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August 4, 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
  1. Conversion to Pinyin for Chinese Romanization
  2. IC: More New Faces
  3. Seeking Acquisitions Manager at the Law Library
  4. Titles to Make You Smile: Fish Stories (Part 2)
  5. SUL/AIR Job Opportunities


1. CONVERSION TO PINYIN FOR CHINESE ROMANIZATION

After years of preparation, North American libraries are finally ready to convert to the pinyin system for the romanization of Chinese. October 1, 2000 has been designated as "Day 1". Henceforth, all systematic romanization of Chinese in cataloging will be done according to the pinyin system, replacing the Wade-Giles system which has been in use by the Library of Congress and other North American libraries, including Stanford, since the 1950's. This change will affect not just records for Chinese works, but records for works in other languages as well, if romanized Chinese access points are used (e.g., a personal name as author, a geographic place name as subject). Staff at SUL and Hoover are working within the national framework to implement this new standard within our catalog.

Differences between the two systems are manifested in both spelling and spacing. For example:

Mao Tse-tung      Mao Zedong
Pei-ching             Beijing

The version on the left is romanized according to Wade- Giles, and the one on the right according to pinyin.

In order not to have records that are romanized according to these two different systems residing in the same catalog, massive conversion projects are being planned under the leadership of the Library of Congress, the Research Libraries Group, and OCLC. The main components are:

  • OCLC will convert 180,000 name authority records that are in the national authority file in August 2000.
  • RLG will convert 170,000 Library of Congress Chinese language bibliographic records in August/September 2000, and then will tackle the remaining 2.5 million Chinese records that are in the RLIN database, to be completed by the end of April 2001.
  • OCLC will convert Chinese bibliographic records in its database (WorldCat) also by the end of April 2001.

During the transition period when a mixture of Wade-Giles and pinyin records coexist in various systems, a pinyin marker will be used (the 987 field in bibliographic records and 008/07 in authority records) to indicate the conversion status of an individual record.

In Unicorn/Socrates, we have approximately 6,000 Chinese bibliographic records that belong to SUL, and 47,000 that belong to the Hoover East-Asia Library. Our plan for their conversion is to send the SUL records to OCLC, which provides a conversion service that accepts records from individual library systems, and to order a snapshot file from RLG for the Hoover records after they have been converted in RLIN. For authority records, we will receive the converted records through our authorities service vendor (LTI). Once they are loaded into Unicorn, all linked bibliographic records, Chinese as well as non- Chinese, will be updated with the new pinyin form of the heading. The old Wade-Giles form will become a see reference.

Unfortunately, these changes will not happen overnight. Instead, they will be carried out over a period of several months (roughly Oct. 2000-Apr. 2001). During this transition period, one should be extra careful when using romanized Chinese in catalog searching, and be mindful of the fact that the target record(s) may be romanized in either Wade-Giles or pinyin.

More information related to the pinyin conversion project is available at http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/catdept /pinyin.html

--submitted by Vitus Tang
2. IC: MORE NEW FACES

Phyllis Kayten has joined the Information Center as a part-time Reference Specialist. She has a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook and is currently in the process of a career change from human factors investigations to library science. She previously worked at NASA as a human factors psychologist, and before that, as an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. In the latter position, she was among a team of NTSB investigators who would go to various airplane, train, and bus accidents throughout the US and investigate what human factors (from instrumentation displays to air traffic controller work schedules) may have contributed to these accidents. We are happy that she is now applying her investigative skills and information retrieval experience on the Information Center desk.

Christina Mesa joins the IC team as a Reference Specialist. She obtained her Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford in 1999, and has taught in the Introduction to the Humanities program on campus. Her research interests include: Western 19th Century Culture, 20th Century Narratives in Film, and 21st Century Parenting. She is anticipating the birth of her first child. She will be teaching a course next Spring entitled "Americans in Paris" for the English Department. In the meantime, she says she is very happy to be honing her research skills at the IC Desk.

