ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Stanford Press, Libraries publish books in Internet

Stanford University Press and Stanford University Libraries will collaborate to publish scholarly books about Latin America on the Internet. The project’s goals are: to pro- vide inexpensive access to important scholarly work; to present the material within a carefully integrated and technologically sophisticated knowledge environment; and to evaluate the economics of networked publication for scholarly books. Stanford University Libraries became a center for electronic publishing through its Highwire Press division which produced one of the first full-text World Wide Web versions of a science journal. The collaborative project is funded by a half-million dollar grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Emory University building new library

Construction of a new $23 million Center for Library and Information Resources at Emory University is now under way. The 65,000- square-foot structure will link two existing library buildings to form a complex of libraries and information technology. Designed by Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, the building features an open and flexible interior space that will be adaptable to the changing needs of the collections and their users. The project is expected to take 24 months to complete and also includes the renovation of the first three levels of the Robert W. Woodruff Library. For details, visit the World Wide Web site at http://clair.library.emory.edu.

Private colleges join OhioLINK

Seven Ohio private colleges are joining the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) bringing its to- tal to 50 institutions. Cedar- ville College, College of Mount St. Joseph, College of Wooster, Denison Univer- sity, Kenyon College, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Xavier University will partici- pate in the consortium of li- braries from Ohio universities, colleges, community colleges, and the state library of Ohio. Oberlin College and Ohio Northern University were the first private insti- tutions to participate in the consortium that his- torically had consisted of publicly funded insti- tutions. OhioLINK offers equal access to its combined catalog to all members of the con- sortium. Patrons can request items from the cen- tral catalog electronically. The request is sent to the institution that owns the item. If the item is available it is pulled from the shelves and sent by a statewide courier service to the patron’s location within 48–72 hours in most cases.

Recent agreements between OhioLINK and electronic information companies have expanded OhioLINK’s services to include access to 53 research databases referencing 30 million journal articles and full text of hundreds of journals; U.S. and Ohio legislative information; the full text of nearly 166,000 poems and 2,200 plays; Encyclopaedia Britannica and Columbia Encyclopedia, The Oxford English and American Heritage dictionaries, and The OhioLINK Thesaurus of the English Language.

Call for sci/tech abstracts

ACRL’s Science and Technology Section’s Fo- rum for Science and Technology Library Re- search is seeking abstracts of preliminary origi- nal research results or ALA committee findings for presentation at the 1997 ALA Annual Con- ference in San Francisco. The forum provides an opportunity to receive feedback and con- structive criticism in a supportive environment before submitting research for publication. Pro- posals should be limited to one page and con- tain an abstract of not more than 250 words, as well as the researcher’s name, institution, phone, fax, and e-mail address. Deadline for submis- sion: January 31, 1997. Papers will be selected at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. Send submis- sions to: Dana Boden, C. Y. Thompson Library, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0717; e-mail: danab@unllib.unl.edu; phone: (402) 472-4412; fax: (402) 472-7005.

Directory of Curriculum Materials Centerspublished by ACRL

The fourth edition of Directory of Curriculum Materials Centers, edited by Beth Anderson, is now available from ACRL. This directory, prepared by ACRL’s Education and Be- havioral Sciences Section, includes 278 institutions and lists location, contact infor- mation, budgets, physical space, collection size, staff, hours of operation, and other descriptive informa- tion for the curriculum ma- terials center or collection. Copies of the 175-page book (ISBN 0-8389-7862-2) are $26.50 ($22.50 ACRL members) from ALA Order Fulfillment, 155 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606; phone: (800) 545-2433, press 7; fax: (312) 836-9958.

Find tidbits of info on U.S. presidents on Michigan’s Web page

Want to know which U. S. president swam nude in the Potomac River every day, weather permitting? Or which one seldom went to bed before 2:00 a.m. and destroyed all of his personal papers before his death? Click on the University of Michigan’s (UM) Internet Public Library (IPL) to get the answers. Designed to make presidential Web-based research easier, IPL introduced “POTUS: President’s of the United States” at http://www.ipl.org/ref/POTUS/. This directory of the 42 U.S. presidents brings together presidential Internet sites, including biographies, speeches, writings, and, where possible, audio and video clips. Election results, odd facts, presidential term highlights, first ladies, and cabinet members and other important members of the president’s life are included. IPL is a project based at UM’s School of Information, partially supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

By the way, according to POTUS, it was President John Quincy Adams who swam nude in the Potomac and President Chester Alan Arthur who destroyed his personal papers and enjoyed late night hours.

