ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

News from the Field

Mary Ellen Davis

Benefit book auction a success

The Special Collection Department at the University of Vermont (UVM) successfully conducted a book auction to benefit UVM and six other Vermont libraries. Proceeds from the sale, which grossed over $60,000, will be added to the libraries’ respective ac- quisitions budgets. The sale prices of items ranged from $10 to $3,250 for Stedman’s 1796 Account of the Surinam

Rebellion.Kevin Graffagnino, director of Special Collections at UVM, stressed that they were not weeding the collection. “Everything sold was already held in duplicate, or more.” This was the third book auction sponsored by UVM and, like its predecessors, the event was run entirely by the seven-member staff of the Special Col- lections Department.

Did you save your postcards?

Over the last year ACRL members have been sent three postcards about ACRL’s 7th National Conference in Pittsburgh, March 29–April 1, 1995. If you saved yours, you are eligible for a drawing for free conference and preconference registrations (see C&RL News, February 1994). Staple your postcards together and bring them to the ACRL booth at the 1995 Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia to be included in the drawing. Six winners will be selected; all postcards must be addressed to the same person. Note: If you are not attending the 1995 Midwinter Meeting, staple your postcards together and mail them to ACRL Postcard Drawing, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611 by January 20, 1995, to be included in the drawings. Hint: The three postcards each featured photographs of Pittsburgh and were mailed in December 1993, September 1994, and December 1994.

Distance learning classroom opened

Southern Illinois University (SIU) opened its first distance learning classroom on the Carbondale campus. Housed in the Morris Library, the classroom is equipped with an interactive video and audio system. Dean of library affairs Carolyn Snyder and head of instructional support, Jerry Hostetler, demonstrated the new classroom to

Illinois Governor James Edgar. Edgar used the opportunity to announce a $1.4 million state grant to expand the telecommunications net- work linking educational in- stitutions and businesses in southern Illinois. “This grant—and others like it throughout Illinois—will fund the expansion of our distance learning network to more than 275 sites across the state and will keep Illi- nois on the cutting edge of using technology to enhance educational oppor- tunities,” the governor said.

The grant to the Southern Illinois Collegiate Common Market (SICCM) is part of a statewide program the governor has included in his budget the past two fiscal years. The consortium includes John A. Logan College at Carterville, Rend Lake College at Mt. Vernon, Shawnee College at Ullin, Southeastern College at Harrisburg, and SIU.

ALA bids Mickey Mouse adieu

At its fall meeting ALA’s Executive Board voted to hold its 1996 Annual Conference in New York City instead of Orlando, home of Walt Disney World. The new dates for the ALA Annual Conference in New York are July 4-10, 1996. ALA President Arthur Curley indicated that the reason for the switch was “to ensure that the highest number of members . . . have an opportunity to attend the more than 2,000 meetings and visit the approximately 1,300 exhibitors.”

The Voyage Window at SUNY-Albany. The image graces one of four bookmarks developed by the university’s Friends of the libraries group.

SUNY-Albany bookmarks available

In commemoration of the University at Albany, State University of New York’s Sesquicentennial Celebration, the Friends of the Libraries are offering a set of full-color bookmarks depicting four of the opalescent stained-glass windows mounted in the Hawley building on the downtown campus. The windows were presumably executed by Chapman Stained Glass Studio, which was founded in Albany in 1898 by Richard Chapman. Represented on the laminated bookmarks are: the Voyage Window, the Knowledge Window, the Francesca Martinez window, and a Greco/Roman woman with sandals and laurel wreath. Each set of four bookmarks (8" x 2") is packaged in a plastic envelope and available for $5.95 (including shipping/handling and tax). To order send checks payable to the University at Albany to: Dorothy Christiansen, Head, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY 12222. For further information call Christiansen at (518) 442-3542.

ALA offers library advocacy training

ALA is working to build a nationwide network of library advocates by offering “Library Advocacy Now!” workshops at state association and other library conferences. The training program developed with the World Book/ALA Goal Award, is intended for trustees, friends of libraries, and library staff. The focus is on helping everyone who cares about libraries to become effective advocates using contacts with the media, legislators, and other forums to build the case for library support at the local, state, and national levels. Libraiy advocacy training will be offered on Sunday, February 5, as part of the President’s Program during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Those interested in scheduling a Library Advocacy Now! training session in their state or community should contact Gerald Hodges, director of ALA Membership, at (800) 545-2433 ext. 4285; e-mail: gerald.hodges@ala.org.

