ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Celebrate the freedom to read—Banned Books Week 1994

Plan now for your celebration of Banned Books Week—Celebrating the Freedom to Read 1994 held September 24-October 1, 1994. Now in its 13th year, the annual event calls attention to the dangers of censorship and encourages support for the freedom to read. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has announced that the 1994 Banned Books Week resource kits are now available for purchase.

The resource kit includes four posters, 100 bookmarks, and a Resource Book filled with ideas on how to create displays and organize events to commemorate Banned Books Week, annotated lists of books challenged or banned, quotes, puzzles, and camera-ready art for publicity. The kit sells for $23.00, plus shipping and handling. Available separately are packets of 100 reprints of the list of books challenged or banned in 1993-94, and additional bookmarks. Reprints sell for $15.00 per 100; bookmarks for $5.00 per 100 (plus postage and handling). Reprints make an enlightening handout for library and bookstore patrons, calling attention to the surprising prevalence of censorship and awakening support for the freedom to read.

For further information, or to order Banned Books Week materials, contact the Office for Intellectual Freedom, ALA, 50 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; phone: (800) 545-2433 ext. 4223 or (312) 280-4223.

ALA and ACRL expand electronic connections

ALA has established a gopher on the Internet to expand the audience for association policies, publications, and conferences. ACRL is responsible for its section of the gopher and has made available a variety of documents. ACRL will use a modified version of the Table of Contents of its Guide to Policies and Procedures as the tree for the gopher. Documents already available on the gopher include: the Table of Contents, the appointment acceptance form, the biographical information form, an ACRL initiative fund request form, a meeting highlights form, an ACRL membership form and application, a reimbursement request form, a volunteer form, submission guidelines for C&RL News‚ call for papers for ACRL’s 7th National Conference, and the latest ACRL publications catalog. Other documents such as ACRL Board actions, standards and guidelines, and ACRL’s calendar will be prepared for future placement on the gopher.

In 1993 local censors forced a New York school library to remove Where’s Waldo? because of a tiny side view of a woman wearing a bikini bottom but no top in a crowded beach scene.

To access the ALA gopher, users can point their favorite gopher client to gopher.uic.edu (port 70). Once users access the gopher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the ALA gopher can be reached by selecting the “library” option on the main menu and then “American Library Association” on the submenu.

In addition to its presence on the ALA gopher, ACRL is establishing a new listserv. Called ACRL-Forum, it is an unmoderated listserv open to all for discussion of issues pertinent to ACRL, academic librarianship, and higher education. Ray Metz has accepted a two-year appointment as the listserv “owner.” To subscribe send the message “Sub ACRL-FRM your name to “listserv@uicvm” for bitnet users and “listserv@ uicvm.uic.edu” for Internet users.

ACRL also established ACRLeads, a private listserv for elected and appointed ACRL leaders designed to disseminate and share information about ACRL.

Libraries celebrate National Library Week

Storytelling may not be the activity that immediately comes to mind when you think of university libraries celebrating National Library Week (NLW) but the University of Richmond Libraries (URL) successfully issued an invitation to faculty and staff families to attend a performance of “Stories and Songs” by musician and storyteller Eve Watters. URL also made the first annual NLW Faculty Award to recognize the most creative use of the library in the last year. And an exhibit called “Libraries Change Lives” featured books identified by campus leaders as personally significant in their lives.

Storyteller/musician Eve Watters performs “Stories and Songs” on the front lawn of the University of Richmond Library during National Library Week celebrations.

Illinois Benedictine College used NLW to focus on works authored by faculty. Librarians solicited citations and works from the faculty and a student assistant searched OCLC. The resulting list of publications was used for an exhibit and as a list of works to add to the library’s collection. A limit of three to four items per faculty member was observed, with longer bibliographies printed in an accompanying notebook.

Ed. note:Thanks to Lucretia McCulley, University of Richmond, and Liz Brucker, Illinois Benedictine College, for sharing their activities with us. If your library had a creative NLW cel ebration, send in your report and photo to C&RL News, News from the Field, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611.

DIALOG launches online copyright compliance service

DIALOG ERA (Electronic Redistribution and Archiving), an online copyright compliance service, is now available from Dialog Information Services, Inc. DIALOG ERA gives information users a way to make sure their internal redistribution and electronic storage activities comply with copyright law. Customers can order additional paper copies, purchase the right to make additional electronic or paper copies of search results, and purchase the right to electronically archive records from the more than 250 databases participating in the service. The DIALOG ERA options for redistribution and archiving may be combined with DIALOG output commands, may be accessed through the DIALOG alert current awareness services, and will soon be available through DIALOG Menus. For details contact DIALOG at (800) 334-2564.

