Advocacy in today’s environment

Now, more than ever, advocacy is a critical skill for all librarians and was the theme of Erika Linke’s ACRL presidency. At the 2009 ACRL President’s Program, “Advocacy in Today’s Environment,” Stephanie Vance and other experts in advocacy—Prue Adler (associate executive director of the Association of Research Libraries), Emily Sheketoff (ALA associate executive director), Michael McLane (ACRL visiting program officer for legislative advocacy), and Tony Driessen (lawyer-lobbyist with the Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, law firm of DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C.)—presented an engaging and interactive program, providing audience members with strategies and practical tips for effective advocacy.

The program, which was tailored to the specific needs of the academic library community based on the results of an advance survey to ACRL members, covered the basics of being an effective advocate, including why advocacy is important, knowing what you want, who you are talking to, how to talk to them, and how to follow up. During the session, Vance presented the concepts behind communication with elected officials, agencies, and university administrators to advance the goals of our libraries. More than 135 attendees worked on specific plans to improve their messages about libraries, developed insights into advocacy, and learned the importance of following up and continuing advocacy efforts throughout the year. Throughout the program, panelists responded with examples related to libraries.

Stephanie Vance, the “Advocacy Guru” and cofounder of Advocacy Associates, at the 2009 President’s Program.

The program began by covering the basics of advocacy and opened with an interactive Q&A session and prizes for participants. Questions included: How many bills on average are introduced in a Congressional session? What percentage of bills pass? and How many bills mention the word library? Prizes included pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution and breath mints (because fresh breath is very important for advocacy).

As the audience warmed up to the topic, Vance and copresenters turned to areas of interest to the library community, including government information, public access to federally funded research, orphan works and copyright legislation, Section 108 of the Copyright Act (exemptions for libraries and archives), the USA PATRIOT Act, fair use, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

ACRL Past President Erika C. Linke.

Audience members worked in pairs to practice crafting an effective message, and several brave volunteers role-played their message with Vance, who acted the part of the legislator. Vance defined and clarified three important terms: education, advocacy, and lobbying. Education is talking about what libraries are doing in our community. Advocacy is informing about the implications of policy issues. Asking for support for a specific bill is lobbying.

The second part of the program, entitled “Developing an Advocacy Plan,” was interactive, with participants creating their own plan for advocacy, whether it might be within their university, at the local level, or ACRL’s priorities in Washington, D.C. Topics covered included developing a goal, understanding the environment and chain of command, building coalitions, and message development and delivery.

In the final section of the program, “Three Critical Techniques for Building Relationships,” Vance highlighted site visits, working with the media, developing statements, and testifying. He offered the following tips: For site visits, take care to not invite two elected officials running against each other. Think about the message—what to say and what you want them to understand. In the invitation for the visit, make it sound as fascinating as possible, and make it clear why one would be interested in coming to your library. Be persistent, and follow up with a phone call, if necessary. Once the site visit is scheduled, plan all the details, including parking, food, tour agenda, etc. Make sure what you show them is connected to what you need them to understand. Keep notes on what interests them and what you can follow up on. Make sure they see real people using your services. Consider carefully what will make your audience think your topic is interesting.

Throughout the program, presenters impressed upon the audience that librarians are in the best position to help legislators understand the real issues affecting library users every day. Politicians listen to their constituents. Partnerships and coalitions are key. Advocacy is about relationships with legislators and others.—Beth McNeil, Purdue University,E-mail:

Area Studies librarianship

The AAMES program, “Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Librarians in Academic Libraries: Challenges, Expectations and Rewards,” focused on issues related to the field of Area Studies librarianship, including current economic challenges, collection development, preservation and digitization of resources, and future trends. The panel comprised of one moderator and six speakers. Bindu Bhatt (Columbia University) opened the session by welcoming the attendees and speakers. Binh Le (Pennsylvania State University), the moderator, introduced the speakers to the audience.

Liladhar Pendse’s (UCLA) presentation “Decolonizing Colonial Periodicals: Preserving or Destroying Information Past?” focused on the French and Portuguese colonial periodicals of the Indian subcontinent. He highlighted the problems associated with digital preservation of the colonial periodicals. The second presentation, “The Center for Research Libraries: Global Resources Network,” by James Simon (CRL), concentrated on the cooperative collection development strategies undertaken by CRL. Lauran Hartley (Columbia University) spoke on the cooperative programs for Tibetan Studies materials.

