ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News From the Field

ACQUISITIONS

• The university library of the University of California, Santa Barhara announces the purchase of the collection of historical phonograph records of the late Anthony Boucher of Berkeley, California. The collection of 7,643 recordings is almost exclusively devoted to the vocal artistry of the past. The collection is especially noteworthy in that it contains representative recordings featuring almost every opera and lieder singer who recorded from 1904 to 1968. Mr. Boucher was the originator of the program “Golden Voices” heard over the Pacifica network until his death in April of 1968. His half-hour program featured recordings from his collection and his commentary about opera and lieder singers.

The collection is housed in the Arts Library, music section, and is the first archival phonograph record collection acquired by the Santa Barbara campus. The university is interested in exchanging duplicates with qualified institutions and will be able to provide some copying services of a limited nature in the near future. Requests for further information should be addressed to: Miss Susan Sonnet, Assistant Music Librarian, Arts Library, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106.

• The papers of the late Erwin Piscator, internationally known producer, director, and playwright, have been presented to Morris Library, Southern Illinois University, by his widow. Dr. Marie Piscator, and the Piscator Memorial Foundation. In pre-Nazi Germany Mr. Piscator founded Das Tribunal, an avant garde theater, and Das Proletarissche Theatre, which performed plays in workers halls. He later became director of the Berlin Volkstheatre and, in 1927, founded the Piscator Theatre on Nollendorfplatz, Berlin. In 1936 Mr. Piscator emigrated to Paris and two years later to the United States, where he founded and directed the Dramatic Workshop at the New School for Social Research in New York City. In 1951 he returned to Germany, and subsequently directed productions in West Germany, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, and France. He became general director of the Freie Volksbrehne, Berlin, in 1962. In 1953 Mr. Piscator received the Goethe Prize; in 1958 the German Federal Distinguished Service Cross. In 1961 he was appointed President of the Academy of the Performing Arts. He died in March 1966.

The Piscator archives consist of an extensive file of papers, covering his seventeen years in the United States, including his work with the Dramatic Workshop in New York; files of scripts, playbills, photographs, and business records of various productions abroad; correspondence with actors, directors, and playwrights, both in America and in Europe; and family papers, including correspondence with his wife.

Arrangements for the collection were made with the assistance of Professor Mordecai Gorelik, a long-time friend of the Piscators, whose papers have already been presented to the library. In addition, the library’s theater archives include the papers of Katherine Dunham, John Howard Lawson, and Irish playwright-director Lennox Robinson.

• An important addition to its eighteenth century English collections is announced by the Kenneth Spencer Research Library of the University of Kansas, in the acquisition of the collection of Richmond P. Bond and Marjorie N. Bond. The Bond collection is primarily concerned with the English periodical press of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, material by nature ephemeral and thereby scarce, albeit of great importance to the student of literature, politics, economics, or social history. Professor Bond holds the Kenan Professorship at the University of North Carolina, and his name will be familiar to any student of the newspaper and to scholars in the field of English literature.

The earliest publication date represented in the collection is 1632, and the collection contains examples of virtually every kind of journal that appeared from that date until 1800, including some 2,200 seventeenth century issues of the London Gazette, as well as 1,081 original issues of the three famous essay journals, the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian. As well as long runs of these well-known publications, the collection contains certain unique items: a complete set of 140 original numbers of the Connoisseur, signed and annotated by John Boyle, fifth Earl of Corke, a contributor to Connoisseur and a friend of Pope, Swift, and Johnson; the only known copies of A la Mode de Paris (1659), General View of the World (1702), Votes of the New Parliament of Women (1710), Half-Penny London Journal (1724), Monitor (1727), News from the Dead (1739), Spanish Spy (1739-40), General Magazine (1743), Free Holder (1784), and Plenipotentiary (1787); the only known complete run of all twenty numbers of the Ladies Diary. Almanacs, annals, important sets of the Votes of the House of Commons, and examples of the British provincial press are also included in the collection.

• The Langsdale Library of the University of Baltimore recently announced the acquisition of more than 10,000 volumes which made up the entire stock of Mr. Peter Decker, noted New York antiquarian book dealer and author of several distinguished books on American historical events. The acquisition was made through the efforts of John B. Nicholson, Jr., chief librarian for the University of Baltimore’s Langsdale Library. Among the books purchased is a rare copy of Maximilien’s Journey into the Interior of North America, complete in its French edition with atlas and plates, and also a copy of Lieutenant James Moody’s Narrative of His Exertions and Sufferings in the Cause of the Government Since the Year 1776, the account of the British spy who attempted to seize the archives of Congress. Included in the acquisition as well are the manuscripts of Mr. Decker’s numerous published works and his records as a dealer in Americana.

