Author: Ruth Kneale

Categories
Member Articles

Highlights from the First PAM Bulletin

Volume 53, Issue 2 —— Spring 2026
Ruth Kneale

Ah, the 70s. The time of Elvis and his Hawaiian concert (the first worldwide telecast by an entertainer watched by more people than watched the Apollo moon landings!), LexisNexis, Skylab, the completion of the world’s tallest building (Sears Tower, 1,451 ft), the publication of The Princess Bride by William Goldman, and the launch of Pioneer 10, which later sent back the first close-up images of Jupiter.

And the publication of Bulletin #1 by the provisional PAM Division in September 1973! 

The SLA Annual Conference was held in Pittsburgh, June 11-13, 1973. Our Executive Board, 1973-74, was:

  • Chairman: Mr. Allen Wynne, Math-Physics Library, University of Colorado
  • Chairman-Elect: Mrs. Christine Bain, Dudley Observatory Library
  • Past-Chairman (Acting): Mr. Jack Weigel, Physics-Astronomy Library, University of Michigan
  • Secretary: Mrs. Jean K. Martin, Physics-Math-Astronomy Library, University of Texas
  • Treasurer: Mrs. Berle G. Reiter, V. G. Grove Library, Wells Hall

We sponsored 3 programs. Attendance ranged from 20-30, a nice showing for provisional programs! They were titled:

  • Fundamentals of Managing an Astronomy Collection
  • Past Use as a Guide to Future Development of a Math Branch Library
  • Professional Society Publishing in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences: Current Programs and Future Problems

Our Acting Chairman, Jack Weigel, presided over the 1973 Business Meeting:

  • The slate of candidates was introduced, and approved.
  • The Division Bylaws, which had been shared in advance, were discussed and approved.
  • Clarification was given to the 2-year Provisional status the Division had been granted in 1972. 
  • It was announced that the new Chairman, Allen Wynne, would also be the Conference Coordinator for 1974’s meeting in Toronto, Canada, with Louise Seidler as Program Chairwoman.
  • The decision to create and publish a PAM Division Directory was made.

Other Highlights from the Bulletin include:

  • Chatter from the Chairman, where Mr. Weigel shared his and others’ ideas for ways to bring our group closer together, and common projects that could be of use. They include:
    • A Union List of Astronomy Serials for North America
    • Traveling Exhibits in Astronomy
    • Visual Aids for Physics Classroom Presentations
    • Comparison of University Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics Collections
  • Membership Drive Underway
    • More than ever at this time, we needed members, so we could reach full Division status. Membership Chairman was Kathryn Strand of the High Altitude Observatory Library, and she had a lot of work to do.
  • Thanks to Members
    • As we’ve noted in our PAM Histories, we owe a lot to Jack Weigel. This section acknowledges the hard work he and Christine Bain did to get the provisional group up and running, and Jack and Kimyo Hom for their fine 1973 conference planning.
  • Plans for the PAM Division Newsletter
    • The beauty that is the PAM Bulletin was launched, as Jean K. Martin (Acting Editor) passed the baton – and the forms – on to Virginia Van Brunt, Librarian, National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
PAMBulletin1-1-Sept1973Download
Categories
Conferences

Fill Your Calendar

Volume 53, Issue 2 —— Spring 2026

Curious about upcoming events? Have a look!

Also, don’t forget to check ASIS&T’s Upcoming Events calendar for Committee meetings. Know of another Boot Camp or conference that the PAMily might want to hear about? Let Ruth Kneale know!

Categories
Members Corner

Member’s Corner

Volume 53, Issue 2 —— Spring 2026
Ruth Kneale

A huge welcome to Lorna Mitchell, who has joined Royal Observatory Edinburgh as the new Librarian! We wish the best to Karen Moran, who retired in September last year.

Following his supervisor’s retirement, Brian Quigley has been serving as the Interim Associate University Librarian for Educational Initiatives & User Services at UC Berkeley since early January. His interim role is expected to last 12-18 months. Brian also participated in a recent oral history project, Librarians Navigating Change, in which he discusses his perspective on change over his 25 years at Berkeley.

Categories
Just for Fun

PAM Watercooler

PAM Bulletin of Choice

Join the PAMily Zoom on Fridays at 3:30 – 4:30pm Eastern Time!

Categories
Just for Fun

Mini Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl

Volume 53, Issue 2 —— Spring 2026
Ruth Kneale

OK, my dear PAMily. I want you to stop what you’re doing – or reading – and go get this book. I’ll be honest, I don’t care what the container is – just get it. It’s about a guy who just broke up with his girlfriend but is still watching her snooty cat for her for the weekend – and then the alien apocalypse arrives. 

Carl has had enough. Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk has had more than enough. How are they going to get through the alien-wrought dungeon and survive? Let me tell you: it’s messy. It’s bloody. And it’s hilarious.

I had a friend recommend this to me earlier this year. I ripped through it in a weekend and had read the entire series by the end of the month. And – AND – I bought it in both e- and physical formats. I’ve since read it through again, and I can’t promise I won’t do it a third time before Book #8 arrives in May. 

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Read this book! 

Categories
Roundtables Uncategorized

PAM Industry Partners Roundtable

Constantly Evolving Business Models and Publishing Initiatives

Volume 53, Issue 2 —— Spring 2026
Sandy Avila and Chris Doty

The time-constrained and relatively generic description of the PAM Industry Partners Roundtable at the 2026 Information Science Summit and Special Libraries Conference can be found at the conference website. [ https://www.asist.org/iss-slc26/iss-slc26-accepted-presentations/ ]

Since the submission deadline, the co-moderators have been lining up representatives from AIP Publishing, APS, and IOP Publishing to discuss the Purpose-Led Publishing (PLP) [ https://www.purposeledpublishing.org/ ] coalition. Topics will include the history of how the coalition came together and its goals, its interactions with major funding agencies (NIH, NSF, etc.), lessons learned from the peer review assistant trial [ https://www.purposeledpublishing.org/post/peer-review-assistant-trial ], which evolved into Alchemist Review [ https://www.hum.works/review ], and how publishers decide to engage with large-scale projects, such as IOP’s partnership with Elsevier on LeapSpace [ https://www.elsevier.com/products/leapspace/introducing-research-grade-ai ].

If you have additional PLP topics (or non-PLP topics) you’d like to see covered, please reach out to Sandy or Chris. They are also seeking input on the session’s format. Do people want a standard format for this type of session – 30-40 minutes of presentations, followed by 20-30 minutes of open discussion and audience Q&A – or something more interactive?