It is very distressing to hear of libraries who do not want to use
established standards at all, and then those that are not interested in
using the current standards.

One of the major concerns at my library is the quality and portability of
our data.  We need to follow the standards that our current ILS provider
supports as well as those of any future ILS provider.  Most of the serials
librarians I know (and other librarians too) advocate strongly for full
implementation of current standards in all ILS systems.  Many include
these requirements in their RFPs as mandatory.

The change from Z39.44 to Z39.71 is not traumatic; in fact, the good
people who worked on Z39.71 took into account the vast numbers of existing
holdings information in Z39.44.  In many cases they allow for the "old"
way and the "new" way.  Please suggest that your management obtain copies
of both standards and compare.  The 1999 version is freely available at
the NISO website (www.niso.org.  I quote from the abstract:
This new standard replaces both the Serial Holdings Standard Z39.44 and
the Non-Serials Holdings standard Z39.57.

*****
In my personal opinion continued use of Z39.44 is non-standard practice.
Implementing Z39.71 is not a really big deal when you compare it to most
other conversions you've ever had to do.

Good luck and let's hear it for following the current standard!

Susan Davis

############################################################################
Susan Davis
Head, Periodicals
Acquisitions Dept.
University at Buffalo (SUNY)
134 Lockwood Library
Buffalo, NY  14260-2210
(716) 645-2784
(716) 645-5955 fax
unlsdb@buffalo.edu

On Tue, 19 Aug 2003, Mykie Howard wrote:

> How many of you serialists out there DO NOT use the 1999 ANSI/NISO Z 39.71
> for holdings statements instead of the old standard Z39.44? If you do not
> use Z39.71, why not? I'm trying to introduce my library to this standard
> and am getting some resistance.
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Mykie
>
> ******************************
> Mykie Howard, MSLS
> Serials Acquisitions Librarian
> George Washington University
> Gelman Library
> 2130 H Street NW
> Washington, DC 20052
>
> Phone:202-994-1321
> Fax:202-994-5154
> Email:mhowa3@gwu.edu
>
>