ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Field

Maureen Gleason

Stephanie Orphan named Web product development specialist for ACRL and editor-in-chief of C&RL News

ACRL is pleased to announce that Stephanie Orphan is the division’s new Web product development specialist and editor-in-chief of C&RL News. Orphan comes from the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, where she held the position of archives di- rector for the past two years. Prior to that she was assistant director for information services in the University of Chicago’s Career & Place- ment Services.

As a librarian, Orphan had the opportu- nity to work on a number of Web-develop- ment projects. She played an integral part in bringing the University of Chicago’s Alumni Contact Database to the Web and has devel- oped and coordinated multimedia projects for the Internet and CD-ROM. She also brings to the table significant editorial and writing ex- perience. Orphan worked in the editorial department of Encyclopaedia Britannica dur- ing the initial stages of its Britannica Online product. She went on to provide editorial, writing, and research services to a mid-sized financial services firm, which she continued to do while working toward a degree in li- brary and information science.

Orphan received her MS in Library and Infor- mation Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a member of the first cohort of the LEEP online education program. She also holds an MA in liter- ary studies from the Uni- versity of Wisconsin-Mil- waukee.

OCLC offers to purchase netLibrary

OCLC has offered $10 mil- lion to purchase the assets of netLibrary, a leading provider of eBooks, eTextbooks, and Internet-based content/collection management services, along with a loan to keep netLibrary going through its bankruptcy proceedings. The $2.4 million loan was approved on December 3 by bankruptcy judge Donald Cordova, who also allowed the sale to go forward and opened the door to any competitive bids. The next hearing will be on January 11, 2002.

According to Jay Jordan, president and CEO of OCLC, “this potential alliance with netLibrary would advance our strategic directive to deliver technologies and services that support, extend, and enhance the OCLC membership cooperative. eBooks complement[s] our growing e-journal collection and provide[s] exciting new synergies for our cataloging, resource sharing, reference, and digital preservation services.” The OCLC Board of Trustees has expressed strong support for this move, stressing that 14 of OCLC’s 16 regional network affiliates have arrangements for libraries in their regions to purchase netLibrary resources.

Academic Health Sciences Libraries and OhioLINK join LibQual+ survey

The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) and OhioLINK, a consortium of 78 Ohio academic libraries, will join the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in the second phase of the LibQual+ project, a survey to be conducted in spring 2002.

The Harry Potter Premiere Party was held at the Depot Branch of Bowling Green Public Library. The party was sponsored by Western Kentucky University Libraries to promote its Southern Kentucky Festival of Books.

LibQUAL+ is a large-scale, user-based library service effectiveness tool developed by Texas A&M University in conjunction with ARL. In spring 2002 thousands of higher education students and faculty across the United States will receive an e-mail invitation to participate in a Web survey. The survey asks college library patrons to evaluate four dimensions of their campus library’s service: effect of service, the library as a “place,” personal control, and access to information. For each survey item patrons are asked to identify their “minimum service level,” “desired service level,” and “perception of the library’s service performance” on a scale of one to nine.

Information on the LibQUAL project is available at http://www.arl.org/libqual/.

University of Arizona to hold conference on organizational change

The University of Arizona Library (UA), ACRL, and the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) are cosponsoring the conference “Living the Future 4, Collaboratively Speaking,” to be held April 24-27, 2002, in Tucson, Arizona. This international conference focuses on how libraries can be effective, creative, and user focused.

The first day will be devoted to developments at the UA Library since the last conference, held in 2000. On the second day, other creative organizational initiatives will be shared by invitees from a wide range of libraries, including Emory University, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Brown University, George Washington University, University of Connecticut, and the University of Virginia.

On April 27, participants will tour the UA Library, focusing on the special challenges in serving customers in a digital world, espe- cially on staffing new spaces to support learn- ing technologies, partnering with campus units, developing consortia, recruiting, and training for skills to serve the new generation of customers.

On April 24, the following preconference workshops will be offered: Library Project Plan- ning, Advanced Facilitation Skills, Conducting User Surveys in Academic Libraries, and Con- structive Dialogue.

For more information about the conference, including registration and hotel accommoda- tions, visit the Web site at http://www.library.arizona.edu/conference/.

Gift to support new science library at Princeton

Peter B. Lewis, a member of the Princeton class of 1955 and a trustee of the university, is mak- ing a gift of $60 million to support the con- struction and the programs of a new science library at Princeton that will be designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Frank Gehry. Gehry is the designer of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain, and his current work includes several academic buildings.

“This is a very significant project for Princeton in two respects,” said President Shirley M. Tilghman. “It allows us to create library space for the sciences that is designed to meet the needs of the 21st century, and it allows us to bring to our campus the work of one of the most original and distinctive archi- tects of our time.”

The new science library is expected to serve researchers working on projects that cross scien- tific fields, provide services and facilities that take into account the revolutionary changes in scholarly publishing over recent years, and meet the needs of students far better than the current patchwork of small dis- cipline-specific libraries, where seating tends to be tight and tucked away in corners.

