Editor's Desktop

Abstract

History is our focus in this issue. We are fortunate to have two articles on a pioneering bibliographic service in zoology, the Concilium Bibliographicum, which had admirable goals, but ones that could not, realistically, be supported by early 20^th century technology. Michael Buckland and Colin Burke have co-authored two articles on the topic, one about the Concilium's creator, Herbert Haviland Field, and the other about the Concilium itself. As a somewhat obsessed, wealthy American man-of-the-time in Europe, engaging in diplomacy and intelligence as well as in scientific and bibliographic endeavors, Field is quite an entertaining subject. Together, the articles provide a window on the challenges faced by early attempts to provide timely, detailed alerts and retrospective search of scientific information.

Next, in this issue's RDAP Review, Cindy Khristof, head of copyright and document services at Kent State University Libraries, leads us through the legal thicket of database copyright, one of the most confusing and contentious areas of copyright law.

Finally, on matters ASIS&T, we have a report in Inside ASIS&T on a joint meeting of the Asian Pacific and European Chapters at the 2016 Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) Conference in Croatia and the President's Page, which brings us up to date on the recent election of ASIS&T officers, on personnel changes at headquarters and on the 2016 Annual Meeting activities in Copenhagen, scheduled for late October.