Task force on out of print AAP/RTSD joint committee report

Abstract

After the AAP/RTSD Joint Committee’s program on out of print at the ALA annual meeting in 1988, Sandy Paul asked for volunteers to delve more deeply into the problems of out of print materials. Over 125 individuals expressed interest in this task between the program and the Task Force’s meeting on June 24, 1989. Sandy began by reporting that the issue of out of print materials had been receiving some good publicity since formation of the task force. She cited a recent article in American Libraries [l] as well as a series of articles in Against the Grain [2-4]. She also introduced Edward Johnson of Abacus who announced that his company is negotiating with a major library sup plier to bring up an out of print database by the fall of 1989. Readers may get in touch with Mr. Johnson at the following address: POB 543, Owings Mills, MD 21117. Other news included an announcement that the Black Studies Discussion Group was holding a meeting at the same time as the Task Force to discuss the problem of O.P. titles in the field of Black studies. Also, it was noted that Bowker is publishing a new edition of The Glarsary of Terms for the Book Industry which could include some terminology relevant to out of print transactions. At the January 1989 meeting of the Task Force, the members divided into various working groups. The summer meeting, therefore, dealt primarily with receiving reports from the groups. The first subcommittee, “Author Contacts,” was chaired by Helen Miller. She reported that she had sent a letter to 22 author-affiliated organizations asking for their perspective on the out of print problems. She had heard from two. The Writers’ Guild, East indicated that their area of interest is film and television scripts and they did not think they could be of help. Helen Stephenson, from the Author’s Guild, responded and suggested that the Task Force