• The Baptist Historical Collection in the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has recently acquired a segment of the papers of the Honorable Brooks Hays, lawyer, educator, and former Congressman from Arkansas. Hays is well known for his religious activities, which include the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1957-59, and the distinction of having been the first Southern Baptist leader to be received by the Pope, in this case by Pope John XXIII on October 23, 1961. When the Ecumenical Institute was established at Wake Forest in 1969, to promote historical understanding among churches, Brooks Hays was chosen to conduct the program. Although continuing in this position, Hays is now also serving as chairman of the North Carolina Good Neighbor Council, having been appointed by Governor Scott in 1970.

The collection of papers, occupying twentyfour document boxes, contains correspondence, copies of speeches, articles, photographs, tapes, pamphlets, and other related research materials, mainly concerning the period 1963- 1966. Since this was the time when he was connected with Rutgers and the University of Massachusetts, the collection expectedly contains material involved in his participation in programs at those institutions. These papers now at Wake Forest comprise one of three segments, of which another is deposited at the John F. Kennedy Library at Boston and a third, covering activities as President of the Southern Baptist Convention, has been placed with the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention at Nashville, Tennessee.

• The Fisk University library Special Collections has recently acquired two new important archival collections and additional papers for the Thomas Elsa Jones Collection. The papers of the late Slater King, a 1948 graduate of Fisk University, and leader of the Albany, Georgia, Civil Rights Movement, were presented to the library by his wife, Mrs. Marion King. The collection, which numbers over 500 items, includes a handwritten note from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when jailed in Albany, Georgia, August 7, 1962; letters from Mrs. Coretta King; signed post cards from Malcolm X in Africa; business transactions with the Black Muslims for the purchase of land from the King and King Real Estate; and photographs, tapes, manuscripts, and other materials.

• The University of Utah libraries recently acquired a copy of the very rare title, Cellarius’ Magnificent Star Atlas in Full Contemporary Color and Heightened in Gold, by Andreas Cellarius. This valuable celestial atlas was first published in 1660. Only one copy of the first edition is known to exist. The University of Utah libraries’ copy is the 1661 edition which is also very rare and difficult to find in a good state of preservation. Cellarius’ maps represent not only the stars but the entire cosmic structure. Included are 21 maps of the cosmographical systems of Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Araetus, and the eight remaining maps show the northern, southern, western, and eastern celestial spheres. This purchase was made with funds from the J. Willard Marriott endowment and it is perhaps the most expensive item ever purchased for University of Utah libraries.

GRANTS

• The University of Chicago has been awarded a $1 million challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation of Detroit, Michigan, for remodeling the Harper Library-Wieboldt Hall complex, 1116 East 59th Street, Chicago. The grant is conditional on the university raising the balance of the funds required for the renovation on or before March 15, 1972. The announcement was made by Edward H. Levi,president of the university. Total cost of the project is expected to be more than $2 million. The present university library facilities in Harper and Wieboldt will be moved to the new Joseph Regenstein Library during the coming summer. The vacated space will then be used by the Undergraduate College and the Division of the Humanities of the university for class and common rooms, offices, and a special undergraduate library. The funds being sought will be used for remodeling the vacated space.

• Three institutions of higher learning which are planning innovative library-centered educational programs will receive matching grants totaling $200,000 from a joint program of the Council on Library Resources and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The recipient institutions are: Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, $100,000; Dillard University, New Orleans, Louisiana, $50,000; and Jackson State College, Jackson, Mississippi, $50,000. The grants are being matched by the institutions, thus bringing the total investment in the five-year programs to $400,000. The two sponsoring organizations are contributing equally to the grants.

Under the programs, libraries are expected to assume a more focal role in the instruction of undergraduates, thus contributing to the greater efficiency of the learning process. The programs are also expected to lead to the identification of areas in which the overall resources and services of libraries should be improved.

At Brown University undergraduates in increasing numbers are pursuing independent studies and are undertaking individual reading and research programs, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. They require assistance of a more specialized character than even well-trained reference librarians can ordinarily supply. This problem will be accelerated as Brown moves into its new program for independent study. It is anticipated that not only will there be still heavier use of library materials but that undergraduates will approach the library as a research library rather than as an undergraduate collection.

