ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Exemplary user education materials on the Web

The Emerging Technologies in Instruction Committee of ACRL’s Instruction Section, in conjunction with the Coalition for Networked Information, is sponsoring a Web site that identifies exemplary user education and training materials supporting the use of the Internet and other networked information resources.

The primary goal of the project is to provide a common focal point for librarians and others involved in the instruction and delivery of networked information to display and share model instructional materials specifically designed for the selection and evaluation of information in a networked environment. Materials selected for inclusion on the site will be considered the professional standard.

Of particular interest to the committee are materials that demonstrate innovative and creative use of technology in instruction and those that successfully integrate the selection and evaluation of both print and electronic resources.

Visit http://www.cwru.edu/orgs/cni/base/ acrlcni.html to review examples of projects currently on the Web. For submission information go to: http://www.cwru.edu/orgs/cni/base/ callfor. html#guidelines.

Contact Keith Morgan, NCSU Libraries (kamorgan@unity.ncsu.edu) for further information. An expanded history of the project is accessible on the Emerging Technologies Web page at: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/staff/ kamorgan/etech.html.

Fun Run raises dollars for libraries

Runners and walkers raised $3,000 for the libraries at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) by participating in the “Love Your Libraries” Fun Run held in March. The event attracted several hundred participants—some from out of state. The UT Men’s Athletics program matched the Fun Run money raised bringing the total contributed to $6,000. Participants in this event received a T-shirt and a one-year membership in the UT Library Friends.

AAMES listserv moves

The listserv of ACRL’s Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Section (AAMES) is now hosted by RLG and the moderator is John Eilts of RLG. The purpose of the listserv is to increase communications among area studies librarians and nonsubsribers may post messages. To subscribe to the ACRL-AAMES listserv send the message “Subscribe ACRL-AAMES your name” to listproc@lists. rlg.org. The address of the list is ACRL-AAMES@lists.rlg.org.

Call for papers for "Living the Future II" conference

The University of Arizona Library is soliciting proposals for a presentation or poster session for “Living the Future II: Organizational Changes for Success” to be held April 21-24, 1998, in Tucson. “Living the Future II” is a follow-up to the 1996 “Living the Future” conference where more than 150 participants learned of Arizona’s experience with organizational change.

University of Tennessee dean of libraries Paula Kaufman accepts a check for the Fun Run proceeds. L to r: UT Graduate Student Association officers Adam Hofeler and Dawn Duncan, Kaufman, and Gus Manning (UT men's athletics).

This second conference will provide a forum in which information providers from all types of learning organizations can present their vision and experiences in preparing for the future and share innovative changes for success in their institutions. A panel of national referees will evaluate presentation proposals focusing on the conference themes of organizational change and continuous learning. Proposals are due September 15, 1997. Visit the “Living the Future II” conference Web site at http ://www. library. arizona. edu/conference/ ltf2.htm for a full description of the conference, call for papers information, and proposal form.

ACRL puts out books on cultural diversity and publishing

Documenting Cultural Diversity in the Resurgent American South,edited by Margaret

Dittemore and Fred Hay, has been published by ACRL. A documentation of the rich cultural heritage of the American South, the book is based on eight case studies delivered at two Annual Conference programs of ACRL’s Anthropology and Sociology Section. Part I includes discussions of research into various forms of documentation of Southern folk culture such as recorded music, oral history, film, and archival research. Part II looks at the considerable cultural diversity that exists in the state of Louisiana, including efforts to document accomplishments of Afro-Louisiana women, the Isleno community of St. Bernard Parish, the Creoles of New Orleans, and the Cajuns. The 128-page Documenting Cultural Diversity (ISBN 0-8389-7897-5) is available for $21.00; ACRL members $17.50.

InPrint: Publishing Opportunities for College Librarians,edited by Lynn W. Livingston, addresses publishing opportunities for aspiring writers at all levels. InPrint lists journals in library and information science, higher education, computer technology, and other related areas and includes such relevant information as acceptance rate, response time, preferred article length, and whether the publication is refereed. A brief description of the editorial policy, topics covered, style, and audience is included along with contact information for each publication. A bibliography and index are included. InPrint (ISBN 0-8389-7896-7; 117p.) is available for $18.50; ACRL members $16.00.

Both titles may be ordered from ACRL by calling (800) 545-2433, press 7, or fax an order to (312) 836-9958.

New York Public Library main reading room closes

Beginning July 14, the Main Reading Room of the New York Public Library will be closed to the public through February 1999 for structural repairs and upgrades in service and technology. Interim spaces will be made available beginning July 15 so that service to the public can continue. The interim reading room will be located in Gottesman Hall; the Public Catalog Room and reference materials will move to room 121; and computer access, online references, and databases will be in rooms 119 and 120. Details about the interim spaces are available at http://www.nypl.org/admin/pro/press/ releases.html.

Cornell and Iceland to create Icelandic Digital Library

Cornell University Library is starting a threeyear project with the National and University Library of Iceland to create the Icelandic National Digital Library, a first-of-its-kind electronic repository with selected materials from Cornell’s Fiske Icelandic Collection, the National and University Library of Iceland, and Iceland’s Árni Magnússon Institute. The project is made possible by a $600,000 grant from the Andrew W.

Mellon Foundation and grants from Iceland’s Ministry of Culture and Education and the Icelandic Research Council. Project costs will total $1.3 million over the three years.

“SagaNet,” as the project is called, will contain high-quality digital images of the full texts of Icelandic sagas, a unique genre of historical and fictional narrative that draws its themes from Nordic mythology, the lives of Norwegian kings, the adventures of settler families in Iceland, and romances of continental Europe’s age of chivalry. The digital library will also include relevant critical studies written before 1900. Users will be able to search the digital images in either English or Icelandic. Cornell will convert approximately 750 printed books into digital form, while the Icelandic libraries will convert about 380,000 manuscript pages.

Amelia Earhart is pictured here as she prepared for her around-the-world flight in 1937 aboard a Lockheed Electra. This year marks the 1OOth anniversary of her birth as well as the 6Oth anniversary of her flight. The scarf she is wearing was on board the space shuttle Discovery on its April 1990 flight. This photo is part of the Earhart Collection in the Purdue University Library Special Collections Department.

After nearly a year of renovations, Columbia University recently opened its new Music and Arts Library, which more than doubled the library's space and seating.

Photo credit: Joe Pineiro, Columbia University

H. Thomas Hickerson, director of Cornell’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections and of the Cornell Digital Access Coalition, said, “If successful, SagaNet will be a model to test the economic viability of national digital libraries with international audiences and to illustrate the potential that these technologies offer for changing the processes and costs of research.”

Columbia University opens new Musk and Arts Library

Columbia University recently opened its new Music and Arts Library after nearly a year of renovations, which more than doubled the library’s physical space and seating capacity and added viewing and seminar rooms. The library, which contains a research collection on music history, theory, and ethnomusicology—ranking it in the first tier of academic libraries throughout the country—is outfitted with audio and visual equipment that can accommodate a variety of media. State-of-the-art technologies allow the library to be integrated into the expanding Columbia Digital Library Project, which enables students and faculty at library workstations to hear music delivered over the campus network from a remote server. A reception celebrating the opening of the library included a performance by students studying through the Barnard-Columbia-Julliard exchange program, a reading of poems, and a jazz performance. Items from the library’s collections were on display. ■