ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Boston College Law School gets new library

Boston College’s Law School has opened a new $11.7 million library on the 40-acre Newton campus. The new library, designed by Earl R. Flansburgh & Associates, represents the first phase of a four-phase, 10-year replacement program of the Law School’s facilities

“We wanted this building to be a center for learning, for interaction, and for legal scholarship,” said law library director Sharon Hamby O’Connor. “Our law library achieves all three exceedingly well.” The library is designed to hold a projected print collection of 348,000 volumes and can accommodate study space for up to 530 students and faculty. Other features include a computer center and legal research lab, private study rooms, audiovisual equipment, state-of-the-art computer networking, and structural design to accommodate both open and high-density shelving systems. The four-level library is composed of four wings organized around a central atrium; student and faculty areas are integrated throughout the four levels.

Walden Univ. endows librarian position at IndianaWalden University in Minneapolis has pledged $500,000 to the Indiana University (IU) Libraries to establish and permanently fund the position of Walden Endowed Librarian. This is the first endowed library position in IU’s 176-year history. Walden University is an accredited, independent distance education university offering Ph.D. programs for the mid-career “scholar-practitioner” in the fields of administration management, education, psychology, health services, and human services, as well as an Ed.D. and master’s in education. In 1992 IU Libraries began providing information support to Walden students in their summer residency program on the IU campus. Together Walden and IU created an information support system that offers distributed learning to Walden students throughout the country.

Julie Bobay, head of IU’s Electronic Resources and Services Department, has been appointed the first Walden Endowed librarian. Bobay sees “academic libraries … at a critical point in their history. … The digital library will, at least in theory, distribute scholarly information to students and teachers regardless of their physical location. The implications are quite profound.”

Another discussion topic for Midwinter

The topic of the ACRL University Libraries Section’s Librarians in Higher Education and Campus Administration Discussion Group will be “Multiplicity: Librarians in New Campus Roles.” The group meets Sunday, February 16, from 9:30–11:00 a.m. during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The new 84,500-square-foot Boston College Law School Library is fully wired with power and data hook-ups for every reading table, study carrel, window bench, and group study and lounge seat within the facility.

Volunteers needed for ACRL Nashville conference

Here’s an opportunity for a new professional development experience. Try volunteering—it’s your opportunity to meet new people, expand your network of colleagues, and give back to the profession.

Volunteers are needed to help out at ACRL’s 8th National Conference in Nashville, April 11–14, 1997. You need not be from the Nashville area to help out. Volunteers are needed for such jobs as meeting room assistants, Internet room assistants, and preconference assistants.

To volunteer contact the Local Arrangements Committee cochairs, Shirley Hallblade, hallblade@library.vanderbilt.edu, or Bill Rob-nett, robnett@library.vanderbilt.edu. Note: Volunteers must register and pay regular conference fees. Details about the conference may be found in the January issue of C&RL News and on the Web at http://www.ala.org/acrl.html (then select National Conference). Advance registration continues through March 7.

World Almanac added to OCLC’s FirstSearch

The World Almanac and Book of Factsfrom K-III Reference Corporation (formerly Funk & Wagnalls) is now available on the OCLC FirstSearch Service. Citations in the World Almanac database include the complete full text of a section or subsection represented in the printed World Almanac, including tables. The database will be updated annually. Among other

K-III titles to be mounted on FirstSearch are: The World Almanac of the U.S.A., The World Almanac of U.S. Politics, and several children’s almanacs.

Ancient manuscripts put on the Web

Experts at six institutions with extensive collections of papyri are preparing the texts that shed light on ancient Greek and Egyptian life for the Web. The effort known as the Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS), unites scholars at Columbia, Duke, Princeton, and Yale Universities with the Universities of California at

Berkeley and Michigan. The six collections contain some 30,000 items, about 10 percent of the known papyrological archives worldwide, and consist of documents from daily life—tax records and legal files—as well as literary works. The majority of surviving texts are from the late 4th century b.c. to the middle of the 8th century a.d. The team, led by Roger Bagnall, chair of Columbia’s Classics Department, hopes over the next four years to produce an innovative electronic catalog with links to images, bibliography, text, and published literature. An initial step will be to catalog, conserve, and digitally image boxes of materials that have in some cases lain undisturbed for 30 years or more.

An early version of APIS is to be available next fall.

