ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

News from the Field

Pam Spiegel

1998 ACRL candidates announced

The 1997 Nominations Committee has chosen the candidates who will vie for ACRL’s top leadership position, vice-president/president-elect. They are Jill B. Fatzer, dean of library services at the University of New Orleans, and Larry Hardesty, college librarian and professor at Austin College. Both candidates have ACRL Board experience, are leaders in the profession, and have numerous publications to their credit. The candidates will appear on the ACRL ballot for the ALA 1998 election and one will assume office at the close of the 1998 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

Senior class pledges $60,000 to Furman University Library

This year’s senior class gift project at Furman University is to pledge $60,000 for the library’s electronic resources. “We want to stress that this will cut down on people traveling to research at other libraries,” said LeAnne Legg who, along with senior class president Kevin Powell, is in charge of the project. The organizers hope to raise the $60,000 over a five-year period through annual, increasing donations. Powell and Legg hope that in the first year after graduation each senior will donate $20 and then have a $10 increase for each year. New library director Janis Bandelin said that this class’ gift “could help us reduce or eliminate any fees for accessing documents. [Also] more journals and journal articles will become available in digital form and … will help provide future students with more full-text access.”

ACRL President’s Program to focus on the learning library of the future

“Imagining the Learning Library” is the topic of ACRL’s President’s Program at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco, Monday, June 30, 1:30-5:00 p.m. ACRL president Bill Miller offers a program featuring Barry Braverman and Peggy Van Pelt of the Walt Disney Imagineering Team taking attendees on a visionary journey of what the ideal learning library of the future will look like. They’ll also explore how our physical environments will interact with the way that we will shape services to support learning and research in the coming century. Also contributing to this program will be Craig Hartman (Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill) and Betsy Baker (Northwestern University), who will share their perceptions of how they envision the concept of the learning library of the future from the perspective of an architect and a public services librarian.

Following the program will be a Showcase of Ideas exhibited in a poster-style format featuring innovative ways academic librarians are communicating the teaching mission of the library and creating learning environments in their institutions.

The program is sponsored jointly by six ACRL sections: Community and Junior College Libraries; College Libraries; Asian, African, and Middle Eastern; Education and Behavioral Sciences; Extended Campus Library Services; and Instruction.

Student employees honored at SIU

During National Student Employee Week (April 6–12) the library at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIU) held a number of activities to honor its student assistants. The activities included posters displayed throughout the library; buttons given to all library employees to wear for the week; a display honoring student assistants featuring students who had worked in the library for four or more semesters; a reception for all library affairs faculty, staff, and student assistants with each student recognized with a book plate in a new book related to his or her major area of study; and additional activities in individual library departments.

Medieval Feminist Index now on the Web

The Medieval Feminist Index (MFI): Scholarship on Women, Gender, and Sexuality is now available on the Web. Coordinated by Margaret Schaus, reference librarian at Haverford College, the index covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in collections. There are currently 700 records for publications from 1995 and 1996 with 100-plus records being added per month. The idea is to provide timely coverage of a wide range of publications indexed on a regular basis along with a thorough description of each item. In addition to the usual author, title, subjects, and source, MFI includes century, geographic area, descriptions of illustrations and tables, and primary sources used. MFI is a collaboration between the libraries at Haverford and the University of Iowa, with participation from interested scholars and librarians at other colleges and universities. The address is http:// www.haverford.edu/library/reference/ mschaus/mfi/ mfi. html.

EBSCOdoc integrates with EBSCOhost

EBSCO Publishing announces the integration of the EBSCOdoc document-delivery service with EBSCOhost, enabling customers with EBSCOdoc accounts to order full-text documents while conducting research within EBSCOhost. Customers can request the delivery of articles chosen from more than 31,000 periodical titles and conference proceedings found in the multiple databases of EBSCOhost. A request automatically generates an order, complete with the customer’s EBSCOdoc account preferences and article information. “The accessibility of EBSCOdoc’s document-delivery service from within EBSCOhost complements EBSCO Publishing’s offering of full-text databases and ensures complete coverage of scientific, technical, and medical literature,” said Kimberly Voltero, product manager.

NCSU launches architectural records initiative

The North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries’ Special Collections Department has embarked on a new initiative to develop an archive of North Carolina architectural records. The department will solicit and accept collections of manuscripts, drawings, photos, and other related materials that document the history of the architectural profession and the state’s built environment. The first major acquisition under the initiative are the papers and drawings of George Matsumoto, a founding member of the faculty of the NCSU School of Design. The libraries also acquired the Guy E. Crampton and William Henley Deitrick Drawing Collection, which includes more than 2,500 working drawings representing nearly 50 selected North Carolina projects. To publicize the new initiative and new acquisitions, the libraries mounted a major exhibit of the Matsumoto Collection which will run through June 27.

WLN to do automated collection analysis for 34 university libraries

WLN has reached an agreement with the Board of Regents at the University System of Georgia (USG) to provide detailed collection analysis and other database services to 34 state academic libraries in Georgia. The project is being directed by the Regents Academic Committee on Libraries of USG and is being performed in conjunction with the highly successful GALILEO (Georgia Library Learning Online) initiative, which provides a wide variety of information resources to the citizens of Georgia. Results from the assessment will be used in creating cooperative collection development policies and procedures for the academic libraries within the University System. The multipart project is scheduled for completion by the end of this spring.

