ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

BI Exhibit Update

Carolyn Kirkendall Project LOEX

In the past two months, many requests to borrow the BI Liaison Project display have been received, and many more opportunities to exhibit the module have been identified. I’m also happy to report about several presentations at conventions and association meetings;

Marilyn Lutzker, Head of Reader Services at the John Jay College Library, presented a paper on “Use of Primary Resources for Undergraduate Term Papers in Criminal Justice” at the Academy of Criminal Justice Science’s annual conference in February at San Antonio. A Roundtable on Criminal Justice Research Resources has been formed within the Academy.

Negotiations are progressing for sponsoring a drop-in session using the ACRL BI Liaison Project exhibit at the Fall meeting in Toronto of the American Council on Education. Our proposal was not accepted for program agenda.

The Program of the National Conference on Teaching Excellence, sponsored by the NISOD at the University of Texas at Austin, will include a presentation by John Kupersmith, Assistant for Public Services Programs at the General Libraries of UT-Austin. The ACRL BI Liaison Project exhibit will also be on display at this May 24-27 Conference.

Peggy Toifel of the University of West Florida Library participated in the program of the Council on Social Work Educations annual meeting last month in Fort Worth, and her presentation was accompanied by the exhibit.

The exhibit was also part of the Idea Mart Booths, a feature of the recent convention of the American Association of Higher Education in Washington, D.C. In May, promotional literature about the Integrating Libraries Into Higher Education project will be distributed at the National Art Education Association’s annual meeting in Detroit. The display itself will also be a part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science exhibits at their conference next month, also scheduled for Detroit.

The project director promoted the BI cause by speaking at the recent Michigan Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences annual meeting. The display was featured at a Michigan Library Association workshop on “The Role of the Library in the Academic Environment,” held in East Lansing last month.

This month, the BI display will be included at sessions of the Oregon Library Association, the Connecticut Library Association, the Midwestern Sociological Association meeting in Kansas City, and at a BI Conference sponsored by Ohio State University.

Volunteers are needed to help staff the exhibit in Los Angeles for the ALA summer meeting. Please contact me if you have a free hour or two and would like to help promote our project in this fashion.

Copies of the ACRL BI Liaison Project’s press kits are now available for purchase by individuals. Profits received from selling these packages individually will go to defray the costs of their printing and compilation.

Included in the packages—and there are eight separate subject ones available: psychology, sociology, history, language & literature, fine arts, sciences, political sciences, education, and business & management—are reprints of articles on the role of the academic library in higher education and how librarians can assist teaching faculty to promote the teaching/learning process, a brochure explaining the project, a short reading list of appropriate articles and books, and a collection of eight to ten sample materials produced by academic libraries to facilitate literature searching.

These kits were originally designed to distribute to the office staff and convention program chairs of associations in higher education. They could also be very handily used by librarians on their own college and university campuses to explain and promote BI among teaching faculty and department heads, to illustrate what other academic libraries have done to assist the integration of library skills into their curricula.

A separate general press kit of materials on the importance of BI and the library’s role is also available, and includes a variety of teaching guides from various disciplines and institutions.

You can help! We need your contributions of pathfinders, exercises and sample guides from the subject areas listed above. If you would like your library represented in these packages, please send 25 samples of appropriate materials to the Project Director, or call me for more information. ■ ■