To provide needed guidance to undergraduates in this new kind of use, the university will experiment with the use of advanced graduate students from various disciplines to whom the undergraduates will have access in the library. These reference assistants will already be competent in research methods and bibliographic techniques in their fields of specialization and will be given intensive training in reference work to prepare them for their tasks. The Faculty Advisory Committee will assist in developing and guiding the program, and faculty members will work closely with the reference assistants.

At Dillard University it is planned to strengthen the academic work in the humanities and social sciences through relating the library more directly to the programs and courses of the university and to the needs of students engaged in independent study.

In addition to developing courses for classrelated instruction in library usage, cooperative programs will be developed with the teaching faculty. The library and its services will be integrated with the teaching and research programs in the social sciences and humanities. Administrative officers, faculty, students, and library staff will participate in the development of these activities.

Plans are also being made for the development of leadership programs, particularly for those specializing in the social sciences. In this connection the library is expected to play an important role in developing the individual’s competence in independent study and activity.

Jackson State College is formulating “Project LAMP,” a creative learning project involving classes in the humanities. The project is to be a cooperative venture in which students, faculty, and library staff will participate. It will rely heavily upon present and additional library resources, individual and group planning, independent study, guided and independent research, and reports.

The program is designed to lead to more reliance upon library resources and to stimulate independent and creative thinking on the part of students through the use of wide reading, special media, and diversified materials.

The library is expected to play a key role in the program’s endeavor to motivate the students to explore, beyond the limits of required class assignments, the world of creativity; to explore the arts and humanities through literature, painting and sculpture, music, theater, and philosophy.

• The Council on Library Resources has announced the Fellowship Program for 1971- 72, offering a limited number of fellowships to mid-career librarians who have demonstrated a strong potential for leadership in the profession. The purpose of the fellowships is to enable successful candidates to familiarize themselves with some of the changes occurring in the substantive, administrative, and technical aspects of their profession. It is outside the Council’s intent to support work toward an advanced degree. The awards are for periods up to 12 months and cover such expenses as travel, per diem, supplies and equipment incident to a Fellow’s project while he is on leave of absence from his institution (which is expected to continue his salary for the fellowship period). Librarians who wish to be considered should write to the Council no later than September 1, 1970, giving the following information: (1) a short biography, including details of education and employment; (2) a oneto two-page description of a proposed project to be undertaken with fellowship support, with estimated duration and budget.

The Committee will also welcome nominations of candidates for the awards. Correspondence should be addressed to; Fellowship Committee, Council on Library Resources, Inc., One Dupont Circle—Suite 620, Washington, D.C. 20036.

MEETINGS

July 13–14: The School of Librarianship at the University of California at Berkeley will sponsor a two-day conference and workshop on “Instruction in the Use of the College and University Library.” For further information and an application form contact: Continuing Education in Arts and Humanities, University Extension, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720; phone (415) 642-4141. Exclusive of housing and meals, attendance will cost $25.00.

July 18–21: P. Ray Swank, President of the National Audio-Visual Association, announced that “Media ’70: Education Through Communication,” will be the theme of the 31st Annual National Audio-Visual Convention and Exhibit. The Convention will be held at the Sheraton-Park Hotel, Washington, D.C. July 18–21, 1970. Preregistration fee for the NAVA Convention and Exhibit is $12.50. Special fees are applicable for those registering for special meetings. For further information about the convention or the special meetings, and for hotel reservation and convention registration forms, write to: NAVA Convention Registrations, National Audio-Visual Association, Inc., 3150 Spring Street, Fairfax, Virginia 22030.

July 19-31: The School of Library and Information Services, University of Maryland, is planning the fourth annual Library Administrators Development Program to be held July 19 to July 31, 1970. Dr. John Rizzo, Associate Professor of Management, Western Michigan University, will serve as the director. As in the past three summers, participants will include senior administrative personnel of large library systems—public, research, academic, and school —from the United States and Canada. The faculty is made up of well-known scholars, educators, management consultants, and lecturers drawn from universities, government, and consulting fields. Seminar sessions will concentrate on the principal administrative issues which senior managers encounter. Leadership, motivation, communication, personnel policy,decision-making, problem solving, financial planning and control, performance appraisal, the impact of technology, and the planning of change are among the issues considered in lecture, case analysis, group discussion, and seminar. The two-week resident program will again be held at the University of Maryland’s Donaldson Brown Center, Port Deposit, Maryland, a serene twenty-acre estate overlooking the Susquehanna River and offering a variety of recreational facilities and an informal atmosphere conducive to study, reflection, and discussion. Those interested in further information are invited to address inquiries to the Library Administrators Development Program, School of Library and Information Services, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742.

