ACRL College & Researc Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Oregon libraries create Orbis

A consortium of academic institutions in Oregon joined together to launch Orbis, the Oregon academic union catalog. The Orbis database includes over 2.6 million items—the holdings of seven university and college libraries: Eastern Oregon State College, Linfield College, Oregon Institute of Technology, Southern Oregon State College, University of Oregon, Western Oregon State College, and Willamette University. The automated system is based on the Innovate Interfaces software already used by the initial member libraries. System start-up costs were minimized, and system management and maintenance is optimized by using existing hardware, software, and telecommunications facilities to the greatest extent possible. The holdings of the colleges of George Fox, Lewis and Clark, Reed, and the University of Portland will soon be added. Orbis is already serving patrons and staff for research, collection development, and interlibrary loans. Plans are under way to include other libraries and to allow for patron-initiated loans. The Orbis Consortium encourages all libraries to use Orbis. For public access, telnet: orbis.uoregon. edu. URL: http://www-vms.uoregon.edu/ ~libsys/hporbis.html. Additional information is available from the University of Oregon Library Systems Department at (503) 346-3049 or send a note to: libsys@oregon.uoregon.edu.

Rice replaces NOTIS with UNICORN

Rice University’s Fondren Library has signed an agreement with SIRSI to replace its existing Ameritech NOTIS Horizon Beta system with the UNICORN Collection Management System. Kay Flowers, assistant university librarian for automated services at Rice, lists UNICORN’s advantages: “UNICORN is UNIX-based, and we will be able to network the system across the campus. Our system will use SIRSI’s WebCat with Z39.50, which allows us to provide access to our library catalog via the Internet. WebCat is also user friendly, allowing us to provide exciting, full-featured, and easy-to-navigate public access to users without having the headache of delivering and supporting library software on users’ desktops.”

USC chooses Ameritech's Horizon

Ameritech’s Horizon system has been selected by the Health Sciences Library System at the University of Southern California. The recommendation to select the Horizon system was made unanimously by the Working Group on an Integrated Library System. The crucial factors cited in the recommendation of Horizon were: 1) the system architecture, which makes maximum use of the library’s high-end workstations, 2) the simple and intuitive user interfaces, 3) the use of an industry-standard database management system (Sybase), 4) the corporate strength and expertise of Ameritech, and 5) the competitive price.

Call for technostress reactor panelists

ACRL’s Instruction Section (IS) is seeking reactor panelists for its 1996 Annual Conference program, “Collaborative Solutions to Technostress: Librarians Lead the Way.” The program, which is jointly sponsored by IS and the Library Instruction Round Table, will be held Sunday, July 7, 1996. Reactors should have taken a leadership role in collaborating with others to use new technologies to provide library and information services and have developed ways for your library’s staff and users to deal with change and technostress. Reactors will respond to presentations by a well-known author and psychologist. To be considered, send an abstract of not more than 400 words describing your collaborative effort, the leadership role you took, and the benefits of the collaboration by November 1, 1995, to: Rebecca Jackson, Gelman Library, The George Washington University, 2130 H Street N.W., Washington, DC 20052; phone: (202) 994-6049; e-mail: rjackson@gwis2. circ.gwu.edu.

Topper joins ACRL staff

Elisa F. Topper is ACRL’s new director of member services. Topper will primarily be responsible for providing support to ACRL’s elected and appointed members in chapters, sections, committees, and discussion groups. She will also plan, develop, and manage ACRL’s preconferences and Annual Conference programs. In addition, Topper will provide advisory services on issues of interest to academic librarianship and function as a member of the ACRL staff managerial team.

Topper had been with the Jewish Vocational Service, an affiliate of the Jewish Federation in Chicago, since 1983, most recently as director of information services. She managed the library and the Information Services Department at the nonprofit agency, counselling and providing professional development to individuals at all career stages. Prior to that Topper was director of training and the career librarian at the Chicago Public Library. She received her MLS from Florida State University and a master’s of industrial relations/career development from Loyola University in Chicago. She is a member and former Career Development Chair of the

Illinois Chapter, Special Libraries Association. In the spring of 1995 Topper received a certificate of Service from the Association for Computer-based Systems for Career Information. (Ed. note: For a photo of Topper see page 650.)

New MLA listserv

ACRL’s MLA International Bibliography in Academic Libraries Discussion Group has established a listserv intended to promote discussion of the MLAIB as a research tool. Questions or comments dealing with pedagogy, the structure of the bibliography, database vendors, search techniques, etc., are welcome. The list will also share administrative information about the group’s meetings. To subscribe to the list send the message: subscribe mlaib your name to listserv@gwuvm.gwu.edu. Messages to the list should be sent to mlaib@gwuvm.gwu.edu. Scott Stebelman is the list administrator and may be reached at scottlib@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu.

Only Post-It™ on expendable items

Julie Page, preservation librarian at the University of California, San Diego, reminds us that Post-it Notes™ should not be used on books. The seemingly harmless “markers” were designed for short-term application on expendable documents and leave behind their adhesive, even when removed immediately. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) conducted research that determined that even when removed immediately, the adhesive residue remained. Even more dramatic effects result when used on newsprint (some of the ink is removed) or on brittle, fragile paper where removal may result in tearing. The NARA report concluded, “these notes will cause increasing preservation problems when used with permanent records and should be avoided.”

HealthWeb developed by CIC members

The health sciences librarians and information professionals from the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) member universities (the Big Ten plus the University of Chicago) are building HealthWeb, a tool to facilitate access to health-related electronic information resources found on the Internet. The first prototype for HealthWeb was developed at the University of Michigan in the field of nursing and may be found at: http://www.lib. umich.edu/tml/nursing.html. Under development are pages on radiology and minority health. HealthWeb is available at: http:// www.ghsl.nwu.edu/healthweb/. For additional information contact the communications representative at healthweb@umich.edu.

Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission

An exhibit highlighting the accomplishments of the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) will be shown through November 1, 1995, at the Houston Academy of MedicineTexas Medical Center Library. On display are photos, maps, reports, books, and artifacts from the ABCC Collections. The material in the exhibit covers nearly 50 years and illustrates the collaboration between Japan and the U.S. to investigate the effects of A-Bomb radiation on human health. Founded in 1947, the program was reorganized in 1975 as the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF). The results obtained from the continuing study of individuals exposed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki have given the world a large base of information with which to understand and protect against the effects of radiation, and have provided information that has guided national and international organizations in assessing the potential health risks that are associated with radiation exposure. For additional information contact Margaret A. Irwin, special collections librarian and coordinator for the ABCC collection at (713) 799-7141.

A reception room at an Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission clinic for screening of genetic problems and radiation illnesses, Hiroshima, 1950.

H. Grant Taylor Collection, ABCC Photograph Collection