The fourth presentation, “Challenges for Academic Libraries in Africa and Resolutions Sought,” by Ellen Tise (president, IFLA) focused on the challenges faced by the academic libraries in Africa. Anchi Hoh (Library of Congress) talked about the World Digital Library program, a collaborative project undertaken by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Library of Congress, and several other institutions from different parts of the world.

The final presentation, “Collaborate or Bust: Understanding Global Resource Collection Development in the Early 21st Century,” by David Magier (Princeton University), addressed the important issue of where we are with global resources preservation and the threat to endangered Area Studies collections. He proposed that academic institutions should investigate possible partnerships within and outside the region to seek solutions to preservation issues.

Most of the presentations can be accessed at www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/events/annual09.cfm.—Chella Vaidyanathan, University of Miami Libraries,E-mail:

Chicago’s ethnic mosiac

The ANSS program, “Chicago’s Ethnic Mosaic: Cultural Identity and Neighborhood Change,” featured four scholars who each spoke about the impact of race and ethnicity on urban housing and development.

J. Bradford Hunt (Roosevelt University) explored the social construction of race and showed how 20th-century immigration (especially the African American and Latino populations) was central to Chicago history. Chicago’s great diversity, compared to other cities, made a positive difference.

For example, the Latino population increase prevented population loss and stimulated the economy. Chicago neighborhoods varied among streets, and changed ethnically and racially as people sought new neighborhoods for better housing or working conditions. Hunt also explained how the government reshaped African American neighborhoods through housing policies.

Janet Smith (University of Illinois-Chicago) discussed public housing for the African American community and housing policy changes since the 1970s. The 1899 “Separate but Equal” court case meant “Separate but unequal” and allowed segregated housing. Other public housing policies resulted in poorly built high-rise buildings. The goal of public housing was to disperse people from poverty-stricken areas; which, with urban renewal (starting in the 1950s), resulted in mixed housing replacing public housing. People feared being pushed from homes to be replaced by better homes for the rich. “It’s not conspiracy, it’s policy.”

John Koval (DePaul University, emeritus) said that the site of Latino’s current immigration is suburbia (where jobs are), not urban areas. By 2050, 45 percent of the U.S. population will be undereducated minorities, mainly Latinos and African Americans, unable to help the United States compete globally.

Nilda Flores-Gonzales (University of Illinois-Chicago) described several marches (including Hispanic teens’ growing involvement) against unfair housing laws and practices that affected Latinos.

Q&A comment: The United States is open/closed to immigrants depending on their qualifications and competence.—Gayle Porter, Chicago State University,E-mail:

The small press and the artists’ book

The Arts Section program, “More Than Paper: The Small Press and the Artists’ Book,” focused on three primary aspects of the book arts: the aesthetic elements involved in the production, distribution, and sale of fine letterpress books and other materials, as well as their artistic/cultural value; the cultural and historical significance of small press publications; and the role of libraries in preserving these resources. Arts Section Chair Lucie Wall Stylianopoulos (University of Virginia) opened the program, and Michael Pearce (University of Alabama) moderated.

CLS program speakers (left to right): Susan Hall, April Heiselt, and Robert Wolverton Jr., all from Mississippi State University.

Jeffery Weddle (University of Alabama) described the history of Loujon Press, a small New Orleans publishing house that produced the literary journal the Outsider and books by Charles Bukowski and Henry Miller. Its colorful founders, Jon and Gypsy Lou Webb, endured many struggles to publish quality literary works. In describing the history of the Webbs and Loujon Press, Weddle explained the critical role that small presses play in publishing quality materials from which commercial publishers may shy away, as well as their role in the careers of several important literary figures.

Sally Alatalo (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) discussed several examples of books that demonstrate the range of the artists’ ability to critique language, culture, and the visual through the book form. As the founder of Sara Ranchouse Publishing and a book artist herself, Alatalo has been fascinated with the book artists’ ability to experiment with language and genre. She also emphasized the importance of buying artists’ books directly from small publishers or buying from nonprofit book distributors, such as Printed Matter.

Elisabeth Long (University of Chicago) asked audience members to consider how our idea of the book is changing, and how it may change over the next 50 years. Today’s book artists are exploring the complex features of the book, defying digitization efforts, and investigating the intersection between text and image. Librarians should consider how best to represent these unique resources online through catalogs and images, and sites such as Artists’ Books Online and the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection provide useful examples of ways to represent collections of artists’ books.

The program drew an audience of 55 people and was followed by a reception celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Arts Section, sponsored by Casalini Libri and Arts Section members.—Ann Medaille, University of Nevada-Reno,E-mail:

The first-year experience

Four hundred fifty-three librarians attended the CJCLS/CLS/IS program “FYE: Connecting First-Year College Students with the Library,” moderated by CJCLS Chair Lora Mirza (Georgia Perimeter College).

