Minutes of the MLA International Bibliography in Academic Libraries Discussion Group
Annual Meeting, June 27, 1999, 2:00-4:00
New Orleans, Louisiana

2. Appointment of a Recorder: Faye Christenberry, outgoing Chair of the DG was appointed recorder of the meeting.

3. News and Updates from the MLA: Terry Ford, Director of the Center for Bibliographic Services & Editor:
-There was great concern over a price increase for those who access MLA IB through FirstSearch. OCLC felt they needed to increase the subscription cost approximately 40% and decided to spread it out over a two-year period. People should expect to see another increase next year.
- SilverPlatter has agreed to make an electronic version of the Directory of Periodicals available. This may increase the subscription price slightly, but they will not charge an additional fee for the Directory.
- MLA received a large grant from the Mellon Foundation to support four projects:

1. Put the entire run of PMLA on JSTOR. Items will include descriptors from MLA IB.
2. MLA will work with JSTOR to make 30-40 language & literature journals available. A committee will determine which titles will be selected for this project.
3. MLA IB will work on expanding its coverage of West Asian literature.
4. MLA IB will expand its coverage to include pedagogy - composition, rhetoric, teaching, etc. Coverage will begin with 1999.

Susanna Pathak, MLA Advisory Board:
Because Susanna was unable to attend, Terry gave a brief update on the activities of the Advisory Board. In the fall, the group will vote on the question of whether or not the MLA IB should continue to index collections of essays by a single author.

4. Availability Issues Concerning the "Report of the MLA Bibliography Scope & Overlap Committee, and ACRL Ad Hoc Committee:" (Scott Stebelman)
Because Scott was unable to make it to the meeting, Faye Christenberry asked the group how they felt about making this document (ED417730, 215 pages) more accessible. Should it be available full-text on the web? If so, who should be responsible? Most members of the group felt web access would be advantageous, if it were clearly stated that the information was outdated. Someone suggested we consider updating the reports on a regular basis. Finally, most agreed that there should be links to information about the document through the EALS website and the MLA IB Discussion Group website.

5. Comparative Analysis of ABELL and the MLA IB: (Scott Stebelman)
As Scott was unable to attend the meeting, he did not present his findings to the group. Because there was interest in hearing his report, Scott will be contacted to present at the Midwinter meeting. It was suggested that anyone interested in doing a comparative analysis could do so and report back to the group at Midwinter. Further, a specific methodology should be used, so that the results would be more consistent. Terry Ford suggested that the findings would be more useful to MLA if certain subject areas were targeted. Terry will contact Susan Peters with this information and she will post it on the listserv.

6. New Business:
- Election of a Chair-Elect: Due to low turnout at this meeting, it was decided that the election of a Chair-Elect would be held during the Midwinter meeting in San Antonio.
- People unanimously agreed that moving the meeting back to the regular time slot (Saturday mornings) would be preferable.

6. Topics for Discussion Group Meeting (ALA Midwinter, San Antonio):
- Comparative analysis of MLA IB & ABELL (see 5. Above)
- Contact representatives from OCLC, OVID, & SilverPlatter and have them meet with the group to discuss pricing issues for MLA IB - Print versus paper edition of the MLA IB: advantages & disadvantages of both formats. Terry Ford suggested that this topic be tabled for the Annual meeting in Chicago, when a representative from MLA could attend and participate in the discussion.

Respectfully submitted,
Faye Christenberry
University of Kansas