ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Making of America on the Web

The University of Michigan (UM) and Cornell University are using digital technology to make available a collection of American writing that documents social history from the antebellum period through Reconstruction.

Using the collections at UM and Cornell, approximately 5,000 volumes published between 1850 and 1877 are now available on the Web. UM’s site (http://www.umdl.umich. edu/moa/) focuses on monographs in the areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, science and technology, and religion. Cornell has focused on major serials of the era, ranging from general interest publications to those with more targeted audiences such as agriculture. Cornell’s documents can be viewed at http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/. Work is under way to allow for cross-collection searching of the two sites.

“Because popular and research materials are included in the collection, both scholars and those with a general interest in this historical period can identify many of the important issues of the time,” explained Wendy Lougee, UM’s assistant director for digital library initiatives. As an example, Lougee cites several items focusing on the role and status of women, from suffrage to proper homemaking to tales of Civil War nurses.

Comments and suggestions concerning the Making of America project can be sent to moainfo@umich.edu. For more details about the project visit http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa/ about.html.

JSTOR participants near 200

Nearly 200 academic and research institutions of all types (including such institutions as Agnes Scott College, Harvard, Kalamazoo College, the Library of Congress, Northwestern University, Siena College, and Wesleyan University) have signed on to become charter participants in JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping the scholarly community take advantage of advances in information technologies (http://www.jstor.org/).

JSTOR’s initial focus is on creating a fully searchable electronic database comprised of the complete runs of 100 important research journals in ten to fifteen academic disciplines (JSTOR-Phase I). Many of these journals began publication in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By converting the journals back to the first issue published, JSTOR enhances access to valuable scholarly resources while offering libraries with large collections of these journals the chance to recover premium shelf space. For libraries with gaps in their collections or for those lacking the physical or financial resources to subscribe to them in paper, JSTOR offers an opportunity to acquire complete collections and to make these materials directly available to their constituents.

“We are very excited to receive this strong vote of confidence from the academic library community,” said Kevin M. Guthrie, JSTOR’s executive director. “If the promise of advances in electronic technologies is to be fully realized, libraries, publishers, and scholars are going to have to collaborate in new and creative ways.” JSTOR participants pay a combination of a one-time fee to help build the database and an annual access fee to provide for its continuing maintenance.

LC joins CIRLA

The Library of Congress is the newest member of the Chesapeake Information and Research Library Alliance (CIRLA). LC joins the National Agricultural Library, the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Delaware, the University of Maryland at College Park, and Georgetown, Howard, and Johns Hopkins Universities. CIRLA was founded in 1996 as a “voluntary, not-for-profit organization of educational and research institutions in Delaware, the District of Columbia, and Maryland” seeking to enhance scholarship “through collaborative development of library collection and service programs and expanding use of information technology.”

During its first year, CIRLA focused on projects such as improving interlibrary loan performance, developing a reciprocal borrowing program, pursuing joint purchases and subscriptions, and launching the Chesapeake digital library project.

Jim Neal, chair of the CIRLA Board, said that, “We increasingly recognize that the synergy we create by closer cooperation helps us fill the gaps in our individual ability to meet the demand for scholarly information. Only through such reciprocity will we succeed.”

North Central College benefits from senior class gift

For the third time since 1990, the senior class has decided to present its senior class gift to North Central College’s (Naperville, Illinois) Osterle Library. The class of 1997 has decided to fund a library instruction computer lab equipped with 10 workstations, as well as music listening equipment that will allow up to four students at a time to listen to CDs.

Duke’s sheet music added to Internet

Pieces of historic American sheet music from the Special Collections Library at Duke University will be available via the Internet this summer at American Memory, a Library of Congress (LC) online site.

The sheet music, which spans the period 1850-1920, includes a wide variety of songs from the antebellum years through the Civil War and Reconstruction, through the beginning of the 20th century and WWI.

About 3,000 compositions at Duke will be digitized thanks to a partnership between LC and Ameritech. The organizations awarded Duke a $64,688 grant to support the project, which could take up to 18 months to complete.

“Having this material on the Web will make it much easier for people to study and appreciate our country’s musical heritage,” said Duke university librarian David S. Ferriero.

The grant is part of a larger initiative by LC and Ameritech to assist U.S. libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies in digitizing their historical materials for inclusion in American Memory, a digital collection of primary source materials in U.S. history and culture, available at http://www.loc.gov/. Ten libraries across the country have been granted awards by the Ameritech Foundation.

UNC-CH also tapped for LC’s American Memory project

Narratives written by Southerners between 1860 and 1920 (diaries, autobiographies, and memoirs) in the collections of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) have been chosen for the Library of Congress’ American Memory project, an online collection of primary source materials in U.S. culture and history (http:/ /www.loc.gov). A grant of nearly $75,000 from Ameritech and LC funded the scanning, coding, and posting to the Internet.

Supported by $2 million from Ameritech, the competition allows LC to fund eight to ten projects annually for three years beginning in 1996-97.

“Even more important than the money, which is very helpful, is the fact that our project has been evaluated as one of the better projects nationally,” said Joe Hewitt, UNC-CH associate provost for university libraries and director of the Academic Affairs Library. UNC-CH already has 32 texts online at http://sunsite.unc.edu/ docsouth, as part of its digitization project, “Documenting the American South: The Southern Experience in 19th-Century America,” where the narratives project will also reside.

