ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from, the Field

Stephanie Orphan

Cornell promotes library careers to high school students

Cornell University Library (CUL) has initiated a Junior Fellows Program, making it the first university to offer a summer program designed to promote librarianship as a career choice for minority high school students. In July and August, eight Ithaca, New York, high school students spent six weeks working with CUL staff members and learning about the myriad roles of 21st-century librarians.

The experience not only helped to get participants thinking about library science as a possible career choice, but also provided them with ample opportunities to learn how to better use library resources. The Junior Fellows attended instruction sessions on using library resources, toured most of the campus libraries, and spent time “job shadowing” librarians working in preservation and collection maintenance, circulation and reference services, digital imaging, and technology services. At the end of the program, students presented a four- to-six-page research paper to the group.

New version of WilsonWeb launched

H. W. Wilson has launched a completely redesigned version of its WilsonWeb database service. The new service offers extensive integration with existing Web-based content and services, multiple search and display options, database-specific subject thesauri, customization options for administrators and users, and a simplified interface. A new feature, WilsonLink, provides access to full-text articles not found in Wilson databases. If the full-text of a cited article isn’t available on WilsonWeb, users may click the WilsonLink icon to automatically search the library’s other open-URL compliant databases. WilsonWeb hosts more than 50 reference databases for public, academic, school, and special libraries.

MARC records available for Wright American Fiction

Electronic records for 2,308 titles of digitized 19th-century American fiction from the

Wright American Fiction project are now freely available to libraries who wish to add these research aids to their online catalogs. Indiana University and the University of Michigan converted existing microformat bibliographic records to describe the electronic reproduction and, with the cooperation of OCLC, are offering the records to libraries worldwide. The remaining 250 records will be released this month.

ACRL Effective Practices Clearinghouse accepting submissions

In response to its charge to devise a method for recognizing effective practices in academic libraries and sharing them with ACRL members and other interested librarians, ACRL’s Effective Practices Committee has developed a Web-based clearinghouse for effective practices in academic libraries. The scope of the clearinghouse will span all areas of library programs, services, facilities, technology, and initiatives. Librarians may submit their effective practices directly to the ACRL Web site. Practices are then reviewed to see if they meet the established criteria. Once accepted, ACRL will post the practice on the Web site and send the submitting library a letter acknowledging its contribution to the Effective Practices Clearinghouse.

The committee encourages you to visit the Effective Practices Web site at http:// www.ala.org/acrl/ep/index.html to review the criteria and submit your own effective practice.

Mark your calendar! ACRL to offer two workshops in Philadelphia

ACRL will offer two workshops in Philadelphia prior to the ALA Midwinter Meeting on Friday, January 24, 2003:

Creating a Continuous Assessment Environment in Academic Libraries

During this full-day session, work through the “Standards for College Libraries” (2000 edition) using the instrument “Standards and Assessment for Academic Libraries: A Workbook.” Learn about the new concepts of the standards, discover how the individual sections of the standards are part of overall institution and library planning, and find out how to incorporate performance indicators and outcomes assessment measures to assess the impact of librarians and libraries on student learning.

The workbook provides practical information throughout with checklists, forms, examples, and library assessment tools and techniques. Speakers: Bob Fernekes, information services librarian, Georgia Southern University; Bill Nelson, professor and library director, Augusta State University.

Behaviors that Burden the Workplace

Learn how to identify and change behaviors that can undermine the success of your library (and your personal career goals), as measured by the financial and organizational support the library receives within your institution or greater community. Written exercises and small discussion will help you see the actions of yourself and your colleagues, your library's strategic plan, and the culture of your library with fresh eyes. These behaviors and policies can feel like the right things to the library staff but drive customers crazy and are not necessary for accurate, efficient, and effective service. Speaker: Pat Wagner, Pattern Research

ALA Midwinter registration is now open. Watch http://www.ala.org/events/midwin- ter2003/registration.html. Questions? Contact (800) 545-2433, ext. 2523; acrl@ala.org.

Brooklyn College opens expanded library

A renovated and expanded Brooklyn College Library, the largest in the City University of New York, opened its doors in October. The classic neo-Georgian architecture of the original LaGuardia Hall has been wed to a sleek, technologically advanced facility, the result of a $72 million project. The library holds more than 1.4 million books and contains 6.5 acres of floor space, 21.5 miles of shelving, and seating for more than 2,300 users.