Virginia creating virtual library

The Virginia General Assembly allocated $5.2 million to libraries at public colleges and universities in Virginia for the purpose of developing a statewide “virtual library.” Key goals of the Virginia Virtual Library project are to in- crease overall access to information through- out the Commonwealth by enhancing resource sharing, reducing unnecessary duplication of holdings, and increasing service to students and faculty. To increase the amount of information available to library users throughout the state, the Virginia virtual library will purchase $2 million in electronic library materials, which will be loaded on networked computers at six resource centers. Other elements of the virtual library are software to permit shared online catalogs, patron-initiated interlibrary loan, and increased efficiency of document and book delivery between libraries. Regional electronic resource centers at the six doctoral universities will be set up to cooperatively purchase, develop, and store a variety of databases as well as pro- vide training for all the academic libraries.

The six institutions are: College of William and Mary, George Mason University, Old Do- minion University, University of Virginia, Vir- ginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The project will be directed by a steering commit- tee made up of the members of the library di- rectors of the six doctoral institutions and the members of a subcommittee on networking that is part of the Library Advisory Committee of the State Council of Higher Education for Vir- ginia. Katherine A. Perry, director of George Mason University’s Center for Digital Library and Information Resources, is the project coordinator.

EBSS seeks editor

ACRL’s Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) is seeking an editor for its newsletter and electronic listserv. The two- year appointment will begin July 1995. Applicants should have working knowledge of desktop publishing and know how to use Internet communications. Prefer- ence will be given to applicants whose institutions can host the EBSS listserv. The newsletter editor must be a member of EBSS and be able to attend ALA An- nual and Midwinter Meetings.

The newsletter editor serves on three key committees (EBSS Ex- ecutive Board, EBSS Publications,and ACRL Newsletter Editors) which generally have been scheduled at conferences as early as Friday evening and as late as Tuesday morning. Anyone interested should submit an application letter, resume, and writing samples to: Joan B. Fiscella, EBSS Publications Chair, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, P.O. Box 8198, M/C 234, Chicago, IL 60680; e-mail: u46028@uicvm.uic.edu; fax: (312) 413-0424. Applications must be received by February 28, 1995.

New Grainger Library at Univ. of III.

The Grainger Engineering Library Information Center on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was dedicated with an electronic ribbon-cutting ceremony last fall. Dignitaries using friendly touch-screen technology snipped a computer-created image of a ribbon electronically. The Grainger Library is the largest engineering library in the U.S., capable of accommodating 1,200 patrons at one time. Grainger offers a computer and multimedia laboratory, a digital imaging lab, an information-retrieval research lab, instructional-services labs, high-tech classrooms, and a usability lab. It has 800 computer hookups, six network servers, and 60 online computers. Within the 92,000 square feet of assignable space are 100 user terminals, of which 30 accommodate advanced scientific computing and 20 accommodate full- text document imaging and multimedia applications. Patrons may access 450 remote and local online databases. Seven user-friendly interactive information kiosk terminals, placed around the library, operate by way of touchscreen technology.

Inside the new Grainger Engineering Library Information Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

The five-floor building was designed by Evans Woollen, a nationally recognized architect based in Indianapolis. The Grainger Foundation of Skokie, Illinois, donated $18.7 million to erect the library. The gift honors W. W. Grainger, a U. of I. College of Engineering Class of 1919 alumnus and founder of W. W. Grainger Inc.

ACRL collects information literacy data

This fall ACRL was approached by two of the regional accrediting agencies—Middle States Association and Western Association of Schools and Colleges—to enter a cooperative research project for the purpose of collecting data on existing information literacy programs in higher education institutions across the U.S. The ACRL Executive Committee approved a proposal at its fall meeting to implement the project. At the request of the accrediting agencies the mailings went to their campus contacts (usually provosts and deans) with instructions that the instruments were to be distributed on campuses to the units best suited to respond. In some cases the campus will identify the library as the appropriate unit to respond to the survey. As this study develops, further reports will be published in C&RL News and the ACRL Forum.

STS discussions at Midwinter

The ACRL Science and Technology Section invites you to attend the following lively discussion groups at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. STS General Discussion Group meeting, Sunday, February 5, 8:30-11:00 a. m. Topic: “Integrating Internet Resources into Sci-Tech Libraries.” STS Science Databases Discussion Group, Saturday, February 4, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Topic: “Electronic Pre-print Databases and the World Wide Web.”

Getting the 1992 library data

The data on 54 variables in academic libraries in the United States reported to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and discussed by Mary Jo Lynch in the November 1994 C&RL News are now available to the public. To obtain a copy of Academic Libraries: 1992 (NCES95-031) for $3.75 from the Government Printing Office (stock # (S/W) 065-000-00717- 7) call (202) 512-1800.