Mary Munill, formerly the Microtexts specialist in Media and Microtexts, is our new Interlibrary Borrowing Specialist. An alumna of Chico State, she is currently working on her M.L.S. at San Jose State, where her interests are reference services and online searching. Her background includes working at Brentano's Bookstore, where she fondly remembers placing special orders for customers, and also as a Senior Customs Administrator for KLA-Tencor, where she managed the process of importing materials from foreign countries into the US. And, in addition to these apt pre-Interlibrary Services experiences, she also brings her cheerful attitude and her passion for Giants baseball to the unit.

Please join me in welcoming Phyllis, Christina and Mary!

--submitted by Rob Daigle
3. SEEKING AQUISITIONS MANAGER AT THE LAW LIBRARY

Library Specialist IV: Under the direction of the Assistant Director for Technical Services, manages the daily operation of the acquisitions department. Responsible for ordering new monograph, serial, and standing orders titles, receiving and payment. Oversees bibliographic verification and creation of online bibliographic records, vendor selection, receiving, routing, and claiming. Approves and processes invoices for payment; arranges prepayments as needed; coordinates online vouchering of invoices for payment; serves as liaison with Accounts Payable. Monitors the budget for monographs, serials, standing orders, and bindery. Responsible for managing the receipt and processing of U.S. Government Printing Office materials received through the Federal Depository Library Program. Supervises staff of one Library Specialist and students. Computer skills are an integral part of the position. Attention to detail is essential. Knowledge of Western European languages is useful. Please contact Regina Wallen at 723-2475 for more information.

--submitted by Ginny Turner
4. TITLES TO MAKE YOU SMILE: FISH STORIES (PART 2)

These titles reflect the compiler's notions of the humorous, wry, ironic or unusual, and should not be construed as reflecting any other opinion or judgment, nor the editorial opinion of SUL/AIR News. Contributions for this feature are eagerly solicited. Submit any oddities to: bkunde@sulmail.stanford.edu

The fish don't talk about the water : gender transformation, power, and resistance among women in Sri Lanka / Carla Risseeuw. -- Leiden ; New York : E.J. Brill, 1988. AHX1545 / HQ1735.8 .R57 1988 / Green Library.

The fish in the sea is not thirsty. Versions / by Robert Bly. -- [2d Rainbow Bridge ed. -- San Francisco : Rainbow Bridge, c1971] AEE9674 / PK2095 .K3 A23 / Green Library.

The fisher-mans tale : of the famous acts, life and love of Cassander a Grecian knight / Francis Sabie. -- London : Richard Iohnes, 1595. ALS3599 / 821.3 .S11f / Stanford Auxiliary Library.

Fishers of books / Barton Currie ... -- Boston : Little, Brown, and company, 1931. ALJ1514 / Z992 .C976 / Special Collections.

Fishing for pleasure and catching it / by E. Marston, F.R.G.S. (the amateur angler) and two chapters on angling in North Wales, by R. B. Marston. -- London : T.W. Laurie, 1906. AKC0518 / 799.1 .M374 / Stanford Auxiliary Library.

Fishing in Africa : a guide to war and corruption / Andrew Buckoke. -- London : Picador, 1992. AMA4266 / DT12.25 .B83 1991 / Hoover Library.

--submitted by Brian Kunde
5. SUL/AIR JOB OPPORTUNITIES

SUL/AIR has the following new open positions this week.

Library Specialist (7/31/00); REQ# J002074
Library Specialist (7/31/00); REQ# J002080
Library Specialist (7/31/00); REQ# J002082
Library Specialist (7/31/00); REQ# J002090
Library Specialist (7/31/00); REQ# J002094
Library Specialist (7/31/00); REQ# J002096
Library Specialist (7/31/00); REQ# J002101
Business Software Developer (7/31/00); REQ# J002103
Business Software Developer (7/31/00); REQ# J002105
Library Specialist (7/31/00); REQ# J002113

For a complete description of these jobs and a list of all current SUL/AIR jobs, visit the Human Resources Web site at:

Human Resources Web site.

Please send future submissions to SUL/AIR News to:
sulairnews@forsythe.stanford.edu.

SUL/AIR News is an electronic publication of Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources issued weekly. Copy deadline is 5:00 p.m. Tuesdaubmit items fublication to sulairnews@forsythe.stanford.edu.
Editor for SUL: Sarah Williamson, sarahcw@sulmail.stanford.edu
Editor for AIR and HR: Eleanor Brown, eabrown@leland.stanford.edu