Keynote speaker Donna Younger (Oakton Community College) related how a good start makes a real difference for first-year college students. She shared Clifford Adelman’s student persistence research, best practices gleaned from the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience (FYE), and how the Foundations of Excellence and Achieving the Dream programs spurred FYE program growth.

Oakton uses the “WISE Choice” acronym to brand its FYE philosophy. W=Welcoming those who “don’t have the language of higher education;” I=Informing constituents using multiple means—consistently, and at the right time; S=Supporting students when they determine they need support; and E=Engaging, reflecting personal active involvement and a positive attitude.

Olga Conneen (Northampton Community College) described a library-classroom faculty collaboration project initiated to assess the college’s information literacy core outcome, and how Middle States accreditation drove the work. She suggested that librarians “speak the same language” as classroom faculty. Northampton developed and continually assessed rubrics to ensure they related to what first-year college students need to know.

Sarah Greene shared Tidewater Community College Library’s three-pronged approach (FYE course, college orientation in the library, free topical seminars) and suggested proactive relationship building across campus as key to success.

Panelists from Wayne State University (WSU) presented two additional ways to connect first-year college students with the library. Judith Arnold showed WSU’s “fun” atypical library Web page with its FYE support (www.lib.wayne.edu/sites/fye/), which combines essential library information with an assignment planner, links to the writing center, technology workshops and campus food, along with entertaining content. Carrie Croatt-Moore shared WSU’s programming, including its academic orientation to complement traditional orientations and peer mentor training.—Nan Schichtel, Grand Rapids Community College,E-mail:

Academic libraries collaboration with public libraries

This year’s CLS program, titled “Our Town, Common Ground: Academic Libraries’ Collaboration with Public Libraries,” featured a panel of six speakers representing four cooperative endeavors between academic and public libraries.

Judy Neale (coordinator of community outreach, Cameron University Library) evoked The Little Engine That Could in “The Little Library That Could,” her retelling of Lawton Public Library’s outreach to the university library. Together they have received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Oklahoma Humanities Council to sponsor author readings and literary events at both institutions.

Janet Stoffer (director of the Elyria [Ohio] Public Library System) and Keith Washburn (dean of the Lorain County Community College Library and Learning Resources Division) credit their striking joint-use facility that serves enrolled students and the community for their shared vision and tenacity.

Sarah Palfrey (director of the Summersville [West Virginia] Public Library) shared her experience with the delicate nature of collaborations, even when they are time-tested and supported by the community. Her public library provides resources and services to the community college, which was recently part of a statewide reorganization. With continued funding from the college uncertain, Palfrey may be forced to curtail hours and acquisitions, losses that will affect both public and academic users.

April Heiselt (assistant professor and service learning coordinator in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology at Mississippi State University) and two of her colleagues in the libraries, Susan Hall and Robert Wolverton (associate professors), described a service-learning program that places students in the Starkville-Oktibbeha County Public Library’s children’s services and special collections. This innovative program connects first-year students to the university library and benefits public library staff and users.

Content from the program is available at the CLS Web site at www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/sections/cls/collconferences/conferences.cfm.—Jane P. Currie, Loyola University-Chicago,E-mail:

Retaining distance students from diverse groups

Thomas Abbott (dean of libraries and distance learning, University of Maine-Augusta) opened the DLS program with the admission that there was little literature in support of academic libraries actively participating in retention programs with colleges and universities. There is, however, literature that discusses the increased need for developing initiatives and metrics for academic institutions to retain distance and diverse students.

Merodie Hancock (vice president/executive director, Off-Campus Programs, Central Michigan University) then presented her views on distance education and the importance of developing retention policies. She stated that retention policies are actually a part of a larger enrollment management umbrella.

Hancock described her views on the distance education environment and those criteria that define relevant issues. Libraries need to understand the “big picture” of enrollment management. Also, libraries must understand the overall learning environment of their schools, and the overall learning goals expected of students. Lastly, Hancock stressed the importance of libraries, or any other department, to not “silo” their data or efforts. She said unified effort must be undertaken by all stakeholders to successfully develop retention efforts.

Kathleen Walsh (interim provost and former dean of the library, National-Louis University) stated that retention efforts have indeed become a very hot issue with colleges and universities. Walsh also cited several retention models used; however, the majority of data available to help other schools is limited, as most of the data is propriety. The major reason why distance students leave a program is due to life-changing circumstances, which make developing retention efforts challenging.

