ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Field

Fees not fines

Alfred University’s Herrick Library began the new year by eliminating fines for most overdue library materials and instituting a yearly user fee for patrons not formally af- filiated with the university.

Herrick Library director Lana Meissner noted that fines had “little effect on inducing pa- trons to return materials on time.” Under the new system,

“If anyone with overdue li- brary materials attempts to check out a book, they won’t be allowed to do so until all overdue materials are returned or renewed,” Meissner continued. Late fines re- main in effect for CDs, videos, materials on reserve, and bestsellers.

A $20 annual fee was also instituted for members of the community. High school students who visit the library as part of a prearranged tour may receive a free library card. Other high school students may use a family card or, with parental permission, purchase their own card for $10. Meissner indicated that the increasing cost of materials and provision of services made the fee necessary but felt that the fee had been kept “as low as possible to insure that it isn’t a burden.”

Moms and dads help libraries

Parents clubs are now giving money to libraries to purchase materials and equipment. At Indiana University a $10,000 donation from the Parent’s Fund enabled the libraries to purchase a multimedia center which combines large- screen video with sound and computer text. “Multimedia is a synthesis of the best of video, visual art, music, and print. Many programs include color video, documentaries or historic news clips, with music, voice overs, and text that enlarge upon the video. Users control the rate and order of presentation.” The center currently has 14 interactive videodisc programs covering topics such as communism, China, art, geography, language, and reference tools.

The Dad’s Association at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign donated $2,325 to the library for its Library Book Award, presented annually since 1986 to honor the top two or three students from each college who have completed their sophomore year with a 5.0 grade-point average. To honor each student se- lected, the Dad’s Associa- tion donates a book in the student’s name; each book has a bookplate in the front with the student’s name and achievement. Approxi- mately 80 students were honored this year. Books purchased include Encyclo- pedia of Earth Science, En- cyclopedia of Food Science and Technology, and Survey of Social Science, Economic Series.

The Parents’ Fund at the University of Manitoba presented a check for $I2,945 to the libraries in October bringing the total in the fund to $45,549. The Parents’ Fund was recently established to accept contributions by parents of students and former students to be used by the libraries for monographic acquisitions.

NYU and Columbia announce reciprocal access

New York University (NYU) and Columbia University reached an agreement to share their resources through a program of reciprocal library access for each institution’s students and faculty. Both libraries will strengthen efforts already underway to coordinate collections, simplify connections to one another’s online catalog, and expand ILL and document delivery. A joint statement issued by Carlton Rochell, dean of libraries at NYU, and Elaine Sloan, vice-president for information services and university librarian at Columbia, said, “Such initiatives are particularly welcome now, in the face of tight budgets and escalating costs for books and periodicals. This program offers us a creative solution to economic challenges by allowing us to stretch our limited resources and share services. We believe that both institutions will benefit from the new agreement.”

CLA cancels Colorado Springs conferences

The Board of the Colorado Library Association (CLA) voted to boycott Colorado counties that supported Amendment 2, the initiative preventing protected status for homosexuals. In doing that, the association will cancel contracts with two Colorado Springs hotels that were to be the sites for the 1994 and 1995 annual conferences. Future conferences will be located in sites that voted to defeat Amendment 2. John Sheridan, CLA spokesperson for this action said, “the passage of Amendment 2 is a disturbing action that is contrary to what libraries stand for. The CLA Board felt that it deserved a strong reaction. It is incumbent upon us to protect the status of minority populations as it relates to what we carry in our libraries and the services we provide to homosexuals or any constituent group.”

Environmentalist and author Rachel Carson and African American leader Malcolm X are the subjects of the new Great Minds posters researched by ACRL’s New Publications Committee and produced by ALA’S Graphics Department. Each poster is available for $5 from ALA Graphics. Send order and prepayment to ALA Graphics or call (800) 545-2433, press 8, with your credit-card order. Save 10% when you purchase all six of the Great Minds posters.

In other actions the board voted to urge ALA to “. . . withdraw from Colorado any further planned Association divisional meetings or conferences and to make plans for no others.”