July 27-Aug. 21: The University of Denver Department of History and the Graduate School for Librarianship in cooperation with the State Archives of Colorado will conduct its Ninth Annual Institute for Archival Studies and Related Fields, July 27-August 21, 1970, under the direction of Dolores C. Renze, State Archivist of Colorado and adjunct professor. Department of History, University of Denver. Designed for those employed in archival, library, or related professions and also for advanced students of history or related subjects. Presents theory, principles, and methodology of archives administration, resources, and related manuscript source materials, with lectures and discussions by specialists in the profession. Field trips to archival agencies, departments or institutions nearby, and historical places in the area. For those especially interested in manuscript administration, arrangement, and methodology, specific assignments will be made. Credit; up to five quarter-hours, with University Institute Certificate upon completion. It is also possible to coordinate a combined certificate with the M.A. program for American Studies in the Department of History or cognate with the M.A. or M.S. program in the Graduate School for Librarianship in accordance with conditions established by these departmental graduate programs. Graduate credit for institute work transferable to another university will require approval of the Dean of Admissions; for those who do not desire credit but certificate only, the institute will be designated as “continuing education.” Tuition; $190; living accommodations available in the Centennial Conference Center at additional cost. Apply to Prof. D. C. Renze, Institute of Archival Studies, 1530 Sherman Street, Denver, Colorado 80203.

Aug. 3–28: The fourth annual Archives Institute, sponsored by the Georgia Department of Archives and History and by the Emory University Division of Librarianship, will be held August 3-28 at the Georgia Archives and Records Building, Atlanta. Miss Carroll Hart, director of the Department of Archives is director of the institute. The staff of the Archives participates in the institute, as well as Georgia specialists in the field and prominent archivists and historians from other parts of the country. Study is offered in archival procedures and records management. The course includes lectures, formal and informal seminars, theory and practical training in all phases of archival administration and techniques, and supervised laboratory work on special archival projects. Field trips will be made to a federal records center, county courthouse, a company archives, computer center, and the Georgia Historical Society headquarters in Savannah.

Participants may register on a noncredit basis or for six quarter hours graduate credit. For noncredit registrants the fee is $75.00; for credit awarded by the Emory University Graduate School the fee is $330.00. Dormitory housing will be available on the Emory University campus in Atlanta. The institute is designed to aid those presently employed or preparing for employment as archivists, manuscripts curators, records managers or special librarians; and advanced students in history or related disciplines. Applicants should hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Enrollment will be limited to ten. Further information about the program may be obtained by writing the Georgia Department of Archives and History, Atlanta, Georgia 30334.

Aug. 4–14: The School of Library Service, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, will sponsor an Institute on the History of Library Education. It is to be conducted by Dr. Paul A. Winckler, visiting professor of library science. Enrollment will be limited to thirty students. Complete details can be secured from Miss Shelagh Keene, Administrative Assistant, School of Library Service, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Aug. 17–21: The university library of the University of California, San Diego, is offering an institute on “Training for Service in Undergraduate Libraries.” The basic objectives of the Institute are to increase the competency of librarians serving undergraduate libraries by providing specialized training, to stimulate fresh approaches to library service for undergraduates, and to encourage further development of this specialty area. Six papers will be presented, one by each of the institute staff members. These will be distributed to participants in advance of their arrival in La Jolla, so as to allow time for detailed studies. In addition, there will be five less formal presentations on subsidiary topics by the members of the staff. Each participant will receive a stipend of $75.00 for the one-week period, plus an additional $15.00 for each dependent. Address requests for application forms to: Melvin J. Voigt, University Librarian, University of California, San Diego, Box 109, La Jolla, California 92037.

Aug. 24: The University of Minnesota Library, Reserve Book Section of the Circulation Department, will hold a one-day “Workshop on Reserve Book Problems in the Academic Library,” August 24, 1970. Address all communication to Mrs. Shirley Stanley, Reserve Librarian, Wilson Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455.