Walsh shared her views on how libraries can help with retention efforts. Libraries need to recognize that once students graduate, they may still require lifelong or independent learning resources. Host libraries can have a positive impact by then developing resources that benefit graduates in these areas. Once libraries collaborate more with other departments, a better understanding of digital learning and metrics tools can then be undertaken.—Patrick Mahoney, Mitre Corporation,E-mail:

Librarian/scholar: From research question to results

EBSS sponsored a program of practical advice for librarians wanting to contribute to scholarly discourse and for those struggling to meet research and publishing requirements of their institutions. Stephanie Davis-Kahl (Illinois Wesleyan University) moderated.

Peter Hernon (Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, and coeditor of Library & Information Science Research) opened the program with a frank and provocative overview of publishing in the discipline. He stressed the need to improve the quality of library science literature and provided practical tips for doing so. Hernon discussed the importance of peer-review and the need to reduce the typical three-month manuscript review process. Hernon closed his remarks with tips for establishing a personal research agenda by thinking through long-term interests and consulting current literature to identify research gaps.

Robert Labaree (head of the Von Klein-Smid Center Library, University of Southern California) discussed basic features of qualitative research, reviewing benefits of the method as well as general pitfalls. He described qualitative research as purposeful, emergent, and naturalistic, as “digging deep” to “add meaning to data.” Labaree cautioned researchers to be aware of potential personal bias and to guard against making inappropriately broad statements from small samples.

Quantitative research was the focus of recorded remarks sent by Penny Beile (head, Curriculum Materials Center, University of Central Florida). Beile acknowledged the frustration voiced by many librarians about not having the skills to conduct quality quantitative research. She recommended replicating other quality research, collaborating with experienced researchers, and getting educated through programs, workshops, and classes. Beile called for institutional support for research through training and release time, while urging librarians to take personal responsibility for seeking ways to improve their work.

Prior to the program Paula McMillen presented the EBSS Distinguished Librarian award to Gary Lare in recognition of his leadership in developing curriculum materials centers and his mentorship of new librarians. The award is sponsored by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.—Bruce Stoffel, Illinois State University,E-mail:

Building balanced collections

At this year’s ACRL Committee on Ethics program, a panel addressed the complicated undertaking of building balanced collections. Program chair Alan Mattlage began by providing a context for the discussion, reviewing the Library Bill of Rights and the controversy surrounding the terms balanced versus diverse or representative collections.

Nancy Kranich (Rutgers University) presented ethical theories to develop a discussion framework, arguing that materials selection is an ethical dilemma. She emphasized the problem of definition; if we “balance” viewpoints do we equally represent intelligent design and evolution or the holocaust and holocaust denial? The term diversity helps, but complexities of definition remain.

Worried that “in an age of media consolidation and reduced budgets, our collections are more similar than unique,” Kranich suggested we reaffirm that building diverse collections is important, seek out alternative presses, and document the diversity within our collections.

Byron Anderson (Northern Illinois University) advocated for alternative presses. The Library Bill of Rights states, “Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues.” He recognizes that with more than 170,000 books published every year, most of which are never even reviewed, obtaining every viewpoint is impossible. Seeking out alternative presses, we can help provide “a voice for the voiceless.”

Bob Nardini (Coutts Information Services) shared another perspective, stating that he has encountered challenged materials, such as Let Me Die Before I Wake, that librarians chose to treat inconsistently. Vendors, however, select based on customer needs identified through data. He offered a contrarian view: the Library Bill of Rights was developed during a print culture. With the Internet allowing for all points of view, perhaps solving this issue is not as imperative as it once was? Perhaps now just the core points of view need to be reflected in our collections.—Rebecca Blakiston, University of Arizona,E-mail:

Intellectual freedom on campus

What are the threats to intellectual freedom on our campuses and who cares? What is the library’s role in preserving intellectual freedom? “Academic and Intellectual Freedom Climate on Campus—Are Our Freedoms Secure in the Next Generation?” sponsored by the ACRL Intellectual Freedom Committee, addressed these questions with the help of three panelists and audience participation.

Jim Neal (Columbia University) laid out 24 threats to intellectual freedom ranging from the disappearance of government information to mass digitization projects that pose the risk of removal of content and monitoring of individual use. For Neal’s full list of threats, see the ACRL Intellectual Freedom Committee’s blog at www.acrl.ala.org/ifc/.

