IAMSLIC '96

As has been the case at nearly every IAMSLIC Conference, the Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) database was discussed by several speakers, including a representative from Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, the publisher of ASFA, who gave a review of the history and future plans of ASFA. The international consortium of ASFA inputters will all be using new data entry interface software by the end of 1996, for more rapid record inclusion, and previously missed records are being added.

Institutional profiles were presented for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory and the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center. Panel discussions covered planning for new library facilities and local and international cooperation between institutions. Resource sharing and networks were discussed for areas as diverse as the Columbia River Basin and the entire Pacific Islands Region. Other papers discussed document delivery, consolidation of a marine station branch library with its main campus parent, and, under the title "Technostress and the Librarian", the need for frequent training and computer support for librarians to keep up with the technology they are supposed to be teaching.

A World Wide Web workshop was held at the California State University Monterey Bay Library for cooperative inputting to the IAMSLIC website by those of us who had previously volunteered to be responsible for certain sections of it.

Guest speakers gave several interesting lectures. Dr. Sandy Lydon, Cabrillo College, outlined the colorful historic evolution of Monterey Bay "from slaughterhouse to sanctuary" and noted that California Fish Commission Reports and the magazine Pacific Fisherman are very valuable historical resources. Dr. Jim Harvey, Moss Landing Marine Labs, described ongoing marine mammal research in Monterey Bay. A camera-carrying California sea lion is being trained to be a whale observer, swimming and diving with whales and recording their activities on video. Dr. Judith Connor, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, described and demonstrated Live from Monterey Canyon, a cooperative program which uses microwave and multimedia technology to bring live transmissions of deep-sea research by MBARI to an auditorium in the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Interpreters from MBARI and the Monterey Bay Aquarium display the transmissions to visitors while interpreting what is being transmitted by calling up background material from a visual encyclopedia with a touch screen.

Other activities included behind-the-scenes tours of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, a banquet in the Maritime Museum of Monterey, and a successful whale watching trip.

The Proceedings of the 1996 IAMSLIC Conference are being edited by Jim Markham and Andrea Duda.