ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

OCLC invites libraries to build Cooperative Online Resource Catalog

OCLC is inviting libraries to participate in and contribute to the development of the OCLC Cooperative Online Resource Catalog (CORC), an international effort to organize and facilitate access to electronic information resources on the Web. CORC i…ollaborative effort to creat…igh-quality, libraryselected database of Web resource descriptions modeled after the creation of World Cat (the OCLC Online Union Catalog). During this development phase, participating libraries use the system to create records and provide feedback to OCLC to enhance the design of the service.

CORC was launched in January 1999 with 50 libraries from around the world using new, automated tools developed by OCLC to creat…atabase. Today, more than 170 libraries are contributing to CORC and OCLC is now encouraging more libraries—of all types and sizes—to contribute. OCLC plans to release CORC a…ew service later in 2000.

“It [CORC] has the potential to make the library the portal of choice for access to both electronic and print materials. CORC is the first step in building the foundation for cataloging in the future,” said Shirley Hyatt, manager, OCLC Product Marketing, and one o…roup of team leaders in the OCLC CORC effort.

Virginia libraries collaborate on exhibit and performance

The libraries of Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk and Hampton University in Hampton, hel…oint exhibit and chamber music concert to raise awareness of the rich music composition heritage in Virginia. The exhibit, “From Exposition to Development: The Legacy of Composers at Hampton University,” featured photos, writings, and scores fro…umber of composers associated with Hampton—including R. Nathaniel Dett and Clarence Cameron White—and looks at the diversities, influences, and careers of 20th-century Hampton University student and faculty composers. The exhibit, available online at http://libstaff. lib.odu.edu/hampton, was made possible b…rant from the Norfolk Foundation. For details about ODU’s music collections and exhibits, visit http://www.lib.odu.edu/aboutlib/ spccol/music/contact/info.html.

A selection of photos, writings, and scores from the joint exhibit of the libraries of Old Dominion University and Hampton University.

NCSU launches fellows program

North Carolina State University (NCSU) libraries launched its NCSU Libraries Fellows Program. The program seeks to attract library school graduates, targeting highly qualified librarians with potential for science/engineering or information technology librarianship and those from diverse backgrounds. As funding permits, NCSU will recruit fellows each year wit…oal of maintainin…omple ment of four fellows on an ongoing basis. To advance the careers of these new profession als, fellows are jointly appointed t…ome department to cultivate expertise in the daytoday practice of librarianship, and to one of the libraries’ innovative projects.

North Carolina State University Libraries' first Fellows. Pictured are (front) Timothy Mori and Rachel Kuhn; (back) Bradley Warren, Sebastian Hierl, and Tripp Reade.

Celebrate African American History Month and National Women's History Month with materials like these from the National Women's History Project. Fo…ree catalog of multicultural materials, call (707) 838-6000, e-mail nwhp@aol.com, or visit their Web site at http://www.nwhp.org/.

According to Wendy L. bcott, assistant director for organizational design and learning, ing, “The number of graduates from master’s programs in library and information science has decreased by almos…hird since the 1970s.” Scott noted that there is new competition for librarians from the private sector, as information technology companies discover that MLS graduates have an important skill set, and can offer much higher salaries for similar work. NCSU is hopeful that these new fellow positions will address this recruiting challenge.

Among its preparations for Y2K, the Reference Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G) hel…Millen i-yum" Appreciation Party in honor of the UNC-G graduate library students who work at the Information Service Desk.

University of Louisville creates endowed chair

The University of Louisville (UL) has created the first endowed chair in libraries in Kentucky. Named the Evelyn Schneider Endowed Chair for Copyright and Intellectual Freedom, the position will be filled by the end of this year.

The position was funded b…1 million gift from Evelyn Schneider (now deceased), who served as UL’s first library director for 46 years. This gift was matched by the Research Challenge Trust Fund, provided by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondaiy Education. The position will address through research, copyright and intellectual freedom issues related to libraries, universities, and the community.

University of Virginia invited to join Digital Library Federation

The University of Virginia Library (UVa), was invited to join the Digital Library Federation (DLF)…onsortium of select research institutions wit…ommon goal to create, maintain, expand, and preserv…istributed collection of digital materials accessible to scholars and the wider public.

Formed in 1995, DLF operates under the umbrella of the Council on Library and In-formation Resources (CLIR), an organization that partners with libraries, archives, and other information providers to advocate collaborative approaches to preserving the nation’s intellectual heritage.

Deanna Marcum, president of CLIR, said that the UVa was selected because of its strength a…eveloper and supplier of digital information. UVa has an extensive digital collection whose rate of growth is doubling every two years.

“We believe that the direction in which the DLF appears to be moving i…ood match for the history of our digital programs and our current goals,” said University Librarian Karin Wittenberg.

“We are prepared to be active in such areas as standards and best practices development, digital collection development, and in research and development of digital architectures.”

UVa’s digital efforts have also been recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which awarded the librar…200,000 Challenge Grant for its Electronic Text Center. With this grant, matched four-to-one by private fundraising ove…ouryear period, the library will creat…1 million endowment to expand the site. Once the endowment is fully funded, it will provide tens of thousands of dollars every year for the Etext Center’s primary goals: to build and maintain an Internet-accessible collection of texts and images in the humanities, and to nurtur…ser community adept at the creation of these materials.

Library of Congress awards security tag bid to ID Systems

ID Systems™ has been selected by the Library of Congress (LC) to supply Electromagnetic security book tags to protect its collection. ID System’s security tags were rigorously tested by LC to ensure they met all criteria: ease of application, accelerated age testing, preservation compliant adhesives and compatibility with existing 3M™ and Knogo™ systems. netLibrary to offer Oxford University Press books netLibrary has an agreement with Oxford University Press to offer digitally over the Interne…election of the publisher’s books. Under the agreement, netLibrary will use its proprietary technologies to create and manage eBook versions of Oxford University Press academic and reference titles. The eBooks will be made available directly to libraries and their patrons over the Internet. netLibrary’s comprehensive digital library is accessible 24 hour…ay, seven day…eek via the Internet. Among the more than 100 publishers who have signed agreements with netLibrary are Harvard Business Press, ABC-CLIO, Cambridge University Press, Columbia University Press, Houghton-Mifflin, the McGraw-Hill Companies, and the MIT Press.

JSTOR completes phas…roduction

With the release of three new titles and 165,518 pages, JSTOR has completed the digital conversion of all journal titles in its Phas…atabase—a total of 117 titles and more than 4.6 million pages. Complete…onth ahead of schedule, the database includes 17 more titles than were first promised to participaing institutions. With the completion of Phase I, which covers 15 academic disciplines in the arts, humanities and social sciences, JSTOR has now embarked on the production of its next collection of journals, the General Sciences collection. One hundred and sixteen colleges and universities in 25 nations now have access to the JSTOR database, up from 32 at the beginning of 1999.