Barbara Fister (Gustavus Adolphus College) fears that too often those of us engaged in information literacy teaching give short shrift to the related legal, ethical, and social issues in order to meet the more immediate needs for a paper due next week. Fister advocates education outside of the classroom with displays, speakers, and events planned around, for instance, Banned Books Week, Constitution Day, Darwin’s birthday, and Sunshine Week. A full version of her presentation can be found at homepages.gac.edu/~fister/ACRLOIF.html.

The Chicago-based McCormick Freedom Museum (www.freedommuseum.us) aims to promote First Amendment rights through work with middle and high school students and teachers. Shawn Healy (managing director) described the museum’s outreach efforts that include “Seen and Heard,” an annual national student expression contest, that drew nearly 400 entries this year. A display of the winning entries, especially in the editorial cartoon category, is worth a visit to the Web site. The Center for Campus Free Speech (www.campusspeech.org) also promotes First Amendment rights, with a focus on higher education.

A poll of the audience revealed that currently one of the greatest concerns is the lack of conversation about intellectual freedom issues on campuses—budget discussions seem to hold a higher value.—Doris Ann Sweet, Simmons College,E-mail:

Bringing the Immersion Program back home

The ACRL Institute for Information Literacy Executive Committee program entitled “Bringing the Immersion Program Back Home: Successes Shared in a Panel Discussion and Poster Session” featured three panelists and seven poster session presenters who shared how their experiences in the Immersion Program have enriched their professional practice.

Merinda Kaye Hensley has attended both the Program and Teacher Tracks of the Immersion Program. The Program Track provided her with insight into the importance of creating a learning community, learning outcomes and assessment, and inspiring a shared vision. The Teacher Track provided her with tools, such as reflective journaling, which she used to create “a timeline of reflection to incorporate into [instructors’] voices as teachers.” These tools and concepts have provided the foundation for programs and activities she has developed since attending the Immersion Program.

Monica Fusich attended the Program Track after she became head of instruction and outreach services at California State University-Fresno. She found the active learning experience to be invigorating and came away with an action plan and a new outlook on assessment. She learned it is important to share responsibility for information literacy instruction and has benefitted greatly from the community of practice that was created among her peers in the Immersion Program.

Jim Hahn is a new librarian whose Immersion experience taught him to be a leader and “overthrow the tyranny of how it was done before.” He has applied concepts, such as authenticity in teaching, to his work with LIS 100 students. After Immersion, Hahn looks at the library in a different way and doesn’t hesitate to try new things, including library tours in Pig Latin.

The insights of the panelists and the information provided at the poster session combined to provide a comprehensive overview of what practitioners can gain from the Immersion Program. Additional information can be found at library.uwb.edu/ALA2009/ImmersionFlyer2009.pdf.—Chelle Batchelor, University of Washington-Bothell,E-mail:

International librarianship and cooperation

The ACRL International Relations Committee (IRC) hosted the program “Academic Librarians and International Librarianship” for more than 150 attendees. Distinguished speakers Robert Wedgeworth (former IFLA president; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, emeritus), Jay Jordan (OCLC president and CEO), Beverly Lynch (ALA/IRC chair; UCLA), and Winston Tabb (Johns Hopkins University) addressed the need for increased international cooperation among librarians.

Wedgeworth spoke on “ALA and IFLA: A Global Perspective” providing advice on getting involved (individually, via ALA, IFLA, U.S. Foreign Service, etc.), to “learn as much as teach” and be prepared (learning the language), access all opportunities, and “focus on the journey, not the destination.”

Jordan talked about “OCLC: A Global Cooperative” that is evolving not only in statistics—147 countries contributing 139 million records (50 percent non-English)—but in strategic direction, such as the Members Council becoming the Global Council and “building a Web-scale for libraries, needed to connect better with international institutions.”

Lynch discussed the “Role of ALA/IRC in International Affairs” as responsible for all programs and activities of IRC officers, roundtables, and committees representing all geographic areas of the world. She highlighted international lecture and conference series, including the fifth China-U.S. Conference in Shanghai in 2010, affording American librarians an understanding of “cultural shock,” but also extraordinary exchanges, which are “wide-ranging and deep.”

Tabb spoke on “International Librarianship and its Impact on Research Libraries in the United States,” asking “Why has there not been greater impact?” As formal agreements are signed between institutions, but not followed by activity, he promoted wider collaborative exchange concluding, “I challenge us to have a community of practice.”

Afterwards, IFLA President Claudia Lux, presented plaques to the speakers for their contributions to international librarianship. Ravindra Sharma, ACRL/IRC chair and moderator of the historic session, presented a plaque to Lux on behalf of ACRL/IRC.—Mary Kay Rathke, United Arab Emirates University,E-mail:

Illuminating new instruction research

This year, the IS Conference Program Planning Committee tried something different by eschewing a single speaker and instead developing a program based on a three person panel: Randy Burke Hensley (Baruch College, City University of New York), Heidi Julien (University of Alberta), and Michelle Morton (Cañada Community College Library).