Documents from former Soviet Union available through OCLC PRISM ILL

Facts OnLine, a service that locates and retrieves documents from information sources in the former Soviet Union, is the newest document supplier in the OCLC PRISM ILL Document Supplier Program. Based in Camano Island, Washington, Facts OnLine can retrieve items from Russian libraries such as archival works, articles, books, patents, and genealogical documents on subjects including chemistry, law and regulations, science and technology, and specifications and standards. Facts OnLine works with a Russian counterpart, MITEK Research, and has reached agreements with a number of Russian information providers. Items ordered through Facts OnLine are available for purchase only, not for loan. There is a $25 charge for each document, plus costs. Costs may include $25 for preparation of a detailed estimate; a $20 archive processing fee; $15 per hour for searching; $1 per page for photocopying; $5 per page for photographic reproduction; $25 rush service; transportation and lodging expenses if travel is required; long-distance telephone and fax charges; and delivery charges. Document delivery is usually made within one month of the order unless rush service is requested.

NYLINE now on Internet

NYLINE, the New York State Library’s e-mail service, is being converted to an Internet-based listserv open to all. NYLINE was established in 1985 to improve communication among library systems, central libraries, and the State Education Department, and to test electronic communication. “We are moving from a closed system for some 100 sites to an open system available to any library or interested individual with an Internet account,” said New York State Librarian Joseph F. Shubert. To subscribe send an e-mail message to: listserv@vml.nysed.gov with the message: subscribe NYLINE <your name>. Leave the subject line blank.

NOTIS Systems introduces WinPAC

NOTIS Systems, Inc., introduced WinPAC, a Microsoft Windows-based search tool for the Internet. WinPAC promises to provide users with a single graphical interface for searching library catalogs, reference databases, and gopher servers. WinPAC uses the NISO Z39-50 standard and lets users access any Z39-50 database. Currently there are about 50 databases available through WinPAC. By year end, users will be able to retrieve data from up to 500 resources. Patrons can search Z39-50 servers such as OCLC FirstSearch, RLIN’s CitaDel, as well as catalogs at Indiana University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of California. WinPAC searchers may either browse or look for an exact match. The product supports use of Boolean operators and can also search gopher servers. The software is available as a standalone product for $99-00; WinPAC Complete—which includes WinPAC, portions of WinSock-compliant TCP/IP stack software, and information on participating Internet access providers—costs $169.00. To order call NOTIS at (800) 55NOTIS or (800) 556-6847.

Library of Michigan catalog on Internet

ANSWER, the online catalog of the Library of Michigan in Lansing, is now available on the Internet. ANSWER provides descriptive information about the library’s books, journals, newspapers, microforms, and computerized resources. To reach the catalog, telnet to libofmich.lib.mi.us. Once connected login as answer (lowercase). To disconnect type <escape> xx. For printed instructions to access ANSWER call (517) 373-5578, fax: (517) 373-1361 or send a message to jprummel@libofmich. lib. mi. us.

Faculty status consultants sought

Many academic librarians are facing questions from chief academic officers and other administrators relating to faculty status for librarians. Questions are being raised as to whether librarians deserve faculty status, whether pay for librarians should be equitable with classroom faculty, whether librarians should be eligible for tenure, where they fit within a bargaining unit, and many other issues. Academic librarians need advice and assistance. If you would like to help and if you have had experience with an issue such as tenure, promotion, salary equity, bylaws development, liaison work, arbitration, collective bargaining, or any other issue of status for librarians, you may want to serve as a Faculty Status Consultant.

The Academic Status Committee of ACRL is soliciting applications from those librarians who wish to serve as Faculty Status Consultants. A list of consultants will be compiled, made available to anyone who requests it, and kept on file in the ACRL office at ALA Headquarters. If you are interested in becoming a Faculty Status Consultant, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your request for a Faculty Status Consultant application to Don Frank, Head, Cabot Sciences Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 by September 30, 1994.

Georgetown acquires two-millionth volume

The combined collections of Georgetown University’s main campus, law, and medical libraries recently added their two-millionth volume with the acquisition of a copy of George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation (left). The gift of Marshall Coyne, a member of the university’s Board of Directors, is estimated to be worth more than $100,000 and is especially significant since it dates back to 1789, the year the university was founded.