ALA held its January Midwinter Meeting in Denver after leaders decided it was better to hold the meeting and focus public scrutiny on the new amendment than it was to cancel the meeting entirely, which would have been necessary given the short time frame between the two events. The ALA Executive Board will reconsider Denver as the site for the 1998 Midwinter Meeting. Any ALA or ACRL actions regarding Amendment 2 taken at the Midwinter Meeting will be reported in the March issue of C&RL News.

CNI wants big ideas

Project Big Ideas, a new initiative of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), was developed as a response to the election of President Clinton, as CNI leaders feel certain that high-level and sustained attention will be paid to networks and networked information in the new administration. CNI is seeking proposed initiatives that could be carried out by the Clinton/Gore administration in the area of networked information. CNI director Paul Evan Peters suggested that proposals be expressed in three categories: ideas not requiring money that could be carried out by the administration or Congress; ideas that would cost around $10 million; and ideas costing more than $10 million. Ideas expressed in terms of the elements of the Clinton/Gore technology strategy and in terms of CNI’s mission, goals, and objectives are especially sought. An electronic discussion forum (cni-bigideas) has been established to facilitate communication among individuals wishing to have a role in shaping the Big Ideas concept. For details on this and other CNI listservs send an e-mail message to LISTSERV@CNI.ORG with LISTS as the message and then HELP SUBSCRIBE as the second line of the message. For details contact: INFO@CNI.ORG or call (202) 232-2466.

Preserving U.S. telephone directories

The Library of Congress (LC), with assistance from the New York Public Library (NYPL), announced a major cooperative retrospective preservation microfilming project to preserve U.S. telephone directories. The primary objective is to preserve a complete set of U.S. telephone directories and to make them widely available to users. Directories from the collections of LC and NYPL are being filmed by state and alphabetically by city within each state up to the year for which the directories are available in the commercial collection “Phonefiche” that is produced by University Microfilms International. LC will film all directories from large metropolitan and other areas rather than selecting a representative directory from that area for each year. A descriptive project plan and list of LC/NYPL holdings is available upon request from Tamara Swora, Preservation Microfilming Officer, Library of Congress, COLL/ PMO, LM G-05, Washington, DC, 20540; phone: (202) 707-5918; fax: (202) 707-3434. ■

15 overseas opportunities available

ACRL members participating in the 1992-93 Library Fellows program include: Back row: Carol Hansen, Henrik Edelman, David Hirsch; front row: Mara Saule, Luella Davis, Henry Neil Mendelsohn, Mary Margaret Farrell Parhamovich, and Suzanne Gyeszly

Applications are being accepted through March 15 for the 1993-94 Library Fellows Pro- gram. The joint program of ALA and the USIA (United States Information Agency) will place approximately 15 U.S. library and information science professionals overseas be- ginning in Sep- tember 1993.

Opportunities in- clude placements in Africa, East Asia or the Pacific, and Eu- rope with a range of assignments includ- ing, but not limited to, developing li- brary science cur- riculum, installing OPACs, developing automation plans, training staff in pub- lic and technical ser- vices and online databases, and collection acquisition and evaluation. Positions are available in 23 locations although funding permits only 15 placements.

Stipends for library fellows are $32,000 per year. Travel expenses for the fellow and one dependent to and from the host country will be reimbursed; health insurance and a small housing subsidy are provided.

Eligibility requirements are: U.S. citizen- ship; language skills of the host country (de- sired and sometimes required); education and experience in library or information sci- ence or other fields directly related to the interests and needs of specific projects with dem- onstrated compe- tency as required.

For a detailed de- scription of the po- sitions and to apply contact: Robert P. Doyle, Director, Li- brary Fellows Pro- gram, ALA, 50 E. Hu- ron St., Chicago, IL 606ll; phone: (800) 545-2433 ext. 3200.

Applications should include resume with cover letter briefly stating desired position, foreign-language skills, subject expertise, and maximum placement service length (no application forms are available). See the February 1993 insert in American Libraries for additional information on the program. ■