ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Two state systems subscribe to ACS Web journals

The California Digital Library (CDL), the University of California’s (UC) electronic literature collection, and the University of Wisconsin system are subscribing to the entire collection of 26 Web journals published by the American Chemical Society (ACS).

They are the first statewide university system to subscribe to the entire ACS electronic portfolio of original, peer-reviewed research journals in all areas of chemistry. Both consortia expect to expand the availability of ACS publications significantly through interlibrary loans.

The online versions offer subscribers enhanced features and access options not found in print editions; the most important of these is “Articles ASAP” (As Soon As Publishable), which releases journal articles on the Web as soon as they are finished, accelerating publications by two to 11 weeks over print.

Kenneth Frazier, director of libraries at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (the statewide server for the UW system), said that ACS’s “innovative licensing agreements will allow us to share information with other libraries far more quickly and efficiently than with print publications.”

Special Collections reopens at Old Dominion University

After being closed for a number of years, Old Dominion University (ODU) Library’s Special Collections is once again open to researchers. The library includes materials about Virginia and Norfolk history, as well as the university archives. The manuscript collections include photos, diaries, correspondence, legal papers, newspaper clippings, campaign files, and maps on topics such as the Civil War, women’s history, politics, school desegregation, and military history. The papers of Lawrence M. Cox, Edythe C. Harrison, Henry E. Howell Jr., Robert Morton Hughes, James W. Singleton, and A.E.S. Stephens number among the more significant holdings. ODU participates in the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) and has placed many finding aids on the Internet with VIVA support and funding. Visit the Web site at: http://www.lib.odu.edu/ aboutlib/spccol/.

EBSCO and Springer Verlag partner to provide journals online

Springer-Verlag and EBSCO Subscription Services have formed a partnership to make the full content of the publisher’s electronic journals available through EBSCO Online when the system is released in late 1998. At this time Springer-Verlag will have 400 electronic journals available.

EBSCO Online is a Web-based electronic journals service that provides access consolidation for end users. Once the system is released, EBSCO claims that end users will be able to access their library’s entire collection of electronic journals from one Web site and will only need to learn one search engine to find the results they want. The system’s administrative features will allow librarians to manage a dynamic electronic journal collection and its users, order new electronic journals, and track usage.

The Special Collections Library at Old Dominion University has reopened. This photo of the Ocean View Amusement Park in Norfolk, Virginia, was taken on February 28, 1958, the day after a fire swept through the park causing an estimated $500,000 in damage. ODU's collections include the papers of Dudley Cooper, owner of the amusement park.

EBSCO Online is currently under “Beta 2” testing at a number of large academic and research libraries in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

DLS/IS seeks poster sessions/ presentations for 1999 program

The 1999 Program Planning Committees of the ACRL Instruction Section (IS) and the Distance Learning Section (DLS) seek proposals for the “Ideas in Action” poster session, the integral conclusion to the ALA 1999 New Orleans Program, “Nothing but Net? Understanding the Digital Library User.” The session will explore student behavior and needs in the digital library environment while identifying op- portunities for librarians.

The poster session is envisioned as a forum for presenting innovative ways of providing in- struction and services to “distance” students or faculty. The students may be taking classes in off-campus settings or using electronic library resources at home, in residence halls, computer labs, or even late at night in the library itself.

The poster session should be of interest to instruction librarians, distance education librar- ians, librarians responsible for providing remote access to physical collections, and teaching fac- ulty in higher education. Topic areas that may be of high interest to the ACRL community in- clude: innovative tutorials or services, electronic, Web-based, or other distance learning reference services; evaluative techniques; faculty and electronic resources; information access: interlibrary loan, re- serves, document delivery ser- vices.

“Ideas in Action” will con- sist of informal presentations that can take the form of poster sessions or demon- strated papers. Presenters should be prepared to repeat the presentation several times.

Each presentation should last about ten minutes, includ- ing time for questions. To sub- mit a proposal, send a 250- word abstract with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address by December 31,1998 to: Anne Marie Casey, Off-Campus Library Services, Central Michigan University, 8110 Gate-house Road, Ste. 500W, Falls Church, VA 22042-12 10; (703) 849-8218, ext. 115; fax: (703) 849-8254; e-mail:anne. marie, casey® cmich.edu.

Photographs or other vi- sual materials to support your proposal may be included. (Please indicate if your presen- tation will require access to electricity.) Proposals will be accepted by mail, e-mail, or fax. Proposals will be reviewed by a panel of IS and DLS members.

November 1 deadline for ACRL poster sessions

November 1, 1998, is the deadline for submitting a proposal for a poster session at ACRL’s 9th National Conference, April 8-11, 1999, in Detroit. Submission details may be found on the Web at: http:// www.ala.org/acrl/ call4prt.html.