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NEWS FROM THE FIELD

C&RL News, September
2000 Vol. 61 No. 8

by Mary Ellen Davis

Flood destroys North Dakota State University main library
Just before midnight on June 19, as a severe summer storm pummeled the Fargo community, librarians at North Dakota State University’s (NDSU) main library were taking the precautionary measure of moving serials from the bottom shelves to higher ground.

Minutes later, pressure from water pooling outside the windows burst through, with more than four feet of water mixed with sewage and petroleum products flooding the lower level.

Library staff raced against the clock through the night to save materials as water continued to rise. Initial loss estimates were $2 million in journals and $1 million in furniture and equipment, such as computers, microfilm and microfiche readers, shelving, and microfilm and microfiche cabinets.

Pamela Drayson, NDSU Libraries director, assumed her duties only four days before the storm. “Thanks to the hard work of our staff that night and the hard work of volunteers over the next four days, 99% of the archives and materials in the Institute for Regional Studies, 60% of the bound journals, and 80% of the microfilm and microfiche were saved.”

Workers filled 5½ semi-trucks with approximately 25,000 to 30,000 damaged journals, which were hauled to a cleaning facility in Chicago. Those materials will be returned to NDSU sometime in September. Another 30,000 to 40,000 volumes went to the Fargo landfill.

A severe summer storm wreaked havoc on North Dakota State University’s main library.
Thanks to the efforts of library staff and volunteers, 99% of the materials in the
Institute for Regional Studies were saved, as well as 60% of the bound journals.
Journals not contaminated directly by flood waters but still in danger of molding
were dried, cleaned, and inventoried before being shelved in a separate facility.
A list of needed journals will be posted to the library’s Web site.

Many academic libraries and consortia, including CIC and Minitex, have offered free interlibrary loan for the coming year. According to Drayson, “A number of library vendors, including Bell & Howell, Elsevier, Gale Publications, EBSCO, and others, have all offered their assistance in recovery efforts.”

The first two floors of the main library reopened to the public in early August, with the lower level being closed indefinitely. Drayson said that faculty and students are being asked to use full-text databases and interlibrary loan for their periodical needs.

Baker & Taylor settle legal dispute
Baker & Taylor (B&T), issued a statement from President Jim Ulsamer saying that B&T, and W. R. Grace, had decided to settle its legal dispute with the 18 states that had joined with the U.S. Justice Department in alleging B&T had violated the federal False Claims Act and similar state laws. With this settlement, B&T said that it is released from all claims without admitting any wrong doing.

B&T spent nearly five years in litigation with the U.S. Justice Department on this issue. In July 1999, B&T settled all claims with the federal government and the Justice Department released them from all civil liability, acknowledging that B&T did not admit guilt and that they continued to deny allegations.

Ulsamer said that with the federal settlement, “B&T was facing a prolonged legal discovery process by all 18 states. This could have disrupted our business for years.”

“While we won’t have the satisfaction of being exonerated through the courts, this settlement—like the federal settlement—makes sound business sense.”

Distance Learning Section (DLS) members Alexander (Sandy) Slade
and Trish DelNero at the DLS 10th anniversary celebration.

ACRL’s Distance Learning Section celebrates 10th anniversary
ACRL’s Distance Learning Section (DLS) celebrated its 10th anniversary during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago at the Chicago Campus of National-Louis University (NLU) thanks to NLU staffers, Carol Moulden (the incoming DLS chair), Carole Kabel, and Sherrill Weaver.

Harvey Gover, DLS chair, presided over the anniversary observances, which included presentations by Barton Lessin, Tom Abbott, and Sandy Slade, messages from previous section chairs unable to attend, and opportunities for those present to share their reminiscences, tributes, anecdotes, and memories of the section’s first ten years.

DLS was established as the Extended Campus Library Services Section during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago in June 1990. Starting with just 25 signatures on the petition requesting section status and increasing to nearly 200 members by the end of the first year, DLS membership now stands at nearly 1,400.

Since its inception, DLS has sponsored nine Annual Conferences programs and produced and updated the ACRL “Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services.”

“Smarties use the Library” (with Smarties candy attached) and
“Library staff members go the Extra mile for the Students”
(Wrigley’s Extra Chewing Gum) are some of the sweet sayings that
the campus library staff at Ohio State University–Marion
and Marion Technical College put on notecards to make
their new students aware of the library. Betsy Blankenship, head librarian
(pictured holding some sweetened note cards), said,
“We try to plant a seed of awareness and
this never fails to get a smile and a laugh when students read them.”

Big 12 Plus adds seven members
The addition of seven new Western U.S. academic libraries has swelled the ranks of the Big 12 Plus Libraries Consortium (BTP) to 30 research libraries. Recently joining the BTP are the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of Southern California, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, Washington State University, and Oregon State University. “The breadth and depth of collections and expertise found in these libraries, combined with those of existing members, position the BTP to make significant contributions to the greater library and scholarly communication effort,” said Dale Cluff, current chair of the BTP and dean of libraries at Texas Tech University.

Rice University offers digital library to German university
International University Bremen (IUB) will open its 80-acre campus in northern Germany in the fall of 2001 without a traditional library. Instead, through collaboration with Rice University in Houston, IUB will have a digital Information Resource Center. A broadband connection between Rice and IUB, provided as part of an agreement between Rice and Enron Broadband Services, will allow simultaneous access to resources to users at both universities.

A look at Okinawa's libraries

The recent G-8 Summit focused worldwide attention on Okinawa, a group of Japanese islands that few nonmilitary Americans know much about. Ethnically and culturally somewhat distinct from Japan, the islands have been a Japanese prefecture (like a province) since 1879. After World War II, Okinawa was under the control of the U.S. military until 1972. Even now, American military bases take up 20% of the land on the main island of Okinawa. One military contribution was the establishment of the first university in Okinawa, the University of the Ryukyus (UR), in 1950. The university became part of the Japanese national system in 1972, and its library is the largest in Okinawa. The reference desk at the University of Ryukus in Naha, Okinawa. Like other Japanese national universities, the dean of the library is a faculty member, appointed by the university president. Reporting to the dean is a chief librarian, employed by the Japanese Ministry of Education, and subject to rotation among the libraries of the other national universities. This allows room for promotion while still adhering to the Japanese tradition of lifetime employment. UR holdings are entered into the National Academic Center Science and Information System (NACSIS), a national database for all Japanese academic libraries and accessible to users on the Internet. The software for the online catalog is available to all libraries. However, vendors have developed various upgrades for the software and most libraries choose to purchase an advanced version. Other universities on the island of Okinawa include the brand-new Okinawa Prefectural School of Nursing, Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts (devoted to the preservation of traditional Okinawan art forms), Okinawa University, Okinawa International University, and Meio University (where the G-8 Summit was held). Like all academic libraries, Okinawa university libraries are moving into the electronic age. All have CD-ROM LANs and Internet connections. UR has taken the lead with approximately 1,200 electronic journals, including a subscription to Elsevier’s Science Direct. Worries about how to cover increased costs for electronic resources was a major topic at the June 2000 meeting of the Okinawan academic librarians’ association. Okinawa has been shaped by its Japanese connection, its own heritage, and the 30 years of American occupation. Its universities and their libraries also demonstrate this unique combination of influences.—Mignon Adams, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, e-mail: m.adams@usip.edu