Sept. 14–24: The 1970 Conference and Congress of the International Federation for Documentation (FID) will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 14-24, 1970. Participation in the Congress is open to all those who are interested in the problems of documentation and scientific information. The general theme of the Congress is: “Documentation from the Viewpoint of Users.” The Congress will consist of invited lectures and the presentation of contributed papers in the following areas:

A. Communicating information to users

1. improving efficiency

2. user studies

3. building user profiles

B. Training of users

C. Tools for users

1. conventional tools

2. non-conventional tools

Meetings of the FID General Assembly and of FID Study Committees will take place before the Congress, and will constitute the 35th Conference of FID. A regional conference on problems in information of particular interest to Latin American countries, and technical visits and tours are also included in the program. The preliminary schedule of events is as follows:

Sept. 14–18—Meetings of the FID General Assembly, the FID Council, FID Study Committees and the FID Regional Commission on Latin America

Sept. 19–20—Technical and Sightseeing Excursions

Sept. 21–24—International Congress (invited and contributed papers). Regional Conference

Additional information and preliminary registration forms are available from; U.S. National Committee for FID, National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20418.

Oct. 11; The American Society for Information Science will hold its 33rd annual meeting Sunday, October 11, through Thursday, October 15, 1970, at the Sheraton Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “The Information Conscious Society” is the theme. The Convention Chairman for the 1970 meeting is Mr. Kenneth H. Zabriskie, Jr., Biosciences Information Services of Biological Abstracts, 2100 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Oct. 21–24; The 1970 annual conference of the Pennsylvania Library Association, Sheraton Hotel, Philadelphia, will be a unique convention. Headlined “A New School for Librarians,” the conference will be under the direction of a management firm and will seek to reorient librarians, trustees, and interested individuals to the library technology of the 1970s. Under the premise that many librarians have been away from the classroom for several years, the college within a conference is meant to update the individual’s professionalism, provide insight into the new directions of libraries, and, finally, to develop through group discussions a set of recommendations for library development in the seventies. More information is available from the Pennsylvania Library Association, 200 South Craig Street, Room 506, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15113.

Oct. 30; The Department of History of Notre Dame University, the Society of American Archivists, and the National Archives and Records Service (Region 5) are cooperating in the presentation of a symposium on using the resources of the Presidential Libraries. It will be held Friday, October 30, 1970, in the Continuing Education Center on the Notre Dame campus. An informal gathering of participants and those arriving the afternoon of October 29 is also being planned.

The program will consist of an address by Dr. Herbert Angel, Deputy Archivist of the United States, on the development of the system of Presidential Libraries, its current status, and plans for the future. Representatives from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and the Herbert Hoover Library will present papers on the holdings and operation of their institutions and a panel of scholars who have conducted research projects at a Presidential Library will discuss their experiences. Time will be available for general discussion.

Registration is $6.00 and includes coffee breaks and lunch. Rooms are available at the Morris Inn on campus at $12.00 single and $17.00 double. Motel accommodations are within a two-mile radius and rates vary from $11,00 single to $19.00 double. A printed program is to be prepared in September 1970 and will be mailed to members of the Society of American Archivists, Society of Ohio Archivists, Michigan Archivists Association, and departments of history at colleges and universities in the states comprising Region 5 of NARS (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin). Others desiring to receive a program should send their request to the following address; Regional Archives Branch, Federal Records Center, 7201 South Leamington Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60638.

Nov. 11; The New York Library Association is sponsoring a Conference within a Conference. This one-day Conference on the Preservation of Library Materials will be held on Wednesday, November 11, 1970, Americana Hotel, New York City.

Jan. 6–12, 1971; Following on the XXVIIth International Congress of Orientalists Library Panel at Ann Arbor in 1967, Library Seminars will be held during the 28th International Congress of Orientalists, Canberra, 6-12 January, 1971. These may be regarded as the first major activities of the International Association of Orientalist Librarians set up at the Ann Arbor meetings.

May 30–June 3, 1971; The 70th Annual Meeting of the Medical Library Association will be held in New York City, May 30- June 3, 1971. The General Session on Thursday, June 3, will be devoted to a group of Contributed Papers. No special theme for this session is planned. The Program Committee wishes to select the best possible papers dealing with new ideas and methodologies as well as informative reports of activities and programs of general interest to all medical librarians.

A letter of intent to submit a formal paper for consideration, accompanied by a short abstract, should be sent by September 1, 1970, to; Alfred N. Brandon, Librarian, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Fifth Avenue and 100th Street, New York, New York 10029. The deadline for submission of completed papers is February 1, 1971.

MISCELLANY

• Dr. Otto E. Albrecht, a leading American musicologist and professor of music at the University of Pennsylvania, was honored May 8 in a ceremony renaming the music library, of which he has been curator for some thirty-three years, “The Otto E. Albrecht Music Library.”

Dr. Albrecht, one of the university’s faculty members designated Emeritus Professors, effective July 1, 1970, is a Pennsylvania alumnus (B.A. 1921, Ph.D. 1931). He joined the university’s faculty in 1935 as an assistant professor of Romance languages, and in 1938 he became a member of the department of music faculty as well, teaching courses in the history of French music, song literature, and bibliography of music.

