ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Univ. of Nebraska sees benefits of library fee

Last spring, students at the University of Nebraska at Kearney voted to assess themselves a 25 cents per credit hour fee to raise money for the university library. The initiative for the fee came from Greg Hood, a student representative on the Faculty Senate Library Committee. Monies raised by the fee have been used to provide stu- dents access to 1,500 general interest and scholarly periodicals via Informa- tion Access Company’s Expanded Academic ASAP, purchase $6,000 worth of fiction and nonfiction, and purchase the 34-volume Grove Dictionary of Art, which will cost $2,500 a year for three years.

Cornell named site for federal labor reports

In a move designed to make U.S. government reports more accessible to a wider population, including scholars and businesses overseas, the Martin P. Catherwood Library of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University has been selected as a site for collecting, transmitting, and archiving selected federal labor reports on the Internet.

The Catherwood Library has established the Catherwood Electronic Archive in collaboration with several offices within the U.S. Department of Labor for the dissemination of national reports on the Internet.

“The goal of this initiative is to enable widespread and immediate access of these important documents,” said Stuart M. Basefsky, a reference librarian at Catherwood Library, who directs the electronic archive.

Basefsky noted that this relationship reduces the delay there used to be in making a government report available to library users. “Thanks to this relationship with the Department of Labor, we are able to get these documents online within 24 hours after they are released.”

To access the Catherwood Electronic Archive via the World Wide Web: http://www.ilr. cornell.edu/library/e_archive. To access the archive via gopher: gopher.ilr.cornell.edu. To access the archive via ftp site: ftp.ilr.cornell.

Univ. of Illinois to auction materials

On March 30, 1996, the Uni- versity of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign Library will hold a special public/ mailbid auction of duplicate books. The materials in the auction have accumulated over the years as items were donated that were not needed for the collection, yet were too special to in- clude in the regular annual book sale. Over 600 books in 374 lots with imprints ranging from 1732 to 1967 will be auctioned. Subject areas include literature, travel and exploration, birds, Ameri- can Civil War, Illinois, Lincoln, art, Japan, the- atre, religion, astronomy, history, Canada, poli- tics, and other miscellaneous items. Information about the auction is being mounted on the World Wide Web at http://www.grainger. uiuc.edu/library/bookauct.htm. A catalog of ma- terials is available for $8.00 from Library Friends, University of Illinois Library, 227 Library, 1408 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana, IL 61801. For infor- mation contact Vincent Golden at (217) 333- 2843 or e-mail: v-golden@uxl.cso.uiuc.edu.

Access to electronic information passes ALA Council

The Council of the American Library Association voted unanimously on January 24, 1996, to adopt “Access to Electronic Information, Services, and Networks: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights.” The document had generated lots of discussion and received many suggestions for changes and revisions. The interpretation is available on the ALA homepage at http://www.ala.org.

Choice publishes environmental guide

Environmental Studies Reviews,an authoritative guide to recent scholarly works in the rapidly expanding field of environmental studies, has been published by Choice. It contains the full text of nearly 900 reviews published in Choice: Current Reviews of Academic Books, the review journal of ACRL. Selected from the five most recent volumes of Choice, the reviews are arranged by broad subject categories that span the science and technology fields, as well as the humanities and social sci- ences. Also included in this comprehensive guide are a substantial reference section; author and title indexes; and subheadings within key catego- ries, enhancing its usefulness for collection development. The 164-page book is available for $38.00 from ALA Order Ful- fillment, 155 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606; phone: (800) 545-2433, press 7; or fax: (312) 836-9958.

Teleconference on health resources to air

Exploring Internet 5: Health and Medical Re- sources,will be broadcast as a national tele- conference on Wednesday, March 27, 1996, 1:00-3:00 p.m., EST. The telecast will concen- trate on health and medical resources available on the Internet and explore how they are be- ing used for research, clinical investigation, medical consultation, health provider educa- tion, and patient care. Elaine Martin, assistant university librarian for the health sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will dem- onstrate the use of the Internet as a teaching, research, diagnostic, and consumer information tool. The cost of receiving the telecast is $300; a videotape of the broadcast is also available for $315. For details or to order contact: D & F Associates, Inc., at (317) 876-3133; e-mail: dfassoc@tbcnet.com.

NC governor proclaims “First Public University Library Month”

Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. proclaimed February “First Public University Library Month” in North

Carolina. The proclamation came as the University of North Caro- lina at Chapel Hill, the oldest public university in the nation, moved into its third century of service.