Open Forum on ACRL: The Association of the Future

Come and offer your ideas and suggestions to ACRL’s Task Force on the Association of the Future on Sunday, January 26, 2003, 4:30- 5:30 p.m., during the Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

This is your opportunity to let the task force know your thoughts about what works, what does not work, what changes you would like to see, and how ACRL as an organization can be more flexible and responsive to its members.

Task Force Chair Maureen Sullivan will facilitate this session. If you have input and will not be able to attend the meeting, please send your thoughts to Maureen by e-mail: msull317@aol.com.

Students have been provided with a variety of new resources and study environments. Technological capabilities include a digital multimedia distribution system, teleconferencing equipment, satellite connectivity, and sophisticated networking capabilities. In addition to offering traditional library services, the building houses the college archives, a new media center, and academic and administrative computing. A distinctive feature of the library is the state-of-the-art environmental controls that promote a clean, protective environment for print collections, audio and digital collections, and artwork displays.

Appalachian State establishes racing collection

The Appalachian State University Library has initiated a program to create a collection of materials relating to the history of stock car racing. The Stock Car Racing Collection currently includes more than 350 books and videos, racing periodicals, a clippings file covering 1,100 subjects, and a growing collection of race programs and photographs. A seven-person advisory committee has been named to guide the collection’s growth.

EBSCO and Sirsi form content partnership

Sirsi has announced that it will be providing instant access to EBSCO’s Novelist, a fiction resource offered through its line of e-library solutions. Novelist assists fiction readers in finding new authors and titles by using a favorite author, title, or content description as a template. Users can browse more than 100,000 titles through a variety of means, including theme-oriented book lists, award lists, and fiction-related Web sites. The new agreement will allow current Novelist subscribers to enjoy access through a single interface for searching the library’s catalog, the Novelist database, and the Web. Sirsi is creating the ability to access Novelist through its iBistro and iLink e- library solutions.

Gale launches ebook program

Through an alliance with netLibrary, Gale will begin offering ebooks of its classic reference works, which will be available for searching and reading over the Internet. netLibrary will host the Gale eBooks, and the works will be accessible to anyone with a netLibrary account. The initial selection of 30 to 50 Gale titles come from a variety of award-winning imprints. Content will be identical to the print version.

Volunteers needed at Charlotte conference

Help others, support your profession, and have fun in the bargain! A wide variety of tasks and time slots are available for volunteers at ACRL’s National Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 10-13, 2003.

Interested? Contact the Charlotte Volunteer Committee cochairs Janis Bandelin, e-mail: janis.bandelin@furman.edu, or Kate Hickey, e-mail: hickey@elon.edu, for further details.

NTIS provides Homeland Security Information Center

The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) has created a new central site, the Homeland Security Information Center, in response to demand for information on homeland security issues since last September. The site is divided into five topic areas: health and medicine, emergency preparedness and response, biological and chemical warfare, food and agricultural safety, and safety training packages. Under each heading, NTIS has assembled a menu of important documents and multimedia resources. Visit the site at: http://www. ntis.gov/hs. ■

Panel session on new IS research agenda to be held at ACRL National Conference

The ACRL Instruction Section’s (IS) “Research Agenda for Library Instruction and Information Literacy” will be the subject of a panel session, “Put Instruction on Your (Research) Agenda,” at the ACRL 11th National Conference, April 10- 13, 2003.

In 2000, the IS Research and Scholarship Committee was charged with updating the existing research agenda, originally published in 1980. The committee reviewed research articles formally published in the United States and gathered input from national conferences to identify important research areas relevant to academic library instruction programs in the current environment. While many of the original issues still lacked substantial research, new themes also arose. Similarly, the scope of the document was expanded to include an emphasis on information literacy, reflecting the transition that our institutions and organizations are experiencing.

The text of the research agenda is available online (http://www.ala.org/acrl/is/committee/ webpages/research/researchagenda.html) and will be published in the February 2003 issue of C&RL News.

Inquiries and suggestions regarding the conference program are welcome; contact committee chair Melissa Becher at e-mail: mbecher@american.edu or visit the committee Web site at http://www.ato.oig/acri/ is/committee/webpages/research/index.html.