These panelists were chosen to impart different viewpoints and insights on the program’s topic, “Illuminating New Instruction Research: Applying Research to Practice.” By spotlighting three studies published within the last year, the program enabled librarians to ponder some of the latest research and discuss how it might be applied to their own classroom teaching and planning.

Merinda McLure (Colorado State University) moderated a spirited discussion. Highlights included:

• Phenomenography: The foundation of one of the studies, this qualitative, nondualistic research approach focuses on context, perspective, and experience and was clearly a topic attendees wanted to learn more about.
• Generation 1.5 students: This study about the research skills and behaviors of Latino students provided a number of interesting discussion points, including where students learn best, library as “place,” and how community colleges and universities might better collaborate.
• Knowledge of research method fundamentals: The importance of librarians understanding this was confirmed, as it would make librarians more effective readers and users of research.

In keeping with the interactive format, questions and comments from the more than 250 attendees were not confined to the end, but liberally interspersed throughout the program. More than 20 questions were asked in all. Additionally, Twitter was monitored for comments, and all questions and comments were typed and displayed on a projection screen to give attendees a chance to see, in real-time, what their colleagues were thinking.

To find out more, including links to the three articles and other materials, go to www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/sections/is/eventsconferences/2009programan.cfm.—Brad Sietz, Eastern Michigan University,E-mail:

Open access digital initiatives in the Humanities

The LES program, “Open Access Digital Initiatives in the Humanities: Creation, Dissemination, Preservation,” attracted a crowd of around 250. Rob Melton (bibliographer for Literature and Humanities, University of California-San Diego) introduced the program. Angela Courtney (librarian for English Literatures, Indiana University-Bloomington) warned of the ephemeral nature of digital projects when even ordinary personnel transitions can cause a digital initiative, such as Indiana University’s Victorian Women Writer’s Project (www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/), to lapse temporarily, if not permanently.

Dino Franco Felluga (associate professor, Department of English, Purdue University) faulted the academy for its “indifference with regard to the digital revolution,” which allowed IT entities to take over digitizing the knowledge being produced by universities and scholars. Felluga is a coeditor of the open access journal, RAVON (Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net, www.ravon.umontreal.ca), and is on the editorial board of NINES (Nineteenth-Century Scholarship Online, www.nines.org), which he described as a model of collaboration between scholars and librarians.

He challenged users to embrace the myriad new ways of interpreting and editing texts that digital initiatives facilitate, challenged contributors of knowledge to create their own Web sites, and challenged scholars and institutions to support the control of their knowledge production.

Laura Mandell (professor of English Literature, Miami University of Ohio) cautioned against drawing too sharp a line between open access and for-profit initiatives. In face of the so-called “data deluge,” she believes only “machine crunchable data” will rise to the top in a usable fashion. She described how digital projects such as 18thConnect (unixgen.muohio.edu/~poetess/NINES/18thConnect.html) and MONK are trying to resolve the problem of “dirty OCR” (optical character recognition) of early modern texts. MONK (Metadata Offer New Knowledge, www.monkproject.org) features 525 works of 18th- and 19th-century American literature and the plays and some poetry by William Shakespeare.

Chad Curtis (librarian for literary studies and digital scholarship in the Humanities, New York University) described ways of surmounting the big obstacles of time, money, and knowledge.—Laura Sue Fuderer, University of Notre Dame,E-mail:

Political engagement

The LPSS program, “Political Engagement: Facilitating Greater Participation in Civil Society,” brought together a variety of academic and public library speakers to address the concept of civic engagement in today’s society.

Elizabeth Hollander (former executive director of Campus Compact and senior fellow at Tufts University’s Tisch College) first provided the audience with a brief history of student civic engagement and a description of Campus Compact, an organization of college and university presidents that promotes community service, civic engagement, and service-learning in higher education. Hollander also spoke of the role of libraries in training students and others to facilitate democratic dialogue.

Nancy Kranich (former ALA president and currently lecturer at Rutger’s School of Communication, Information and Library Sciences) continued the theme of deliberative dialogues in a variety of library settings. She encouraged those present to see the role they have in creating active citizens. The library should be a champion of intellectual freedom, but cannot be if people who do not agree with each other do not have a safe forum for dialogue. She described ALA’s proposed involvement in the Kettering Foundation’s training for deliberative democracy exchanges and how valuable these events can be for community communication.