Supreme Court decisions on Web

U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1937 through 1975 are now available online via GPO Access, the online information service provided by the U.S. Government Printing Office. The full-text database of the high court’s decisions for that 38-year period is being provided by the Office of Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget as a finding aid to the official version of the United States Reports. The database is fully searchable on the Web at http: //www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/supcrt/. User assistance is available by e-mail: gpoaccess@ gpo.gov; phone: (888) 293-6498 (toll free).

Soaring to Excellence series continues

The 1996 Soaring to Excellence teleconferences for library paraprofessionals produced by the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, were so successful, attracting more than 10,000 participants at more than 400 sites, that a brand new series will be broadcast in 1997. The theme of the 1997 series, “At Your Request,” stresses the importance of library assistants in the workplace and as individuals. The series consists of:

• You and the Internet, Friday,

February 14, noon to 3:00 p.m., Eastern time.

• You and Technical Services, Friday, March 14, noon to 3:00 p.m., Eastern time.

• You and Your Job: Body, Mind and Spirit, Friday, April 11, noon to 3:00 p.m., Eastern time.

The teleconferences can be taken for college credit or continuing education units through the College of DuPage. Live video hook-ups to some participating sites will allow attending library assistants from different parts of the country to be both seen and heard during the broadcasts. For information on becoming a participating site call (800) 3LINKUP (800-354-6587) or e-mail: slusar@cdnet.cod. edu. Visit the Soaring homepage at http://www. dupage.edu/soaring.html.

Teleconference on electronic resources

The College of DuPage is also broadcasting a two-part teleconference for library professionals called “Dancing with … Change: Electronic Library Resources: Issues and Opportunities.” The broadcasts are Fridays, February 28 and April 4, 1997, and feature Michael Gorman, dean of library services at California State University in Fresno, along with Betsy Baker (Northwestern University), Walt Crawford (RLG), Paula Watson (University of Illinois), and others. Site registration is $395. To register or for details call (800) 3LINKUP; or register by Internet: http: //www.dupage.edu/dancing. html.

Photo credit: Tim Webb and Robert O. Creek, EKU

Rachel Cress, age 3, enjoys the puppets and books on display in Eastern Kentucky University’s Learning Resources Center. The materials are part of an extensive resource of children’s materials which supports the education and library science curricula.

Southern Illinois University raises library awareness through its athletic program. Basketball Coach Rich Herrin signs posters for fans at a benefit game for the libraries as library dean Carolyn Snyder and athletic director Jim Hart look on.

Ohio State Univ. at Marion opens new campus library

A new $7.1 million library or the Ohio State University’s Marion Campus increases campus library space fourfold with 24,000 square feet of floor space and housing for 37,000 volumes and 250 journals. The building was designed by Moody & Nolan LTD. of Columbus. The facility features an expansive rotunda with attractive landscaping to complement views of a campus pond and meadows from the library rotunda, offices, and mezzanine.

New systems installed

These institutions have selected new automation systems:

• Johns Hopkins University selected the Horizon systern from Ameritech Library Services;

An architect’s rendering of the planned $20 million Loyola University New Orleans Library.

• Acadia University in Wolfvilłe, Nova Scotia, selected SIRSI’s Unicom system;

• Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, selected SIRSI’s Unicorn system.

Bowling Green cooks

Bowling Green State University’s Jerome Library has published A Taste of Jerome: 30th Anniversary Commemorative

Cookbook.The cookbook features more than 150 recipes from library staff and friends, descriptions of the library collections, and anecdotes. Copies are available for $7.00 plus $1.50 shipping/ handling. Send your check, payable to Bowling Green State University, to Cookbook, Jerome

Library, Rm. 222, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403. Profits from the sales will be used to enhance the library’s collections.

Loyola University New Orleans launches $50 million campaign

Loyola University New Orleans launched “Thresholds,” a $50 million capital campaign for the construction and endowment of a new 150,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art library, endowment of student financial aid, and faculty endowment. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new library was held in late November.

Special features of the new library include space for a collection of 550,000 printed volumes, computer network access at every table and carrel, more than 100 public computer workstations, three microcomputer labs, two multimedia classrooms, a classroom for teaching the use of technology for study and research, and a literacy center. The new J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library, which will cost more than $20 million to construct and equip, is named after Loyola’s largest benefactor who before his death pledged $7.5 million to support construction. Architects for the project are the Mathes Group. Construction began in December and is scheduled to be completed in October 1998. ■