ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Linking a high school with academic and public libraries

By Michael W. Loder

Campus Librarian

Penn State/Schuylkill Campus

and James S. Fogarty

Curriculum/Media Specialist Schuylkill Intermediate Unit

An electronic bulletin board, set up by the local Intermediate Unit and involving the Schuylkill Campus of Pennsylvania State University, has become a major means of communication for the librarians and libraries of the county.

In early 1984 the Intermediate Unit for Schuylkill County (I.U. 29), Pennsylvania, set up an electronic bulletin board for interlibrary cooperation. Twelve high school libraries, the Pottsville Free Public Library, and the Schuylkill Campus of Penn State agreed to share resources among themselves. An LSCA Title III grant provided a microcomputer, communications equipment, and software for each library. The I.U. sponsored training and provided a host computer in the form of a Tandy 6000 with electronic mail capability. Libraries used the system by posting ILL and other requests and checking a general notice bulletin board and their individual mailboxes each day. An existing I.U. courier system delivered materials twice a week.

For the high school librarians, many of whom had never before looked farther than their own local public libraries for outside materials, the program was a great benefit and a major learning experience. With no ideas as to what the other high school libraries had available, many early requests were subject-based fishing expeditions: “A student needs materials on Model–T cars. Anyone have anything?” Despite this loose approach the program flourished, and within its first year more than 500 print and non-print items were exchanged.

For Penn State/Schuylkill the value of this program was at first not apparent. The I.U. needed us because the Title III grant called for cooperation between different types of libraries. But did we need the network? The campus is part of Pennsylvania State University’s Commonwealth Campus System, and its library had always relied primarily on Pattee Library at University Park and the other campus libraries for meeting needs for outside material. Our hands were already full with ILL requests from our own faculty and students, and we were not particularly thrilled at the prospect of several hundred high school requests piling up on our part of the bulletin board.

Another benefit for the high schools was the availability of LIAS (Library Information Access System), Penn State’s own online catalog, which the high school librarians could search by dialing a local number. Would they bother with subject requests to each other when Penn State’s holdings were so accessible?

Anticipating many problems, we specified some conditions for our participation in the system. First, we would only respond to requests for specific items identified by call number. Second, the high schools first must check among their own holdings and with the Pottsville Free Public Library before coming to us. Third, we insisted that requesting libraries provide us with all the information we normally put on ILL forms.

We did receive a sorely needed microcomputer, modem, and printer. But “free” hardware could not be the only justification for participating in a consortium with other non-academic libraries. However, as Hugh Atkinson has written, “it is not necessary for outcomes, products, and uses of networks to be the results of an equal system.”¹ We joined the group in order to get to know our previously anonymous associates in the county and to build a shared experience and working relationships.

The Schuylkill Campus of Penn State is the only academic institution in the county. The area is predominantly rural with a scattering of towns and small cities, most of which saw their fortunes disappear in the 1950s with the demand for anthracite coal. The county does not have a large professional or college-educated population; yet most of our students come from this area and many are the first in their families to attend college. Our future, both as a campus and a library, is tied to this local population. We felt that getting to know the area librarians could be important for recruitment, public relations, and communications.

The high school librarians wanted to know us as well. LIAS was particularly welcome because it gave the librarians a tool for teaching online catalogs and telecommunications. The bulletin board allowed them to act on what they found as well as come to us for help when they ran into problems using LIAS.

Soon the high school librarians were looking for a means of identifying specific materials in the school libraries. The arrival of ACCESS Pennsylvania² provided a solution. Now all twelve of the high schools—as well as more than 100 others in the state—are equipped with ACCESS Pennsylvania CD-ROM players and the Brodart–generated union catalog that lists local item holdings and all the holdings for other system participants.

The program has also brought the high school librarians into the mainstream library world. Now all librarians in the county can communicate with each other, and this has had the effect of eliminating many barriers and preconceptions. The public library has also benefitted by sharing with the schools, which has increased more than 200 % in the first year of the program. Many materials that were once borrowed through OCLC were located through the network, thereby saving time and dollars.

For Penn State/Schuylkill the results have been most satisfactory. We have closer ties to all the area high schools. Using the bulletin board we have been able to resolve quickly many problems that previously would have been put off for lack of communication channels. Recently it became the solution to the long-standing question whether to allow local high school students to borrow materials directly from us. Now with access through their own school libraries, we know that their requests can be monitored by the school librarian. And because they have experienced LIAS at their schools, many of our incoming freshmen arrive with a working knowledge of the Penn State Library system.

We also discovered that the schools had items we needed too. In areas where Penn State’s holdings are weak, especially children’s literature and popular reading, the network members tend to be strong.

The bulletin board and network have been a positive experience for all participants. By carefully delineating guidelines for our participation at the beginning, Penn State/Schuylkill has been able to enjoy the benefits of a multitype network. ■ ■

Notes

1. Hugh C. Atkinson, “Atkinson on Networks,” American Libraries, June 1987, p.432.
2. See James S. Fogarty, et al., “Library Resource Sharing,” Media & Methods, November/Decem- ber 1986, pp. 10-11. Other materials on ACCESS Pennsylvania are available from the State Library of Pennsylvania.