Joanne Griffin (business reference librarian) and Holly Sorensen (assistant director) described a deliberative forum program held at the Des Plaines Public Library. “Building Community through Creative Conversations” was a broad approach to community issues that was funded by an LSTA grant in 2006. The goal was to train the entire community to hold and participate in forums on issues directly impacting them. Ten community organization partners participated in the program along with individuals.

A report of these discussions is available through the National Issues Forums Web site at www.nifi.org.—Lynne Rudasill, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign,E-mail:

Documenting tragedy

RBMS presented “Documenting Tragedy: Special Collections on the Front Line and on the Front Page.” The topic was a sober but compelling one: What happens when tragedy strikes on campus? Three special collections professionals spoke about their first-hand experiences in dealing with institutional crises of this kind.

Tamara Kennelley (university archivist, Virginia Tech) discussed the 4/16/07 Archive, developed in response to the Virginia Tech shootings. While this archive served an immediate condolence function for the local community, Kennelly also wanted “to build a research collection that would be useful to scholars years from now.” She noted that her most challenging task was deciding what to keep when more than 88,000 commemorative materials poured into the archives in the wake of the tragedy.

Edward L. Galvin (director of archives and records management, Syracuse University) oversees the Pan Am Flight 103 Archives at Syracuse University. This collection documents the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. This was initially a disaster archive exclusively about the 35 Syracuse students who died that day, but over a 20-year period, it has expanded to include materials addressing broader aspects of global terrorism.

Steven Escar Smith (director and associate dean, Texas A&M University) was special collections librarian in the Cushing Library at the time of the Texas bonfire collapse on November 18, 1999. The accident killed 12 students and injured 30. The library, which acted as the distribution point for open records materials, was suddenly on the “front lines” dealing with police, legal personnel, and a general “media rush.” Smith and his staff navigated this stressful period by maintaining a consistent policy of “fairness and transparency.”

Jennifer Pastenbaugh (associate dean for planning and assessment, Oklahoma State) opened the program and introduced panelists. Aaron Purcell (director of special collections, Virginia Tech) delivered a closing summary and appreciation to the 92 people who attended the program.—Deborah Whiteman, UCLA Library,E-mail:

Big science, little science, e-science

The STS program, “Big Science, Little Science, E-Science: The Science Librarian’s Role in the Conversation,” provided helpful insights on how librarians can be involved in the crucial work of data curation.

John Saylor (Cornell University Libraries) provided a library administrator’s perspective on ways that librarians can be partners in the research process. He explored both “front line” roles for librarians who are embedded within their scientific disciplines and are heavily involved in working with faculty, as well as “back line” librarian skills, such as digital preservation.

An astrophysicist from the California Institute of Technology, George Djorgovski, awed the crowd with his description of the amount of data generated by the field of astronomy every day (ten terabytes) as compared to the amount of data in the Library of Congress (one terabyte). Due to the enormity of data produced, Djorgovski explained that “expertise is expensive; data is cheap.” Libraries must evolve to work with this complex system, but Djorgovski asserted that the fundamental librarian roles of preserving, organizing, and facilitating access to information will still remain.

In order to help prepare librarians to develop the skills needed to deal with data curation tasks, library schools are developing certificate programs that address these needs. Melissa Cragin (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) discussed her school’s program, the idea of data literacy, and the complexity of the collection forms that can be involved in data curation—everything from lab notebooks, to spreadsheets, to video files.

Chris Greer (National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development) skillfully summarized the points raised and noted that we “can’t store it all.” However, this is where librarians can add their skills of selection and acquisition to make information available for future generations.—Hannah Gascho Rempel, Oregon State University,E-mail:

Millennials in graduate school: How do we support them?

The ULS program focused on the unique needs of millennial students who have progressed to graduate and doctoral programs in universities. Joan Lippincott (Coalition for Networked Information) started off by describing millennial graduate students. As of fall 2007, there were 1,698,445 graduate students in the United States; 59 percent are female and 24 percent are from outside the United States. Graduate research and scholarship is increasingly produced in multiple online formats.

Susan Gibbons (vice provost, River Campus, University of Rochester) reported on their ethnographic research on graduate students. Their study found graduate student behavior to be specific to the discipline. After 100 interviews, no common graduate student experience was identified. In the Sciences, graduate work is lab-based and grant-driven. Student topics align with grants of a particular lab. In the Humanities, graduate students work in isolation, sometimes forming informal support groups. In the Social Sciences, the work is article-driven, combining prior publications to make a dissertation. Students reported using 113 different digital tools. What is common among all of the disciplines is feelings of anxiety, fear of failure, and feeling like intellectual imposters.