Combining a mastery of foreign languages and an immense interest in music and its literature, Dr. Albrecht’s career has been noted as one of the shaping forces of the discipline of musicology in the United States. He is the author of the Census of Autograph Music Manuscripts of European Composers in American Libraries, which is regarded as an indispensable tool of musicologists. Among his other publications. Four Latin Plays of St. Nicholas (1935) is considered an important contribution to the literature on medieval liturgical drama and its music.

Locally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Albrecht has held important posts in professional organizations. He has been Treasurer of the American Musicological Society since 1954 and has served as Vice-President of the Music Library Association for a total of five years. A frequent United States representative to international congresses and projects. Dr. Albrecht was one of a delegation of four musicologists selected by the U.S. Department of

State to visit the Soviet Union in 1961.

• The U.S. Office of Education and the American Society for Information Science (ASIS) jointly announce that ASIS has commenced operation of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Library and Information Sciences (ERIC/ CLIS). ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) is a nationwide information system designed to serve the field of education through the dissemination of information about educational resources and research materials. Funded by the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, this network consists of a central staff at the Office of Education and a number of decentralized clearinghouses, each focusing on a special subject area within the broad field of education.

As one of the ERIC clearinghouses, ERIC/ CLIS is responsible for the acquisition and processing of research reports and other documents on the operation of libraries and information centers, the technology used to improve their operations, and the education and training of librarians and information specialists. Various products of the ERIC clearinghouses, such as abstracts, indexes, and bibliographic information, are published in two monthly publications. Research in Education and Current Index to Journals in Education. Each clearinghouse also produces special analytical reports and bibliographies on topics of current interest within their several subject areas. In addition, they provide assistance to research workers and educators in locating and obtaining copies of reports and materials processed by the system.

• Dr. Robert Bingham Downs, dean of library administration at the University of Illinois, was awarded Syracuse University’s Centennial Medal in recognition of his services to higher education and society. Downs visited the Syracuse campus to address the university’s Library Associates on “Current Trends in Academic Librarianship.” In a citation accompanying the award and read by Chancellor John E. Corbally, Jr., Downs was cited as “one of the most effective forces in international librarianship.” The citation continued: “You are an inspiration to all young librarians, having risen through the ranks at the New York Public Library, Colby College, the University of North Carolina, New York University, and especially the University of Illinois, where you have distinguished yourself and the library profession for nearly 30 years.”

• Dr. Harold Goldstein, editor, Journal of Library History, has recently informed E. J.Josey, chief, Bureau of Academic and Research Libraries of the New York State Education Department, that he is the 1970 recipient of the Journal of Library History Award for the best historical research manuscript to appear in the Journal during the calendar year 1969.

The Editorial Board awarded the JLH Award to Mr. Josey for his manuscript, “Edward Christopher Williams: A Librarian’s Librarian.” Professor Williams was a pioneer black librarian who helped to establish the Western Reserve University Library School in 1904 and was one of the founders of the Ohio Library Association. From 1916 to 1929, he served as university librarian at Howard University.

• The two-year pilot project, MINITEX (Minnesota Inter-library Teletype Experiment), funded by equally shared grants from the Hill Family Foundation and the Minnesota State Department of Education, completed its first year of operation on December 31, 1969.*

It has been eminently successful already in demonstrating the possibility of sharing resources of the University of Minnesota Libraries with patrons of other libraries in Minnesota, by utilizing teletype for immediate two-way transmission of requests to the University and reports to participating libraries, and by providing staff to verify, locate, and send desired materials promptly to such patrons, by mail and United Parcel Service.

During the year a total of 16,089 requests were received from the 11 libraries selected for the experiment. These include 4 state colleges, 2 private institutions, 1 junior college, 2 public libraries, and 2 branches of the University of Minnesota. The heaviest user of the service was Mankato State College, with 3,034 requests. The lowest was Duluth Public Library, with 528. Except for material not obtainable immediately from the University Library’s collections, items requested were generally sent out within 24 hours and received by the requesting library within two days. The total cost of the service, including central staff salaries, teletype expense, photocopy, and delivery charges, averaged less than $3.00 per item. Both this cost and the turn-around time are lower than those of any comparable inter-library service we have yet seen reported elsewhere. Approximately 75 percent of the requests could be met by providing photocopies of the desired material. The remaining 25 percent involved actual loans of items too lengthy to justify the cost of full copying (e.g., a complete book or document).

