Thanks for explaining the copyright issues and for thinking "outside the
container" on this.  What you have said about copyright makes sense to
me, but while we are re-examining our practices, we are being
exceptionally cautious about what we copy at the moment. Also, it has
not been routine for us to alter the format of what we receive, and
perhaps that is why we thought first about how to save the flash drive
rather than where to put the contents.

We also consulted our IT staff about this flash drive. If adding its
contents to the server was an acceptable option according to local
policies, I am sure they would have suggested that. I don't recall
anything like this being added to my library's servers before.

Certainly the way we are handling this flash drive is not the best
practice for other libraries. The decision was based on a lot of local
circumstances, but I decided SERIALST readers deserved to know about the
end result after I asked their advice, especially since the issue had
been raised here before. I am going to report back to AUTOCAT, too, but
will probably phrase the explanation a little differently due to this
useful feedback.  It has certainly been educational!

Lori

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Robert Dowd
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 11:23 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Cataloging a flash drive

Frank,

A similar observation of mine is that the same can be said when
documents that arrive in libraries on CD ... that they are containers.
The preference seems to be to catalog round disks rather than offload
and print contents (when it can be done).  A preservation concern,
however, might be the expected life expectancy of paper over plastic.

Bob Dowd
Senior Librarian
Documents Section
New York State Library
Cultural Education Center
Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12230
(518) 474-8846
rdowd@mail.nysed.gov

>>> "Sadowski, Frank" <fsadowski@LIBRARY.ROCHESTER.EDU> 9/25/2008 9:13
AM >>>
Lori,

I've been withholding comment till now, being certain that someone would
mention the fact that the flash drive is merely the container, and a
temporary one at that.  I've been trying to come up with a parallel, and
the best I can do is to think of a boxed set of a video series.  Is it
the box that's copyrighted or the discs within?  In the case of your
flash drive, you have the rights to the contents, and the drive itself
merely serves as a means of transmitting the contents.

The obvious thing to me is to copy the contents of the flash drive to
your library server (and Iowa State undoubtedly has one, yes?) and
recycle the flash drive as you see fit. I am also certain that copyright
allows you to make a backup archival copy without any legal problems.

-------------------------
Frank E. Sadowski Jr.
Principal Cataloger
River Campus Libraries
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0055

(585) 275-4496
fsadowski@library.rochester.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Kappmeyer, Lori O [LIB]
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 5:19 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Cataloging a flash drive

Thank you all for your comments on how to handle this flash drive.
Thanks, Marie, for pointing out that this was discussed before on
SERIALST, so now I went to the archives and looked at those messages,
too.  I think when I saw those messages earlier I deleted them thinking
I would probably not have to deal with that situation.  I enjoyed the
accidental message about this from Jane, because I have thought the same
thing sometimes.

As someone mentioned, the flash drive is not write-protected, so anyone
can delete its contents or add to it, and the contents are not protected
if it is circulated.  Many of the people who commented on SERIALST and
AUTOCAT indicated that their libraries are printing and binding this. We
considered this, but lately we have been re-examining whether we should
be printing and retaining PDFs of copyrighted material.  We also
considered copying it to a CD-ROM, but this results in similar problems
with copyright.  Another option is to put it in an institutional
repository, but we don't have one yet.

We learned that this is available online, through the organization's web
site, although we can't tell that there is any guarantee that it will be
available online long-term.  The subject selector who wanted to keep the
flash drive didn't know the information was available online.  When she
learned this, she was agreeable to adding the URLs of the online version
to our serials cataloging records for the abstracts and program, instead
of cataloging the flash drive.  So that is how we will handle this one,
although we may regret it later if the online access disappears.

Thanks again for all your help!

Lori Osmus Kappmeyer
Head, Cataloging & Metadata Department
Iowa State University Library
Ames, IA 50011

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Marie Peterson
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:10 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Cataloging a flash drive

We also received this flash drive.

After consulting with the subject selector, we printed the files, had
them
bound (pamphlet binding) in-house in our Preservation Department, and
added
them to the print record.

There was some discussion about this on the Serials list a couple of
months
ago, when the flash drives first starting arriving in various libraries.

Marie Peterson, M.L.S.
Technical Services Associate
Continuing Resources/CTS
134 Lockwood Library
SUNY University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY  14260-2210

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
> [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Kappmeyer, Lori O [LIB]
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 2:45 PM
> To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: [SERIALST] Cataloging a flash drive
>
> Recently we received a flash drive that came on our subscription to
the
> Journal of Great Lakes Research.  The flash drive contains two pdf
> files, one for the abstracts and one for the program of the 51st
annual
> Conference on Great Lakes Research in May 2008.  A half-sheet of paper
> accompanying the flash drive said that this was a "green initiative"
to
> reduce paper at the annual conference.  Up until now, the program and
> abstracts have been published in paper.  In the recent past, we have
> cataloged the program as a serial and the abstracts as another serial.
>
> =20
>
> We think we will be keeping the flash drive and housing it in our
media
> collection with other kinds of accompanying software.  Has anyone ever
> cataloged a flash drive, or do you have any suggestions for how to do
> it?  As an alternative, someone suggested we could print off the PDFs
> and catalog and bind them.  What would you do?
>
> =20
>
> Thanks for any advice!
>
> =20
>
> Lori Osmus Kappmeyer
>
> Head, Cataloging & Metadata Department
>
> Iowa State University Library
>
> Ames, IA 50011
>
> =20
>
> ------------------------------