What can libraries do?

Graduate students use libraries heavily. They need a library orientation very early in their graduate career. Once they begin their research, they are far too busy to learn new tools and methods. The library orientation should acknowledge their anxieties, review key library tools, cover ILL/document delivery/scan on demand, promote the expertise of librarians, and offer training on citation tools. In addition, the library should include the name of the advisor when cataloging dissertations.

Barbara Dewey (dean of libraries, University of Tennessee) wrapped up the program by encouraging libraries to consider how services can be tailored to graduate students. She then introduced a video montage of graduate students that was created by the ULS Program Committee. Students discussed their research and writing processes, how they organize themselves, and their resources.—Evelyn C. Minick, Saint Joseph’s University,E-mail:

Area studies, globalization, and research libraries

Some 125 people attended the WESS program to hear a panel of scholars discuss area studies, globalization, and research libraries.

In “The Lost Samurai: Researching Across and Between,” Christopher Bush (Northwestern University) discussed his research on Germans writing about Japan: Which culture is being studied? Which voice is speaking? Libraries have to be mindful of how a book is cataloged or classified; where the work resides very much influences how it gets found (or not) and used (or not). And scholars do browse . . . seriously.

In “European Studies: Striking the Balance Between Disciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity,” Sabine Engel (University of Minnesota) noted that area studies are based on disciplines. An area studies program’s goal is to foster cross-, multi-, and comparative-disciplinary collaboration. The research library’s organization of materials makes this research possible, and academics do not admit this to librarians often enough. The book has staying power.

In “Why Scandinavia should be studied in a global age,” Christine Ingebritsen (University of Washington) noted that Scandinavians are at the center of global events today. Look to these countries for ways to meet major global challenges: global warming (Greenland), managing financial meltdown (Iceland), regulating banks (Sweden), from timber to cell phones (Finland), immigration and society (Denmark), and using oil responsibly (Norway).

Stephen Corrsin (chief of acquisitions, New York Public Library) spoke of a 2007 MLA-U.S. Department of Education survey (www.mla.org/pdf/release11207_ma_feb_update.pdf) that shows significant growth in foreign-language enrollments. Spanish, French, German, and Italian still dominate; but American Sign Language ranks fourth. Enrollment in Latin, Middle Eastern, Asian, and less commonly taught languages is growing sharply.

He called on attendees to ignore the buzzwords of globalization, e-only, and English-only; and look under the radar at what is happening in countries and regions; what is being published in books, particularly in other languages, and what the research library offers in both real time and real space.

Papers have been posted at wess.lib.byu.edu.—Gordon B. Anderson, University of Minnesota,E-mail:

Gaming, film, and ephemera

The WSS Program, “Gaming, Film, and Ephemera: Women’s Studies and Academic Collections,” addressed collection development and management related to varying popular culture collections. All three panelists agreed that one of the more difficult aspects of collecting in this area is anticipating future access and research needs.

Marilyn Dunn (executive director, Schlesinger Library, Harvard University) provided a panorama of the materials they collect (e.g., photographs, cartoons, television series, art, objects) and the history of those efforts. The purpose is to “document women’s adaptation to progress and change, as well as the feminist and popular culture dialogues” that are responses to it (e.g., the Miss America Pageant [late 1960s] and feminist activist responses to it).

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (coordinator of information literacy services and instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) presented on gaming collections. Her opener involved audience members in describing a favorite game.

Through this exercise she pointed out the social, intellectual, competitive, as well educational needs that are satisfied through gaming. Cataloging, maintaining, and circulating a collection, which includes digital, board, card, and other types of games, is uniquely challenging.

Angela Winand (assistant professor, African American Studies, University of Illinois-Springfield) focused on African American women and film. She emphasized film as a vast resource of interdisciplinary richness that can serve as cultural artifact, social representation, and industry history (e.g., during the making of The Birth of a Nation African American actors were not paid, but were “donated” by the white households of which they were servants). There is a need to focus on African American women as directors, producers, and writers (see Sisters in Cinema, www.sistersincinema.com) not just as actors.

During the Q&A, discussion focused on anticipating future needs. “The future is a crap shoot” as Winand put it, emphasizing the intricacies of collecting popular culture artifacts.

Additional information, including a bibliography on women and gaming, can be found on the WSS Conference Program Web site at libr.org/wss/conferences/2009program.html.—Pamela M. Salela, University of Illinois-Springfield,E-mail: