ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

A decorative arch of the Bing Wing at Stanford.

Stanford’s Green Library reopened

Stanford University Libraries reinaugurated its old main library as the Bing Wing of the Cecil H. Green Library, following an extensive restoration and seismic upgrade. The 172,000-squarefoot Bing Wing occupies a 1919 building, designed by the famed San Francisco architectural Ann Bake well & Brown. The reconstruction, which used Fields & Devereaux Architects and Engineers, and cost neatly $50 million, involved a full earthquake retrofit of the main library building, restoration of the interior spaces altered during earlier renovations, and the installation of electronic capabilities. The new space also offers increased exhibit capacity for curatorial departments.

Michael Keller, university librarian and director of Academic Information Resources, said, “In this reconstruction of Stanford’s original Main Library, we have attempted to be true to the simple, Romanesque Revival grandeurs of the building, while accounting for the incredible changes in the university, its libraries, and the world around in the intervening years since its construction. We have tried as well to accommodate unforeseeable possibilities of the future.”

Southern Methodist Univ. unveils new online system

Southern Methodist University (SMU) has installed a new online system called PONI (Public Online Information), which is powered by the Voyager Integrated Library System software produced by Endeavor Systems. PONI includes the records of all of SMU’s main libraries, including government documents.

The PONI system eventually will also search the catalogs of other libraries, allowing the user to choose the institutions to be searched, and will retrieve a consolidated list of their holdings with seamless access.

“When someone uses the PONI system, they don’t have to learn ten different ways to search and look at ten different libraries’ catalogs,” said Systems Librarian Mary Queyrouze, who led the implementation effort. “We feel PONI will be a strong platform for developing new patron services for many years to come because it is considerably more powerful and flexible than the older system.”

The conversion to PONI was the culmination of nine months of intensive effort by SMU library staff to transfer data from the university’s aging NOTIS system (which was not Y2K compliant) to the new database server (which is).

Juilliard reopens library

The Juilliard School reopened its Lila Acheson Wallace Library; one of the first fully completed projects of the school’s $100-million campaign. The renovation, made possible by a $3million grant from the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, expanded the library’s computer network, created the Peter Jay Sharp Special Collections room—which provides environmentally secure storage for rare materials—increased shelf, exhibit and staff space, renovated the main reading room, and provided new lighting, carpeting, and furnishings. All the library’s seats are wired for power and data so that laptop users can plug in. During the first year of its 5-year, $ 100-million campaign, the Julliard School has already raised $52.2 million.

Staff at the College of William and Mary’s (W&M) Earl Gregg Swem Library, Williamsburg, Virginia, welcomed freshmen with fortune cookies, wishes for “good fortune” at W&M, and a “Welcome Freshman” banner. Staff also presented an overview of the library and held a reception for freshmen orientation aides.

ACRL makes information literacy resources available on Web

ACRL’s Institute for Information Literacy has created a primer on information literacy for faculty and academic administrators. This primer is located on the IIL Web page at http:// www.ala.org/acrl/nili/whatis.html.

The site is designed to provide a basic introduction to information literacy by answering four basic questions: 1) What is information literacy?; 2) What should faculty and administrators know about information literacy programs; 3) Are there some model programs I can examine?; and 4) Where can I find more information?

Librarians trying to educate their faculty and administrators about information literacy will find this site helpful. Suggestions for improving the site are welcome and should be sent to Tom Kirk, e-mail: kirkto^® earlham.edu, who is responsible for the page.

WESS 20th anniversary papers on Web

The papers from the ACRL Western European Specialists Section’s 20th anniversary program, held at the 1999 ALA Annual Conference, are now available on the Web at http://www.library.yale.edu/wess/ wessprog.

The program featured presentations by Barbara Walden, European History librarian at the University of Wisconsin, on “Looking Forward after 20 years” and by James J. O’Donnell, professor of Classical Studies and vice provost for Information Systems and Computing at the University of Pennsylvania, on “Re-inventing Europe: Old Communities and New, Real Communities and Virtual.”

Immersion ’00 offered at University of Washington

The University of Washington will host ACRL’s Institute for Information Literacy’s Immersion ’00 program, August 4-9, 2000.

This four-and-one-half-day program provides intensive training and education for instruction librarians in two tracks: Track I is for new librarians or instruction librarians who are interested in enhancing, refreshing, or extending their individual instruction skills, which can be applied to institutional programs. Track II is designed for instruction librarians who seek to further develop, integrate, or advance an information literacy program within their institution.

Participation is limited to 90 to ensure an environment that fosters group interaction and active participation. Acceptance to the Immersion Program is competitive. The deadline for applying is December 15,1999.

Application instructions and a form are available on the Web at http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/ initiatives.html.

Library Assistant Margie Roblin speaks to a guest attending the New Faculty Orientation Program held at the Delmar T. Oviatt Library, California State University, Northridge. More than 100 guests attended the popular annual event, designed to introduce new faculty members to library resources, services, and personnel.

Molesworth Institute to give humor award

The Molesworth Institute has established a new award to honor outstanding contributions to library humor. Named after Edmund Lester Pearson, the library humorist who authored The Old Librarian ’s Almanack and whose column, “The Librarian,” appeared in the Boston Evening Transcripfweeldy from 1906-20, the first award will be given for the most distinguished works of library humor in 1999. Any and all kinds of contributions are welcome. Nominations should be sent no later than February 29, 2000, to Norman D. Stevens, director, Molesworth Institute, 143 Hanks Hill Road, Storrs, CT 06268. Nominations need only include the piece being nominated; in the case of Web sites or other electronic publications, electronic submissions to norman.stevens@uconn.edu will suffice. The winner, whose award will be tailored to the submission, will be announced on April 1,2000.

A Bibliosmiles postcard from the Molesworth Institute.

New Minnesota archives named

On the occasion of his 90th birthday, the University of Minnesota (UM) has renamed the Library Archives/Acœss Center (currently under construction) the Elmer L. Andersen Library, in honor of former Minnesota Governor Andersen. This is the first time a UM Library has not been named after a university president, and it recognizes Andersen’s many contributions to and support of the library and the university.

The $40-million project will be completed early in 2000 and will house eight UM special collections and archives and the MINITEX Information Network offices and services; lesser-used materials from the university and other libraries in the state will be housed in two environmentally controlled caverns mined for this project.

Project Muse announces pricing options for 2000

Firm prices for the 2000 calendar year are now available for Project MUSE, the electronic journals database managed by the Johns Hopkins University Press. MUSE now offers 112 journal titles from nine publishers, such as Carnegie Mellon University Press, MIT Press, and the University of Texas Press. A variety of packages and discounts are available. Details may be found at http://muse.jhu.edu or contact Melanie Vandermark at melanie@jhupress.jhu.edu. ■