* Edward B. Stanford, “MINITEX—Progress Report,” Minnesota Libraries, v. 22, no. 12 (Winter 1969), p.350.

Data are being kept on all transactions by type of institution, type of borrower, and purpose for which the requested item was needed, to permit analysis and evaluation of the service at the conclusion of the pilot project. The final report on the experiment will use these data to develop recommendations that will, hopefully, provide the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Commission with information upon which it can formulate a legislative proposal for a more permanent statewide plan of inter-library service. Such a plan would, it is expected, have to be jointly funded by sustaining state support and by service, membership, or assessment contributions of libraries that may elect to participate in such a program in the future.

• Defining the potential contribution of computers and related technologies in helping to solve problems which face the nation’s libraries will be the objective of a study the next eighteen months by a special panel of the Computer Science and Engineering Board of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study, supported by the Council on Library Resources, is designed to identify areas of library operation in which the application and use of computers can make a substantial contribution to satisfying the needs of library users. During the initial phases of the study, a number of operational and prototype computer-based libraries and library systems will be analyzed by the panel, as well as selected conventional library activities which incorporate varying degrees of automation. Methods will be sought for coping with the increasing volume of library materials which now compete for shelf space and which become part of the announcement, identification, and retrieval problems when on the shelves.

Although a large number of experimental and operational computer applications to the overall national information handling system have been devised, in many cases the computer science and engineering basis for responding to near-term and long-term needs is not clearly understood. The panel will undertake a comprehensive review and analysis of the current computer systems, their capabilities, techniques, and associated technologies in order to determine the most appropriate application to library and other information activities.

The Information Systems Panel, made up of technical experts in the various aspects of the study, is headed by Ronald L. Wigington, Director for Research and Development at the Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio. Panel members are: F. T. Baker, Federal Systems Division of IBM Corporation, Gaithersburg, Maryland; Joseph Eachus of Honeywell EDP, Waltham, Massachusetts; Douglas Engelbart, Augmented Human Intellect ResearchCenter at Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, California; Gerard Salton, Computer Science Department, Cornell University; and James E. Skipper, University Librarian, University of California, Berkeley.

• "The Art of Learning Medicine” is the title of the new exhibit in the lobby of the National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland. Located on the campus of the National Institutes of Health, across Rockville Pike from the National Naval Medical Center, the NLM exhibit features etchings and drawings by May H. Lesser, depicting a wide variety of medical school scenes in a sensitive yet authentic manner. As resident artist at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School with the class which will graduate in 1971, Mrs. Lesser attended lectures, laboratories and clinics with copper plate or drawing materials in hand. She has accompanied the class through the freshman and sophomore years, and examples of this period are on display.

• The University of Rochester’s “new” Rush Rhees Library, now more than doubled in size by a $6.9 million addition and renovation. was formally dedicated at 3:30 p.m., Friday, April 24, at ceremonies in Hoyt Hall. The “new” library, headquarters of the University of Rochester library system and the largest research library in western New York, will now hold up to 1,250,000 volumes and seat more than 1,800 people.

Two full days (Thursday and Friday, April 23 and 24) of special events—including speeches, the conferring of UR’s Presidential Citation, the announcement of a number of special gifts to the library, a dedicatory concert by the world-renowned Eastman Quartet, a rare books and manuscripts colloquium, and student-conducted tours of the new facilities— marked the dedication. Main speaker at the dedication ceremonies was Gordon N. Ray, president and trustee of the Guggenheim Foundation and former vice-president and provost of the University of Illinois,

• A new library on the campus of State University College, New Paltz, New York, will be named in honor of Sojourner Truth, a New Paltz ex-slave whose outstanding speaking ability and militancy on behalf of freedom made her one of the great figures of the Civil War period. The State Univeristy of New York Board of Trustees today approved the name originally recommended by a committee of faculty, students, and administrators at the college. Sojourner Truth was born in Hurley, New York, in 1798 a few miles from New Paltz, where a plaque on an old stone house memoralizes the event. She was taken to New Paltz at the age of twelve and eventually was freed after running away from her New Paltz owner. In the following years, discovering her exceptional gift for speech, she crusaded for the rights of the black man and for woman’s rights. President Lincoln received her in the White House and Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote about her in The Atlantic Monthly in 1863. She died in 1883 in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she had bought a home. Newspapers nationwide paid tribute to her upon her death.