The campus library began serving students and North Caro- lina citizens on January 15, 1795. The governor’s proclamation commends the University Library’s vast resources for offer- ing “the essence of knowledge, past and present, on subjects ranging from the general to the esoteric, from the humanities to the sciences.”

Florida State survives arsonist

Florida State University’s (FSU) Library survived a small fire set by an arsonist in a string of fire attacks at FSU. Just after mid- night on February 2 a patron reported to library staff that a fire was burning in the periodi- cals section. Staff sounded the alarm and about 75–100 people were evacuated from the library, which normally closes at 1:00 a.m.

Paper had been wadded up beneath the shelves holding 48-50 bound business and art periodicals. According to Burt Altman, preser- vation librarian, no interior damage was done to the volumes but most of them had to be sent out for rebinding.

This fire was the latest in a three-day string of fires set in 13 buildings at FSU. All the fires were small ones set in trash cans, bulletin boards, or ovens. A suspect has been arrested and the fires have reportedly stopped.

ACRL publishes instruction casebook Teaching Information Retrieval and Evaluation Skills to Education Students and Practitioners: A Casebook of Applications,edited by Patricia O’Brien Libutti and Bonnie Gratch, has been published by ACRL.

This Casebook includes actual instructional sessions for information literacy skills at the high school, undergraduate, graduate, and practitio- ner levels. Written by academic and school li- brarians, the cases use a narrative account to recreate the flavor and feeling of what actually transpired in the classroom or at the computer workstation. Each case provides goals and objec- tives statements, a lesson plan, samples of teaching materials, and a reflective analysis section in which a qualitative assessment is offered. Ten cases are pre- sented, several of which cover ERIC and Internet resources. Teaching Information Retrieval, ISBN 0-8389-7813-4, is available for $26.50 ($22.50 to ACRL mem- bers). To order, call (800) 545- 2433 (press 7); fax: (312) 836-9958; or write: ACRL Order Fulfillment, 155 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606.

Log-on@thelibraryday

ALA encourages all libraries to join log- on@thelibraryday, Tuesday, April 16, 1996, during National Library Week celebrations. Demonstrations will introduce the public to the information superhighway and spotlight the role of libraries in linking students and the public with the new information technology. A “tour guide,” including the White House, Congress, a jobs bulletin board, and other key sites will be available at http://www.ala.org/logon.day. ALA is encouraging all libraries to schedule and promote public demonstrations of the Internet throughout National Library Week.

1995–96 College Library Director Mentor Program Seminar participants: left to right: front row: Sylvia Kuhlmeier (Tabor College), Mary Ledoux (Franklin Pierce College), Kristin Doty (Maine College of Art), Sharon Mader (Christian Brothers University), Susan Richards (Western State College). Second row: Carol Ahmad (Schreiner College), Chris Nugent (Maryville College), Cindy Potter (Texas Wesleyan University), Evan Farber (Earlham College), Janice Kemp (Monmouth College). Third row: Charles Getchell (Quinnipiac College), Steve Stoan (Drury College), Mignon Adams (Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science), Judy Donovan (Moore College of Art and Design). Back row: Andrew Pearson (Florida Southern College), Paul Jenkins (College of Mount St. Joseph), Paul Frisch (Washington and Jefferson College), Larry Hardesty (Austin College). Not pictured: Kim Herndon (Shorter College).

CLS mentor program meets at Trinity

Prior to the 1996 ALA Midwinter Meet- ing in San Antonio, Trinity University hosted the fourth annual seminar for the 1995-96 first-year college library di- rectors participating in the ACRL Col- lege Libraries Section’s College Library Director Mentor Program. Mignon Adams (Philadelphia College of Phar- macy and Science), Evan Farber (Earlham College), and Larry Hardesty (Austin College) led the seminar, which covered such challenges to first-year college library directors as budgeting, faculty and administration relations, staff morale, collection development, and bibliographic instruction. Carol Ahmad (Schreiner College) provided the perspective of a second-year direc- tor who had participated in the pro- gram last year. The program, funded by the Council on Library Resources, each year enables up to 15 first-year directors of small colleges, usually un- der 2,500 enrollment, to be matched with experienced college library direc- tors to help guide the new directors through their first year. During its four years of existence, 59 college library directors have participated in the pro- gram. For more information contact Larry Hardesty, College Librarian, Abell Library, Austin College, 900 N. Grand, Sherman, TX 75090; e-mail: lhardesty@austinc.edu; phone: (903) 813-2490. ■