ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

ALA won't go to Cincinnati in 1995

ALA will not hold its 1995 Midwinter Meeting in Cincin- nati because of a recent amendment to the city’s Hu- man Rights Ordinance bar- ring the City Council from enforcing laws that give le- gal protection to lesbian, gay, or bisexual citizens. The ac- tion to move the Mdwinter Meeting was taken on Tues- day, November 30, by the

ALA Executive Board. “The board action con- tinues ALA’s long tradition of support for equal rights and intellectual freedom,” said ALA Presi- dent Hardy R. Franklin. “We feel the passage of Issue 3 in Cincinnati violates basic human rights issues.”

Paul Graller, ALA conference services direc- tor, said that ALA may be liable for an esti- mated $200,000 in hotel contracts with the Cin- cinnati cancellation. But, Franklin said, “You can’t put a price tag on human rights. The issue is not special rights for a few but equal rights for all.”

The cities of Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., are currently under consid- eration as alternate sites.

Cal Poly inaugurates "The Loan Arranger"

Many libraries are adding document delivery services. California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo has done so with a bit of whimsy. Dubbed “The Loan Arranger” (see the accompanying logo), the new document deliv- ery service will get “any article, from any journal, from nearly any place in the world, delivered to your office for free” according to the univer- sity’s recent newsletter. In addition to its subscriptions to near- ly 2,300 periodicals, the library is offeringaccess to UnCover, Ex- panded Academic Index, Magazine Index, and MUSTANG Server (access to News from the field electronic journals). David B. Walch, dean of library services at Cal Poly, said that the “service has been par- ticularly well received by both faculty and students. Since Cal Poly is on the quarter system, quick turn- around time for Interlibrary Loan and Document Deliv- ery is of particular impor- tance. Both students and faculty have been unani- mous in their praise of the system. It has taken a bit of the down side out of the problems experienced in having to cut and retrench periodicals.”

Librarian positions endowed

The Carl and Lily Pforzheimer foundation has given $2 million to endow the directorship of the Schlesinger Library. Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson said, “This endowment will help to assure the Library’s continuing strength and vitality so that it will be able to respond to the expanded mission that will be demanded of it in the next 50 years.” Patricia M. King, director of the Schlesinger Library since July 1973, was named the first Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director.

The position of university librarian at the University of California, Berkeley, was recently endowed by Kenneth and Dorothy Hill of San Diego. The endowment will support an array of activities including scholarly programs and seminars, special buying and research trips, processing and research assistance, and the preparation of guides to UCB holdings.

Handheld computer links to library via cellular communication

The University of South Alabama Library linked its online public access catalog (OPAC) to a handheld computer using cellular communications. This is the university’s first in a series of tests known as the “The Library Without a Roof’ project. Project director Dale Fos- ter said, “Much has been made of the ‘vir- tual library’ or the ‘library without walls …. Our project takes this concept one step further. . . Researchers are no longer bound by the physical walls of a library building. Indeed they do not even need an office or a telephone.”

The project used an EO 440 handheld computer supplied by AT&T and equipped with a cellular phone/modem. The EO has no keyboard; the user writes on the screen using a magnetic pen and the EO translates the handwriting into machine-readable text. Notable Technologies, Inc., provided the communications software, Mobile Access-Personal, for the project. This is the first software package that allows users of the EO to communicate directly with remote mainframe computers. Using this combination of hardware and software, project participants were able to call SOUTHcat, the library's catalog, and search for books. The project will continue to explore practical applications of this technology in an educational and library environment.

New OPAC at Univ. of New Orleans

This fall the University of New Orleans’ (UNO) Earl K. Long Library brought up its online catalog called “Lafitte.” Lafitte is part of Louisiana’s automation project for academic libraries, dubbed LOUIS: The Louisiana Online University Information System. The goal of LOUIS is to present the online catalogs of all of Louisiana’s colleges and universities through a single NOTIS-based network and eventually to place search terminals in public and school libraries throughout the state. Libraries at Louisiana State University, Nicholls State University, and Louisiana Tech University are already up. UNO’s catalog was named after the campus’ mascot “Lafitte the Instigator” represented by a gator in a pirate costume. A logo of Lafitte at a search terminal will be used on all handouts and instruction sheets associated with the catalog.

The University of New Orleans’ logo for its new OPAC “Lafitte.”

Presenters on networking sought for 1994 ALA Annual Conference

Have you been successful with teaching network skills or integrating networked information into your services? Abstracts for posters on the general topic of networking are now being solicited to be presented during ACRL’s ‘conference within a conference’ at the 1994 ALA Annual Conference in Miami. Poster sessions might deal with topics such as the innovative use of networked information in bibliographic instruction or in professional development, gender issues relating to networked communication, etc. Poster sessions will be ongoing during the all-day conference on Monday, June 27. The 150-word abstract should describe the research study, program, instructional methodology, or practical problem-solving effort. Abstracts should also include title, author(s), and institution(s). The subfhission deadline is March 1, 1994, to: John Culshaw, Central Reference Librarian, University of Colorado at Boulder, Campus Box 184, Boulder, CO 80309-0184; fax: (303) 492-1881; e-mail: culshaw@spot. colorado.edu. Note: Please submit an abstract only if you plan to attend the conference in Miami.

Visit the Huntington at Midwinter

Visitors to Midwinter are cordially invited to visit the Huntington Library, a 20-minute cab ride from the Los Angeles Convention Center. In addition to its remarkable botanical gardens and art collections, the library is displaying two major exhibits that are interesting both for content and for a practical demonstration of library exhibition principles.

“This Faire Paper, This Goodly Booke” explores the impact of the Gutenberg revolution and contains a number of “monuments” ranging from such handwritten books and documents as the Magna Carta and the Ellesmere copy of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

The other exhibit, called “The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America,” is a rich essay on the life and political philosophy of Abraham Lincoln and includes an 1824 school- boy rhyme decorating a page of long division, the Gettysburg Ad- dress written in Lincoln’s own hand, and the handwritten note that sent Lincoln’s bodyguard on a mission to Virginia on the night of his fateful visit to Ford’s Theater.

A private tour for ACRL members has been arranged for Monday afternoon, February 7, with bus transportation and a box lunch provided. To reserve a place, send a check for $6.00 to Laura Stalker, Associate Director, The Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. Those who cannot make the bus tour or who want to make other arrangements should call Marilyn Bressler, assistant to the director, at (818) 405-2175.

The Huntington Library’s exhibit called “This Faire Paper, This Goodly Booke” is on display now along with an exhibit on Abraham Lincoln.

Photo credit: Don Milici, The Huntington Library