Joseph W. Molitor.

The Julian Residence in Chapel Hill, 1956. George Matsumoto, architect, Kenneth Scott, associate. From the papers and drawings of George Matsumoto at NCSU.

Spacesaver Systems renamed

Spacesaver Systems, Inc., Southern California’s largest provider of commercial storage and filing systems, has been renamed McMurray-Stern, the Storage Solutions Group. “Our name change is in direct response to the expanded needs of our clients,” said William McMurray, one of the company’s founders. “We have greatly expanded our scope of services beyond that which the Spacesaver name conveys.” McMurray-Stern serves customers in architectural, educational, entertainment, financial, library, medical, municipal, and other industries.

Colonial Williamsburg builds new campus

Colonial Williamsburg has opened a new education and research complex that provides 170,0 00 square feet for libraries, laboratories, classrooms, a recording studio, collection storage facilities, office space, and an auditorium. The Bruton Heights School Educational Center takes its name—and two refurbished buildings—from a high school built for African American students in 1936. The $37.2 million complex includes the two renovated buildings and two new buildings, and was a gift from four principal donors—Walter H. Annenberg, George and Abby O’Neill, the DeWitt Wallace Fund for Colonial Williamsburg, and Ambassador Laurence William Lane Jr. and Jean Lane. The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library assembles for the first time in one centralized location Colonial Williamsburg’s extensive holdings of rare books, manuscripts, drawings, photos, and other resources for the study of early Chesapeake history, material culture, and English and American decorative arts. It serves interpreters and scholars primarily but is open to anyone with a serious interest in early Virginia history.

One of the buildings at the new Bruton Heights School Education Center in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.

New SIRSI systems installed

Sirsi Corporation announces the license of its UNICORN library system to the following institutions: Selkirk College in Castlegar, British Columbia; Cuesta College at the San Luis Obispo Community College District in California; the New England College of Optometry in Boston; Malaspina University-College in Nanaimo, British Columbia; and the WEBnet Consortium in Massachusetts consisting of the Horn Library at Babson College in Babson Park, the Baker Library at Bentley College in Waltham, the Annenberg Library and Communications Center at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, and the Regis College Library in Weston.

Joint project in Ohio will increase access

A new project now under way will provide Ohio’s public college and university students and faculty, a growing number of the state’s private colleges, and the State Library of Ohio with instant electronic access to a range of valuable materials, information, and data that are currently hard to find and/or available only in noncirculating form. A new partnership between the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) and the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) will make electronic versions of materials such as complex satellite images, pictures of artifacts and paintings, maps, and numeric data from the U.S. government available on the Internet. “Ohio is today a national leader in providing its colleges and universities shared, cost-effective access to high-speed computing, academic library holdings, and other information databases,” said Ohio Board of Regents chancellor Elaine H. Hairston. “This new project will further strengthen Ohio’s leadership edge, and it exemplifies higher education’s commitment to improving quality through sound resource management.”

Football coach Ron Cooper and university librarian Hannelore Rader mix football and books at the University of Louisville.

Books and football mix at the University of Louisville

At the University of Louisville (UL), football coach Ron Cooper has established the Ron Cooper Library Fund to support the libraries and to dispel the perception that athletic programs don’t support academic programs. Established without any strings or conditions, the fund will benefit students by helping build a better library system and improve library services. Last year the coach sent letters to 5,500 UL supporters announcing the fund and approximately $4,000 was collected. This year’s campaign will target some special contributors and the campaign goal has been increased to $14,000. One of the youngest Division I coaches in the country, Cooper was voted one of the Outstanding Young Men of America in 1984 and was feted this year by the UL Libraries’ friends group.

Women’s Studies Section announces WSSLINKS

The Women’s Studies Section (WSS) of ACRL has gone live with WSSLINKS Women and Gender Studies Web site, a series of subject pages coordinated and authored by members of the WSS Collection Development Committee. WSSLINKS is designed to provide a well-organized and comprehensive collection of pointers to women’s studies material on the Internet, offering access to a wide range of resources in support of women’s studies. It includes sections devoted to general women’s studies sites, archives, art and film, education, health, history, lesbian sites, politics, and science and technology. Several additions to WSSLINKS are in preparation, including pages on literature and business. Feedback is invited, and contact addresses are included on the various Web pages. WSSLINKS can be accessed directly at http://www.library. yale.edu/wss/ or throught the WSS homepage at http://www.lib.siu.edu/dcallaha/wsshp.html.

Baker & Taylor’s 1997 Cat Contest announced

Baker & Taylor is accepting nominations for its 1997 Cat Contest from library employees and volunteers. The three categories of the contest are: Baker & Taylor look-alikes, best dressed cat, and most playful cat. To enter, cat owners must fill out an entry form and mail it along with a photo of their cat to Baker & Taylor by June 6, 1997. Photos of the 12 finalists will appear in the Baker & Taylor booth at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite photo and three winners will be announced on June 30 at 1:00 p.m. Winners will receive a $100 gift certificate for their favorite pet store. ■

The Baker & Taylor mascots.