ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Grants and Acquisitions

Ann-Christe Galloway

The Mortenson Center for InternationalLibrary Programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has received a $42,600 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York for the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa program. The partnership supports innovative programs that are revitalizing seven universities and their libraries in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, equipping them to educate future country leaders and administrators. Staff from the Mortenson Center will visit the Carnegie grantees to assess the capabilities of their libraries, focusing on user access to information and the libraries’ available resources in areas such as technical infrastructure, delivery of services, ease of access to and strength of collections and databases, staff development training, bibliographic instruction for users, new technologies, understanding of international standards, and related services. The Mortenson Center specializes in providing shortterm training for librarians from outside the United States. Founded in 1991 ‚ the center has welcomed more than 600 librarians from 85 countries. To learn more about the project, visit www.library. uiuc.edu/mortenson.

Acquisitions

The personal collection of author WilliamJay Smith has been donated to the Wyndham Robertson Library at Hollins University. Hollins has received more than 560 titles over the past two years from Smith, adding to the more than 50 works authored or edited by Smith already in the collection. A noted poet and translator, Smith has written for both adults and children. Two of his 13 volumes of adult poetry were finalists for the National Book Award, and he served twice on the jury for the National Book Award for Children’s Literature. Smith has a long association with Hollins, having served first as writer-in-residence during the 1965-66 session and as a professor in the English Department (1967-80); he also taught the first course in children’s literature offered at Hollins. From 1968 to 1970, Smith took a leave of absence from Hollins to assume the position of consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress (a position now called poet laureate). Smith retired from Hollins in 1980. Approximately one third of this gift collection consists of juvenile poetry, which substantially enhances the library’s resources to support the study of children’s literature. Books of fiction, folktales, ABC books, textbooks, reference materials, and nonfiction works are included. The publications span from early 19th century to present (1828-2000), with the bulk of the collection falling between the years 1950 and 2000.

The archive of fashion designer BonnieCashin (1908-2000) has been acquired by the UCLA Library. This comprehensive archive of one of America’s foremost designers from the second half of the 20th century encompasses complete documentation of her fashion and costume designs, including sketches, photographs, and slides. It also contains her writings on fashion and other design-related subjects; notebooks, sketchbooks, travel books, and idea books; audio- and videotapes of her interviews; and business correspondence, contracts, and other documents from and to the companies that produced her designs. The archive is accompanied by a gift of $1.5 million from the Bonnie Cashin Estate, which will be used to enhance its accessibility. In 1950 Cashin became the first designer to earn the industry’s two highest honors, the Neiman Marcus Award and the Coty American Fashion Critics Special Award. Cashin became the first designer of Coach handbags in 1962. Inspired by the hardware on the convertible top of her sports car, she created the brass toggle that became Coach’s hallmark and revolutionized the handbag industry with designs that could be folded flat and employed shoulder straps, in contrast to contemporary rigid, hand-held designs. She went on to earn numerous prestigious honors, including the London Sunday Times International Fashion Award in 1963 and was inducted into the Coty American Fashion Critics Hall of Fame in 1972.

Ed. note: Send your news to: Grants & Acquisitions, C&RL News, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795; e- mail: agalloway@ala.org.