STS Liaison ReportSpecial Libraries Association (SLA) Annual, June 9-11, 2013 Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics (PAM) Division

Jeffra Bussmann, California State University, East Bay

Report to STS Liaison Committee

July 3, 2013

This yearthe SLA Annual conference moved to a new Sunday through Tuesday schedule with opening session beginning Sunday morning and the closing session ending on Tuesday evening. The previous conference schedule was Sunday evening through Wednesday evening. With the condensed schedule, the PAM Board was unable to meet in person at the conference. Instead, a week prior to the conference, we had our first virtual board meeting.

Overview of the PAM Sessions at SLA 2013:

  • Physics Roundtable.
  • Mini presentations on various topics, including information literacy, outreach, metadata standards, pay-per-view, ebooks, and SCOAP3/Open Access.
  • Followed small group discussions on these topics.
  • Each group shared highlights from their discussion.
  • Science & Technology on the Go: An Update (co-hosted with the Chemistry Division).
  • Mini presentations on various topics related mobile tools and services
  • A couple of academics: chemistry professor on Tap OChem and librarian on mobile science databases
  • Several vendors: ACS on ChemWorx, RCS on their mobile apps, Thomson Reuters on Endnote on the iPad app, and Ebsco on mobile-friendly portal
  • Mathematics Roundtable.
  • Small groups discussions on various topics selected by attendees, including ebooks, outreach, radical revisions to Mathematical Reviews/MathSciNet
  • Each group shared highlights from their discussion
  • Astronomy Roundtable.
  • Speakers and discussion on how to use bibliometrics
  • Speakers and discussion on diminishing physical space of libraries
  • Speakers and discussion on key resources in astronomy
  • PAM Business Meeting.
  • PAM Board members shared activity and update reports
  • PAM Achievement Award was given to Emily Poworoznek
  • PAM Division Award was given to Dr. Robion Kirby from the Mathematical Science Publishers
  • The International Award is currently on hiatus as the International Relations Committee discusses practices and guidelines
  • All Sciences Poster Session (co-hosted by Biomedical & Life Sciences, Chemistry, Engineering, Pharmaceutical & Health Technology, and Science-Technology Divisions).
  • Excellent and enthusiastic turnout of presenters and attendees
  • PAM Vendor Update.
  • Presentation by American Mathematical Society publishing representative sharing an overview of AMS and introducing two new green OA journals
  • Presentation by American Institute of Physics Publishing representative providing an overview of AIP and sharing recent/future changes to Scitation with of theme of connecting
  • Presentation by Institute of Physics Publishing representative highlighting collaborative projects and new features of IOP Science
  • Presentation by Springer representative focusing on mobile access to SpringerLink
  • Computer Science Roundtable (co-hosted by IT and Sci-Tech Divisions).
  • Attendees brainstormed the discussion topics with initial suggesting person introducing the topic, then being followed by group discussion
  • Various topics discussed included: Lecture Notes on Computer Science, mobile devices, device checkout, ACM developments, library R&D with bibliometrics, ebooks on mobile devices, promoting the unseen collection, and library websites

For more detailed information, including agendas, minutes and session notes, fromthese PAM events at SLA Annual, please visit the website