ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Pittsburgh a success!

“Great conference!”

“This is the best ACRL National Conference I have ever attended!”

“I’m looking forward to Nashville” (site of ACRL’s 8th National Conference).

Gray skies and rainy weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the 2,721 participants at ACRL’s 7th National Conference in Pittsburgh, March 29–April 1, 1995. Nearly 1,800 librarians registered to hear the four theme sessions, 54 contributed papers, 31 panel sessions, 31 roundtable discussions, and 60 poster sessions presented. Nearly 200 companies brought 614 exhibitors, and 313 individuals took advantage of ACRL’s free exhibits pass to tour the collection of products and services available to academic libraries.

A full report of the conference, including highlights of many of the sessions contributed by conference participants, will be published in the June C&RL News.

Conference attendees tour the exhibits at ACRL’s 7th National Conference in Pittsburgh.

ACRL to cosponsor online information access workshop

ACRL and Equal Access to Software and Information (EASI) will jointly sponsor a three-week online workshop this fall (date to be determined) as part of a project for enhanced access to library resources by patrons with disabilities. The workshop, which will be available on the Internet, will address measures useful in providing those with visual or physical impairments access to resources available to the general public. It will address advances in technology designed to meet the needs of those who cannot use a regular newspaper or pick up a standard book.

Participants will learn techniques for making libraries accessible to patrons with all types of disabilities. Traditional information sources such as large-print, recorded, and Braille texts, and adaptive technology such as synthetic speech, large-print software and hardware, and text-to-speech reading systems, will be discussed. EASI is a confederation of 2,000 individuals dedicated to compiling and distributing information about adaptive computing technology for the disabled. It was originally founded under the umbrella of EDUCOM, but is now affiliated with the American Association for Higher Education.

BCALA hosts fundraising gala

To celebrate 25 years of advocating diversity and equity in America’s libraries, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) will host its 25th Anniversary Celebration with a gala fundraiser at ALA’s Annual Conference in Chicago in June. World-renowned jazz great Ramsey Lewis is the featured performer at the Sunday, June 25, gala evening which will raise funds to endow $100,000 for the E. J. Josey Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships for African-American students pursuing the MLS. BCALA was founded by Josey and others in 1970 to address the professional concerns of black librarians and to advance the field of black librarianship. For details about the celebration contact Khafre K. Abif, Southwest Branch Library, 920 Wesley Place and K St. SW, Washington, DC 20024; (202) 727-1381.

University of Cincinnati uses cable TV

The University of Cincinnati Libraries has begun limited broadcasting on the Campus Cable Television Service. Currently the library has a video loop on the air with general information about the library, its services, and its collections. Instructional videos to explain the online catalog, UCLID, and specialized databases such as LEXIS/NEXIS are under development. According to Jane Carlin, acting head of training and educational services for the libraries, the library plans to offer these videos as alternatives to the traditional classroom bibliographic instruction session. Faculty, staff, and students will have the added convenience of scheduling specific programming.

“When planning a course, for example, faculty can reserve a video in September even if they don’t want to show it until December,” Carlin said. “Then instead of having to check out the video themselves or arrange for a VCR, they have it broadcast directly to a classroom.”

Carlin sees the library channel as a good way to increase use of the libraries’ large video collection. “I’m sure many of the faculty are unaware that we have close to 1,000 videos in our special formats departments,” she said.

EBSS seeks editor and moderator

ACRL’s Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) is seeking an editor for its newsletter and a moderator for its electronic listserv. The two-year appointment for the newsletter editor will begin in fall 1995. Applicants should have a working knowledge of desktop publishing. The two-year appointment for the listserv moderator will begin in July 1995 or as soon as possible thereafter. Applicants must know how to use Internet communications, and preference will be given to applicants whose institutions can host the EBSS listserv. Both newsletter editor and listserv moderator must be members of EBSS and be able to attend ALA Annual Conferences and Midwinter Meetings. Both will serve on three key committees (EBSS Executive, EBSS Publications, and ACRL Section Newsletter Editors) which generally have been scheduled as early as Friday evening and as late as Tuesday morning at conferences. Interested members should submit application letters, resumes, and writing samples to the EBSS Publications Chair, Joan B. Fiscella at the University of Illinois at Chicago Library, P.O. Box 8198, M/C 234, Chicago, IL 60680; e-mail: u46028@uicvm.uic.edu; fax: (312) 413-0424. Applications must be received by June 30,1995.

BIS offers active learning materials

Packets of materials from the ACRL Bibliographic Instruction Section’s 1994 preconference, “Integrating Active Learning into Library Instruction: Practical Information for Immediate Use,” are available on a first-come, first-served basis to the first 50 requests submitted by mail and to the first 50 requests submitted by e-mail. The packets include a transcript of Trish Ridgeway’s keynote address on active learning, handouts from each of the breakout sessions, a bibliography, and a reprint of a seminal article on active learning. The materials are available through a grant from the ACRL Initiative Fund made to the BIS Continuing Education Committee. One hundred packets will be distributed to state associations, library schools, and clearinghouses, and copies of the packets will be available for borrowing through LOEX. Internet access is also planned.

To request your own packet by mail write: Judith Arnold, Instructional Services Librarian, Waldo Library, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5080. To request a packet by e-mail contact: Jo Ann Calzonetti at u517a@wvnvm. wvnet.edu. No phone requests will be accepted.

Library staff members Doug Baker and Katie Scalf use instructional software to develop programming for the University of Cincinnati library cable channel.

Photo credit: Lisa Souders, Univ. of Cincinnati

Comment on issues of access to information

ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) has prepared a draft Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights to begin addressing electronic issues in an intellectual freedom context. “Access to Electronic Information, Services, and Networks: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights” is available on ALA’s gopher. To access the gopher point your gopher client to gopher.uic.edu port 70; select the menu option “The Library,” then select “ALA,” and then “Intellectual Freedom Statements.” Comments should be sent to Candace Morgan, chair, IFC, c/o Office for Intellectual Freedom/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 606ll or by e-mail to cynthia. robinson@ala.org. The IFC will also receive comments at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago until Saturday, June 24, 1995.

Virtual library of Virginia adds Ariel

Virginia’s 51 college, university, and community college libraries will install Ariel for Windows software as part of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) project. With a $5.2 million allocation for 1994—96 from Virginia’s General

Assembly to the libraries, VIVA is designed to enhance and facilitate the sharing of library resources among public higher education institutions.

Ariel for Windows is a document transmission system from the Research Libraries Group (RLG). Using commercially available hardware and RLG’s Ariel software, libraries can scan articles, photos, and similar documents, transmit the resulting electronic images over the Internet to each other’s Ariel workstations, and print them on a laser printer.

“Because the Ariel software utilizes a high resolution, the quality of the documents is considerably better using Ariel than is possible using either photocopy or fax machines. It is also faster, more reliable, and less expensive to use than fax,” said Dennis Robison, dean of Integrated Learning Resources at James Madison University, and chair of the VIVA Interlibrary Loan Enhancements Committee.