threaded archive was established at the University of Notre Dame by Thurston Miller. New sections were added to the PAM Web Page and the position of Web Manager was established. A sponsorship brochure was published for the first time and an updated membership brochure was completed. A new award, the PAM Achievement Award, was announced in 1997. The award is for recipients whose professional work is marked by distinction and dedication to librarianship in astronomy, mathematics and/or physics and for outstanding contributions to the division. Award winners for the first year were Ellen Bouton, Marlene Cummins, Sarah Stevens-Rayburn, and Jack W. Weigel. In 1999 the PAM International Membership Award was established providing a two year membership in SLA to a librarian from a developing country who works in a PAM subject field. Christina Louis from India was the first winner of this award. In 1997 after the PAM Executive Board approved a recommendation to move PAMnet to SLA's host machine, SLA announced a three year partnership with commercial firms for sponsorship of the Association's Board. Sponsorship allowed attachment of an advertising trailer to each piece of electronic mail distributed by any of discussion lists hosted at SLA. The attachment of this advertising was unacceptable to the PAM Board, and it voted to temporarily suspend the prior decision to move PAMnet to SLA's host machine. At the Seattle SLA Division Cabinet Meeting, a statement detailing the PAM Division's opposition to advertising trailers was read; other divisions agreed with our stance by a vote of 18-4. SLA, however, indicated that a sponsorship contract had been signed for three years and could not be changed at that time. Joanne Goode wrote at the end of 1997: As Brenda [Corbin] said in her message last month, PAM is a very special Division and I share her vision of keeping it special. I think it is special because it provides a community of peers who help new people begin their careers and help veteran members grow and remain motivated. I find the conferences, especially, a great source of renewal and inspiration (Goode, 1997, p. 8) PAM is a special division for all the reasons listed above plus many others. It is being greeted at the division hospitality suite by Liz Bryson in her grass skirt and handed a drink by former member PAM member Bruce Pelz. It is solving a problem in your library by querying hundreds of experts from around the world on PAMnet. May the current spirit of the group continue into the new millennium. References Fedunok, Suzanne. "Message from the Chair." PAM Bulletin 9 (May 1982): 25, 27. Goode, Joanne. "Pam Past-Chair." PAM Bulletin 25 (November 1997): 8. Knudsen, Helen. "Message from the Chair." PAM Bulletin (May 1989): 23, 25-26. PAM Practices Manual Editor: Kristine Fowler, fowler@math.umn.edu Copyright protected.

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