Harry Ransom Center launches capital campaign

The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRHRC) at the University of Texas at Austin (UTA) launched the public phase of a $12.5 million capital campaign to fund a major capital improvement project as well as establish endowments. Renovation plans call for the creation of a large main reading room and reference area, exhibition galleries, seminar rooms, and an auditorium.

Thomas F. Staley, director of HRHRC, said that more than $6.8 million has been raised through pledges and contributions from individuals and foundations. UTA has pledged $900,000 in in-kind construction costs.

Established in 1957, the HRHRC is known for its collections of late 19th- century and early-20th century British, American, and French literary materials, as well as its collections of photography, music, film, and theater arts. This is the first specific fundraising campaign in its history.

Univ. of Texas and AMIGOS to manage TexShare

The University of Texas at Austin (UTA) General Libraries and the AMIGOS Bibliographic Council have been awarded a $493,600 contract by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for management and program oversight of the TexShare project from September 1996 to August 1997. In 1994 the Texas Legislature committed one million dollars to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to implement the TexShare library resource shar- ing program. TexShare is a cooperative pro- gram designed to improve library services to students, faculty, and staff of the Texas Council of State University Librarians (TCSUL) libraries. Fifty-two libraries are members of TCSUL and all are located on campuses of Texas public universities and health science centers. The TexShare Library Card Program, TexShare Web site, electronic transmission of interlibrary loans, and access to the Federal Register for all TexShare libraries are some of the initiatives of the program. The AMIGOS/UTA partnership will maintain current TexShare programs, add a Z39.50 gateway, and support the TexShare courier service.

Topics/facilitators needed for roundtable discussions in Nashville

Volunteers are sought to suggest a topic and/ or facilitate an informal small-group discussion at ACRL’s 8th National Con- ference in Nashville, April 11–14, 1997. The popular roundtable sessions give conference attendees the opportunity to network, share information, and solve common problems. Leaders are especially needed to facilitate discus- sions about the commis- sioned papers and the future scenarios. Submit your topic idea(s) or volunteer no later than January 6, 1997, to Betty Tsai, Systems Librarian, Bucks County Commu- nity College, Newton, PA 18940; e-mail: tsaib@bucks.edu; fax: (215) 968-8010.

Conference registration materials have been sent to ACRL members and other academic librarians. A copy of the form is also mounted on the ACRL Conference homepage at http:// www.ala.org/acrl.html. To request a brochure contact Darlena Davis at (800) 545-2433 ext. 2519 or e-mail: ddavis@ala.org.

CIC and OCLC creating virtual library

The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and OCLC are creating a Virtual Electronic Library (VEL) that will provide seamless, desktop access to information to the 500,000 students and 35,000 faculty associated with the CIC’s 12 major teaching and research universities. The CIC Virtual Electronic Library uses the OCLC PRISM service, the Internet, and OCLC

WebZ software to integrate electronic library resources and end-user services by offering a single interface to search local, group, and external resources and to allow patron-initiated interlibrary loan or document-delivery requests.

CIC libraries participating in the project include the Universities of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and at Chicago, Iowa, Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin-Madison, and Indiana University, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pennsylvania State, and Purdue.

When fully implemented, the VEL will provide access to 60 million books, 550,000 serials, and numerous databases and digital systems owned or licensed collectively by the universities. Users will be able to search across the online public access catalogs (OPACs) of all the CIC libraries. Document delivery is provided through a variety of options including traditional interlibrary loan, commercial document delivery, and full text online.

“The electronic library that OCLC and the CIC are building gives libraries the ability to share collections and to truly focus on access,” said K. Wayne Smith, OCLC president and CEO. Funding for this project was provided in part through a U.S. Department of Education HEA II-A grant.

Univ. of Pittsburgh saves with Ameritech/RoweCom Subscribe

Ameritech Library Services and RoweCom have signed a joint marketing agreement for Subscribe97, RoweCom’s Internet- based library subscription service. The University of Pittsburgh Library will be the first to use the new NOTIS/Subscribe interface. Under the agreement, Ameritech and RoweCom developed software and a systems interface that enables NOTIS users to link to Subscribe97.

“Subscribe is a breakthrough service which reduced the university’s serials costs over the past year,” said Rush Miller, director of the university library system at the University of Pittsburgh. “We are excited about working with Ameritech and RoweCom to refine the links between NOTIS and Subscribe97.”

Subscribe is the automated subscription service that allows libraries to order, pay for, and claim their journals over the Internet. It recently won the 1996 award for Best Business-to-Business Application for Electronic Commerce Using the Internet at the 1996 Internet and Electronic Commerce Conference. ■