Sheet music circa 1850-1920 from the Duke collections is being added to LC’s American Memory Internet site.

Pat Dominguez, Natalia Smith, and Joe Hewitt will add narrative histories owned by UNC to LC’s American Memory project.

UnCover and CatchWord to develop new document-delivery service

The UnCover Company and CatchWord Ltd. plan to develop an interface that will allow users to order and receive journal articles via the Internet.

UnCover offers its database of 17,000 journal titles. CatchWord offers RealPage, an intuitive document browser that allows users to view online articles in their original printed layout including tables, graphics, and diagrams. The companies plan to integrate the UnCover database into the network of servers maintained by CatchWord. Where the publisher has given permission to UnCover and CatchWord to provide electronic document delivery, users will be able to access the CatchWord servers and order articles of interest. After a request has been placed, users will be able to load the RealPage software at no cost to view the article on their desktop.

Univ. of Michigan gets first endowed library position

The first endowed position at the University of Michigan Library, the Irving M. Hermelin Judaica Curatorship, has been established. The lead gift of $325,000 was given by David and Doreen Hermelin and Henrietta Hermelin Weinberg in honor of their father, a great lover of books and of Jewish history and culture. Friends of the Hermelins along with supporters of UM’s Frankel Center for Judaic Studies and the University Library contributed with other gifts that completed the million dollar endowment.

The new curatorship will provide a full-time Judaica expert responsible for building collections and providing research assistance to faculty and students.

“The addition of the curator position will mean that the very important responsibilities of collection development, reference, outreach, and funding development will now receive the attention they demand,” said Jonathan Rodgers, head of the library’s Near East Division.

ACRL publishes books on copyright policies and women’s studies

For academic librarians who are facing the challenge of creating formal copyright policies, procedures, and publications, A Copyright Sampler, edited by Wanda K. Johnston and Derrie B. Roark, has been published by ACRL.

The sampler includes results of a survey of community colleges about administration of copyright policies and procedures, along with sample documents from various institutions. Examples include board policies and informational documents and specific applications in interlibrary loan, print duplication and course packets, video, music, computer software, and other areas. Appendices include a bibliography and fair use criteria and related guidelines. A Copyright Sampler (ISBN 0-8389-7878-9) is available for $29.00 ($24.50 to ACRL members).

ACRL has also published a comprehensive new reference source for creating or building on a women’s studies collection. Choice Reviews

in Women’s Studies 1990-96features reviews that appeared in Choice magazine of more than 2,000 recent women’s studies titles.

Arranged alphabetically by subject matter, using classifications created by the Choice editorial staff, each entry reprints the full text of the original review, gives detailed bibliographic data, and indicates recommended readership level. Name, title, and topical indexes are also included.

Martha R. Fowlkes (University of Connecticut) provides an informative introduction and brief history of the field.

Women’s Studies(ISBN 0-8389-7881-9, 456 pages) is available for $45.50 ($38 for ACRL members). Both books may be ordered from ALA Order Fulfillment, 155 North Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606-1719, or by calling (800) 545-2433, press 7.

Oklahoma State wins PR award

The Oklahoma State University (OSU) Library’s Plug into the World campaign won the John Cotton Dana Public Relations Award given by the Library Administration and Management Association of ALA.

OSU began the Plug into the World campaign to increase enrollment in its electronic training classes and to improve student and faculty knowledge of the Internet. In 1995–96 more than 14,530 people attended the training sessions—a 97.8% increase over the previous year. In addition to offering incentives, such as pentium computers donated by local businesses, to students taking the training sessions, the library ran 32 quarter-page ads in the campus newspaper. The ads highlighted the wide range of information that can be found on the Internet such as job information, the 1996 election, and how to shop in cyberspace.

The award jury recognized OSU for “forging an imaginative partnership with community business to promote faculty and student awareness and expertise in the use of the Internet. A creative incentive program and ongoing training series reinforced the recognition of libraries as electronic information specialists.”

Call for papers—popular culture

The Popular Culture Association seeks proposals for papers for its April 8—11, 1998, meeting in Orlando, Florida. The library area’s theme for the conference is “The Image of the Librarian in Popular Culture,” but papers may relate to any aspect of libraries and popular culture (research, collections, intellectual freedom, technical services, etc.).

Send a brief abstract (one page maximum) by September 16, 1997, to Allen Ellis, Northern Kentucky University Library, Highland Heights, KY 41099-6101; fax: (606) 572-5390; phone: (606) 572-5527; e-mail: ellisa@nky.edu.

Library Corporation provides free access to Cataloger’s Reference Shelf

The Library Corporation (TLC) is making its Cataloger’s Reference Shelf (CRS) available free of charge via the World Wide Web (http:// www.TLCdelivers.com). This version will contain the same information appearing on TLC’s ITS for Windows software, but without the context-sensitive links to software that act as an editor.

Doug Storer, ITS product manager for TLC, said, “Catalogers have told us that the CRS has been an extremely valuable and comprehensive resource for them. Now, by utilizing some of our recent innovations in Web publishing, we are able to make these authoritative documents accessible on the Internet.”

CRS is based on the official Library of Congress (LC) publications addressing these topics: USMARC Formats, USMARC Code Lists, Subject Cataloging Manuals, and other references including CONSER, classification, rare books, looseleaf, archival, maps, etc. ■

One of the logos for Oklahoma State University’s Plug into the World campaign, which was awarded the John Cotton Dana Public Relations Award this year.