ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

Maureen Gleason

Digital Distance Education Workshop

On behalf of the ACRL membership, Maryhelen Jones, incoming chair of the Distance Learning Sec- tion, and Erika Linke, ACRL Board member, took part in a digital distance education workshop sponsored by the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) and the National Associa- tion of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC).

Funded by the Ford Foundation, the two-day workshop held in Wash- ington, D.C. in late August focused on S.487, the Technology, Education and Harmonization Act of

2001, better known as the “TEACH Act” (http://www.ala.org/washoff/teach.pdf). Representatives from higher education, K— 12, government agencies, and library associations attended the workshop.

The purpose of this act is to permit exemptions in the use of copyrighted material for educational purposes in distance education. Forum attendees reviewed the salient features of TEACH and discussed the possible impact passage of the bill would have on institutional organizations and copyright policies as they attempt to meet the stipulations in the legislation. The bill passed in the Senate and was introduced in the House of Representatives in June 2001.

Further information about the bill and its status in Congress can be found at the ALA Washington Office’s Web site (http:// www.ala.org/washoff/disted.html.) C&RL News will publish a fuller report once the final bill becomes law.

Temple University (TU) Libraries Two Millionth Volume Celebration. Left to right: Bunmi Samuel, president of TU Student Body, who presented the 2,000,001st volume (a CD-ROM) on behalf of the student body; Larry Kane, local television news anchor and author of the 2,000,000th volume, Larry Kane's Philadelphia (published by TU Press, 2000); Maureen Pastine, university librarian; and Tom Whitehead, head of special collections, who presented the 1,999,999th volume, an 18th- century Philadelphia publication.

Temple University Libraries celebrate two million volumes

The University Libraries at Temple University recently celebrated the acquisition of its two millionth volume, Larry Kane’s Philadelphia (Temple University Press, 2000). Kane, a longtime local television news anchor and now a best-selling author, was the featured speaker for the event.

Kane’s book formed the centerpiece of three milestone volumes that were selected to represent Philadelphia’s past, present, and future at the turn of the millennium. The 1,999,999th volume is a 1798 edition of The Philadelphia Directory, which lists names, addresses, and occupations of city residents that year, and the 2,000,001st volume is the CD- ROM Naturalization Records of Philadelphia, 1789-1880, documenting part of Philadelphia’s immigration history in a 21st-century format.

Guests at the event viewed special photographs and exhibits highlighting the library’s history, including Temple’s one millionth volume, which is a copy of The Cromwell Bible. Attendees also signed the Libraries Guest Book, which was first signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936 at the dedication of Temple’s first library building.

WESS Martinus Nijhoff Study Grant for 2002 postponed

Swets Blackwell has postponed the 2002 ACRL West European Specialist Section (WESS)/ Martinus Nijhoff International Study Grant after acquiring Martinus Nijhoff International, the grant’s sponsor. An announcement about the grant’s future is expected upon the complete integration of the two companies in the spring of 2002.

For further information about other ACRL award opportunities, visit http://www.ala.org/ acrl/award2.html or contact ACRL Awards Program Assistant, Stephanie Sherrod at (312) 280-2515, e-mail: ssherrod@ala.org.

NEH Challenge Grant for local history

NEH has announced a special initiative to support the local history efforts of organizations with activities and collections vital to the history of a locality. Challenge grants will be awarded to strengthen, over the long term, the capacity of smaller institutions seeking to improve their humanities resources in local history and to encourage donations from nonfederal sources.

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on Oct .1 for Marquette University's new $55 million, 120,000 sq. ft. John P. Raynor, S.J. Library, expected to open in fall 2003. The celebration included donors, trustees, students, faculty, and university administration, including (pictured left to right): Board President, alumnus, and Kimberly-Clark CEO Wayne Sanders; Marquette President Father Robert Wild, S.J.; Heather Hathaway, English Department; Nicholas Burckel, dean of libraries; Susan Haarman, student and Raynor scholar; Tommy Thompson, former governor of Wisconsin and present secretary of Health and Human Services; David Buckholdt, Marquette's vice president for academic affairs. More photos and information are available on the Raynor Library Web site at http://www.marquette.edu/library/raynor/index.html.

Since awards under the Challenge Grant program are intended to sustain humanities activities over the long-term rather than through one-time events or short-term projects, endowment is the preferred mechanism of support. However, requests for direct support for acquisitions and equipment will also be entertained.

Applications under the Special Initiative for Local History must be received at the regular Challenge Grants deadline of May 1. Any nonprofit organization that has not previously held an NEH Challenge Grant is eligible to apply.

For further information, contact the NEH Office of Challenge Grants at (202) 606-8309, or e-mail: challenge@neh.gov.

LC documents reactions to September 11 tragedy

The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has called upon folklorists across the nation to document on audiotape the thoughts and feelings expressed by citi- zens following the tragic events of September 11, 2001. These recordings and supporting documentary materials will become part of the center’s Archive of Folk Culture, the largest and most significant archive de- voted to the folklore and tra- ditional culture of Americans and of the many cultural groups from around the world that have enriched American life. Founded in 1928, the archive is now re- pository to more than 2 mil- lion items.

netLibrary seeks a buyer

The electronic book pro- vider netLibrary has in- formed its customers in a letter sent October 15, 2001, that it is seeking a buyer after failing to find financing sufficient to remain viable. The company is discussing its purchase with a number of potential buyers, according to the letter. The letter also states that the majority of employees are still at work, and that access to eBooks will continue for the present. There will be some reassignment of staff and curtailment of related services.

Institute of Physics Publishing launches loP Select

Institute of Physics Publishing has launched IoP Select, a new free journals service for physicists worldwide. Online at http:// select.iop.org, IoP Select is a special collection of journal articles chosen by the institute’s editors based on one or more of the following criteria: substantial advances or significant breakthroughs; high degree of novelty; significant impact on future research.

Updated on a weekly basis, IoP Select covers all areas of physics. Qualifying articles are published first in the source journal and then become free for 365 days from the date they enter the Select service. To complement the service, a special e-mail alerting facility is available to keep up-to-date with newly released articles.

A full list of the titles covered can be found within IoP Select at http:// select.iop.org (choose “Display content by journal”).

Nominations sought for Africans bibliography award

The African Librarians Council of the African Studies Association seeks nominations for the 12th biennial Conover-Porter Award for excellence in Africana bibliography or reference work. Any Africa-related reference work, bibliography, or bibliographic essay published separately or as part of a larger work during 1999, 2000, or 2001 can be nominated for the 2002 award.

The prize of $300 will be presented during the 2002 annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Washington, D.C. Nominations must be received by January 15, 2002, and should include a brief justification and at least one review.

Send nominations to or request further information from Kenneth P. Lohrentz, 320 Anschutz Library, University of Kansas Libraries, 1301 Hoch Auditoria Dr., Lawrence, KS 66045-7537; phone (785) 864-4593, fax (785) 864-5705; e-mail: klohrentz@ukans. edu.

ARL 1999-2000 statistics now available

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has just published the latest in its annual publications describing collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities for 112 of its member libraries, all but 10 of these university libraries.

The latest statistics document the continued increase in costs for the purchase of materials and the increased demand for library user education and interlibrary borrowing. Unit costs for serials (up 226% since 1986) and for monographs (up 66% since 1986) have continued to rise, with corresponding drops in purchases by research libraries. While interlibrary borrowing is up 190% in the same time period, there have been modest declines in the number of reference transactions and total circulation.

General information about the ARL statistics can be found on the Statistics and Measurement Program Web page at http:// www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/.