IMLS issues two Digital Library Forum reports

The Institute of Museum and Li- brary Services (IMLS) has issued two reports based on discussions at the IMLS Digital Library Forum held in spring 2001. The “Report of the IMLS Digital Library Forum on the National Science Digital Library Program,” produced jointly with representatives of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Science, Math, Engineering and Technology Education digital library project, recommends that funding be provided for previously completed IMLS-funded digitization projects. These projects take steps to map metadata elements to the NSDL set, upgrade systems to support the Open Archives Metadata Harvesting Protocol, and upgrade objects and metadata in order to meet appropriate standards. The full report may be viewed at http://www.imls.gov/pubs/natscidiglibrary.htm.

The second report “A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections,” identifies core principles and related information resources for the creation of high-quality digital collections, objects, metadata, and projects. It is intended as a resource for grant applicants as well as for IMLS and other funding agencies. It is available at http://www.imls.gov/pubs/forumframework.htm.

IMLS invites comments on both reports from the professional community interested in the creation, management, and preservation of digital information resources.

University of Pittsburgh Chinese document delivery service continues

The East Asian Library at the University of Pittsburgh announces the continuation of its successful Chinese document delivery service into its fourth year. Originally funded by the National Leadership Grant (awarded by the Institute of Library and Museum Services), the center has served scholars and library patrons across the country by delivering full-text journal publications directly from collections and libraries in China during the past three years.

The gateway service has won immensely positive responses from its users and proven to be a valuable service critical to the research of many scholars of Chinese studies.

The East Asian Library welcomes the use of its service. Requests may be sent to the center using the online request form at http:// www.library.pitt.edu/gateway/request.htm.

Feedback is also appreciated and may be sub- mitted on the form at http://www.library. pitt.edu/gateway/feedback.htm.

New titles published by ACRL

When Change Is Set in Stone: An Analysis of Seven Academic Libraries Designed by Perry Dean Rogers, Architects,by Michael J. Crosbie and Damon D. Hickey, is an appraisal of the designs of seven academic libraries from the perspective of an architectural critic and an academic librarian.

The book opens with a discussion of nine factors affecting construction of aca- demic libraries iden- tified by the academic librarian, including such items as the im- pact of technology, budget constraints, and how the library relates to the parent institution. The commentary then looks at seven individual designs and how success- ful they have been in meeting these nine factors. This is a lavishly illustrated book, with interior and exterior pictures of the libraries and selected floor plans.

When Change is Set in Stone(ISBN 0-8389- 8136-4) sells for $54.

A Core Collection in Dance,edited by Mary E. Edsall, is a bibliography of selected print and nonprint materials, including new media, about dance that are recommended for inclusion in libraries that support undergraduate curricula and/or a significant dance community.

All forms and styles of dance are represented as well as all geographic areas. The book is intended for dance educators and librarians to use as a tool for developing and expanding existing collections, building collections from scratch, and evaluating collections.

Included are dance biographies and autobiographies, historical overviews, and a list of reference works. Other sections include production and choreography.

A Core Collection in Dance(ISBN 0-8389- 8118-6) sells for $26.

Both books may be ordered from ALA, P.O. Box 932501, Atlanta, GA; 31193-2501. Phone: (866) 746-7252 (866-Shop ALA); fax: (770) 442- 9742. An order form is also available online at http://www .ala.org/acrl/pubsform. html.

University of Southern California's Doheny Memorial Library reopens

The University of Southern California’s (USC) Doheny Memorial Library has reopened after two years and $17 million in renovations. The library was originally opened in 1932 as USC’s first freestanding library—the gift of Estelle Doheny in memory of her son Edward L. Doheny Jr., a USC trustee and alumnus. It was designed in the great tradition of the classical library with grand reading rooms, cavernous stacks, and ornate entranceways. In recent years wear and tear, massive growth in use, stricter building codes, and the imperatives of the 21st- century information environment had begun to erode Doheny’s vitality as one of Southern California’s premier library facilities.

In December 1999, the building closed for a FEMA-supported seismic retrofit that has ensured the future safety of the building. The remodeled library, a recipient of a Los Angeles Conservancy 2001 Preservation award, was officially reintroduced to the public at a celebration held in October 2001.

Speakers at the ceremony, which was videotaped and Webcast, included USC President Steven B. Sample, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, USC Chief Information Officer and Dean of the University Libraries Jerry D. Campbell, and the keynote speaker Director of the Harvard University Library Sidney Verba. After the ceremony, attendees were invited to view the first installment of the new Doheny Library exhibition series, “Doheny Memorial Library: Heart of the University,” housed in the library’s Treasure Room.

Doheny Library’s Web site contains scores of photographs, old and new; voluminous documentation of the building’s distinguished past and recent reconstruction; and news of upcoming events. Still in progress, it may be viewed at http://www.usc.edu/isd/dml.

Extended deadline

The deadline to submit nominations for ACRL’s Hugh A. Atkinson Memorial Award has been extended from December 3, 2001, until April 1, 2002. ■