• The 1969 George Freedley Memorial Award was presented to Prof. Charles H. Shattuck for his distinguished book. The Hamlet of Edwin Booth (University of Illinois Press) May 6 at a cocktail reception in The Walter Hampden Memorial Library at The Players, New York. The Award, in the form of a plaque, was made on the basis of scholarship, readability, and general contribution of knowledge. It was established in 1968 by the Theatre Library Association to honor the late founder of the Association, theatre historian, and first curator of the Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library.

• The University of California at Los Angeles Biomedical Library, with the support of a National Library of Medicine research grant, is developing an on-line serials control system. The system is being designed to allow librarians and/or patrons to display holdings and other information about the 12,000 serial titles (6,300 current) received by the UCLA Biomedical Library, on a television type screen (IBM 2260 cathode ray tube) terminal. The display is initiated by typing the title of the desired journal on the keyboard associated with the device. Displays of journals by title, subject, language or country of publication are now possible. There are presently in the system over one hundred possible subjects and about fifty languages and countries to choose from. One 2260 display terminal is currentlyset up in the serials acquisition section at the Library. A second such terminal is scheduled for location at the reference desk in the summer and a third will be placed in the cataloging-bindery section in the fall.

It should be noted that this is a feasibility project with many problems yet to be solved, not the least of which are computer access capabilities and patron-terminal interface. All research and development on this system is being carried out using the IBM 360/91 located in the UCLA Health Sciences Computing Facility which is sponsored by NIH Grant FR-3.

James Fayollat, Senior Systems Analyst for the Biomedical Library, is proceeding with the development of modules for the on-line system which will allow many of the library check-in, bindery and claims operations to be done via the screen by library personnel. A cost analysis study has yet to be made between the punched card batch system and the on-line system; but such a cost comparison will be part of a detailed report to be published by the library upon completion of the research project. It is felt that the results of the work now in progress will help determine the feasibility of on-line systems for complex library operations.

PUBLICATIONS

• The State University of New York Biomedical Communication Network announces the publication and availability of the second edition of the Central New York Union List of Serials. The 500-page volume contains entries for more than 8,000 periodical titles which are held by the libraries of the Central New York Reference and Resources Council. Titles held by SUNY Agricultural and Technical College at Morrisville, Herkimer County Community College, SUNY College of Forestry at Syracuse University, Onondaga Community College, Syracuse University Library, and the SUNY Up-state Medical Center have been omitted from this volume due to the impending publication of the New York State Union List of Serials and the publication of the SUNY Union List of Serials, 3rd edition, in which they are included. The Central New York Union List of Serials will now serve as a companion volume to the New York State Union List of Serials which will be available in 1970. Entries are now in corporate form and the information given includes holdings statements, appropriate cross-references and information tracing the history of a title which has changed its name. Holdings are given under the most current titles with cross-references from all previous titles. The computer-produced volume is in two-column format, photoreduced to fit an 81/2″ x 11″ page. The volume is bound in buckram for permanence and ease of handling. Copies are available at a cost of $25.00 each and orders should be sent to: Mr. Allen Sevigny, Executive Director, Central New York Reference and Resources Council, 102 West Center Street, Canastota, New York.

• To expand and improve the reporting of current books published in the Republic of China, the National Central Library, Republic of China, has launched a monthly publication, Chinese Bibliography, starting January 1970, to succeed the Monthly List of Chinese Books. The Bibliography will be printed in card catalog format, and will provide romanization in the Wade-Giles system for the title and author of each entry. It is hoped that this measure will facilitate librarians abroad in their ordering and cataloging of publications from this country. An annual subscription can be secured from the National Central Library, 43 Nanhai Road, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China, for $5.00; airmail, $6.00.

• Instruction and Use of Materials in the Junior and Community College Library is obtainable from: Miss Elinor Ebeling, Media Specialist, Learning Resource Center, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, New Jersey 07738, for $1.00 for postage and handling.

• The Greensboro Tri-College Consortium of Greensboro, North Carolina, has announced publication of a bibliography compiled by Mrs. Linda D. Addo. The bibliography is entitled The Negro in American History: A Selective Bibliography. It is available at $1.00 per copy prepaid for postage and handling through the United Board for College Development, 159 Forrest Avenue, N.E., Suite 514, Atlanta, Georgia 30303.

• The Pacific Northwest Library Association is publishing a new edition of Who’s Who Among Pacific Northwest Authors. The editor is Frances Wright. The publication, available in May 1970, gives biographical and bibliographical information on authors from Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington through spring 1969. The work is hardbound and sells for $4.50. Order from Who’s Who, P.N.L.A., University of Montana Library, Missoula, Montana 59801. ■■