Administration of Libraries at Distant Sites and Remote Telescope Locations

Extract

Many librarians are responsible for libraries at outstations and/or remote telescope sites. Such sites may range in size from facilities with as many personnel as the central headquarters to remote observing stations where only a few people are present at any one time. Sites may be only a few kilometers away, or they may be half way around the world. In an informal evening discussion, concerned librarians discussed issues and problems created by such far-flung library systems.

Budgetary constraints are a primary problem in managing site libraries at most institutions. Staff and visiting scientists want duplicates at the sites of the books and journals they use regularly in their work, but with current prices it is often difficult to provide even the major astronomy journals for site as well as central libraries. Even when researchers are encouraged to do preparatory research before going to observe, some library materials may still be necessary. In the case of larger sites where people work on a permanent basis, larger collections will, of course, be needed. It is especially important at such sites to provide easy access for materials directly involved in preparation of observations, e.g. photographic sky atlases, reference catalogs of astronomical objects, etc. We discussed at length the problems of selection and acquisition of materials for remote libraries, including questions of purchasing and technical processing, binding, inventory, and bibliographic control.