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NEWS FROM THE FIELD
C&RL News, May 2006
Vol. 67, No. 5
by Stephanie Orphan
ALA releases first-ever “State of America’s Libraries” report
Coinciding with last month’s National Library Week, ALA released its first-ever “State of America’s Libraries” report, which details the positive impact of libraries and librarians and the challenges libraries face in terms of funding. The report examines the expanding role that libraries play in the social, political, and economic environment and explores Americans’ perceptions and use of public libraries, funding for all library types, the results and reach of technology in libraries, and more. The full report is available online at www.ala.org/2006state.
New Orleans Museum of Art welcomes ALA attendees
The New Orleans Museum of Art, located in City Park, is welcoming ALA Annual Conference attendees by offering free admission to its collections. Attendees visiting the museum on the Friday, Saturday, or Sunday of the conference can show their conference badge for free admission to the museum’s collections, which include an extensive collection of Faberge Eggs. The conference badge also entitles visitors to a 10 percent discount on purchases in the museum’s gift shop. Librarians who are available between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on June 23 and would like to visit the museum’s Felix J. Dreyfous Library may contact Sheila A. Cork at corkycat1200@yahoo.com to arrange a time. Visit the museum’s Web site at www.noma.org for more information.
Michigan State introduces relevance ranking through Innovative’s WebPac Pro
Michigan State University (MSU) Libraries have introduced RightResult search technology into the online catalog as part of its WebPac Pro implementation. Searches using RightResult return a grouped result set based on an advanced relevance-ranking algorithm developed by Innovative. MSU made RightResult available to students and faculty in early March, following a development partnership with Innovative that started in August 2005. The feature groups results together in sets of similar relevance, making it easier for users to choose between the “most relevant” and “relevant” groups. The company plans to make RightResult available with Millennium Release 2006, which is expected to be available this year.
NISO launches RFID committee
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has formed a technical committee to create guidelines that lay out best practices for the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) in library applications. The group is chaired by Vinod Chachra, CEO of VTLS Inc., and composed of RFID hardware manufacturers, solution providers, library RFID users, book jobbers and processors, and related organizations. The committee’s work is limited to RFID tags used in libraries (tags operating at 13.56 MHz). The best practices document will become part of a larger input document on U.S. requirements for the working group developing a standard data model for encoding information on the tag.
“I guard your right to privacy. I protect your freedom to read.
I support intellectual freedom. I am a librarian.”
The t-shirt pictured above was created by Roy Tennant,
users services architect for the California Digital Library and library advocate,
“to help put across some key messages” about librarians.
“I am a librarian” t-shirts can be purchased in a range of styles and sizes
through the Library Tech Gear store at cafepress.com.
Mugs are also available. Visit www.cafepress.com/librarytechgear/.
Microsoft announces Windows Live Academic Search
Microsoft released a beta version of its Windows Live Academic Search service in seven countries in April. The service offers peer-reviewed content from leading scholarly societies and publishers and is designed to enable consumers to search through thousands of academic journals using one research aid. Target subjects for the beta release are computer science, electrical engineering, and physics, and the company is working with multiple organizations to bring new subjects online in the near future. The program is a cooperative effort between Windows Live Search, CrossRef, and more than ten publishers, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Association for Computing Machinery, Taylor & Francis Group, Elsevier, Nature Publishing Group, the British Library, and OCLC Online Computer Library Center, among others.
NYU and Long Island Univ. collaborate on dual degree for scholar-librarians
New York University’s (NYU) Graduate School of Arts and Science and Long Island University’s (LIU) Palmer School of Library and Information Science are collaborating on a dual master’s degree program aimed at addressing the need for scholar-librarians. The program is intended to prepare students for careers in academic institutions, research institutions, cultural organizations, and other research settings.
Beginning in fall 2006, graduate students will be able to matriculate at both NYU and LIU’s Palmer School, where programs will be tailored especially for them. To develop their understanding of a particular subject area, students will study in any of the areas offered by NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Science. The Palmer School will provide training in information skills, with students adhering to the regulations for the MSLIS degree. An integral part of the new degree will be a carefully structured mentoring program.
Web Technical Support Center available through H. W. Wilson
H. W. Wilson has debuted its online Technical Support Center, a hub that brings together all of the administrative and technical resources available for WilsonWeb subscribers. Subscribers can visit www.hwwilson.com/techsupport for dynamic links to usage statistics, free WilsonWeb training, WilsonWeb administrative module and database documentation, and answers to frequently asked questions, among other items. Links to tutorials, customization resources, and licensing agreements are also available.
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Showcase your collection on the cover of C&RL News
College & Research Libraries News is looking for images from library collections to feature on its covers. If you have items in your collections that you think would make an attractive C&RL News cover, we would love to see it. Please let us know where they are mounted on the Web, e-mail the images to us, or send color photocopies to review, and include a brief description of the item and the collection. Selected illustrations will require a high-resolution electronic image, color transparency, or photograph.
Images must be vertically oriented or it must be possible to crop the image to show a detail in vertical format. Items that originate as a standard size (8 x 10, 5 x 7, etc.) will reproduce better as it will be easier to enlarge or shrink them to fit the cover, as opposed to items of equal width and height (for example, a 5 x 5 image). Color images are preferred.
Works selected must be in the public domain or from institutions that own reproduction rights for the works.
Guidelines for the submission of cover illustration are available online at www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/coverart.htm.
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OCLC, SOLINET provide libraries with credits to help in hurricane recovery
OCLC Online Computer Library Center and SOLINET (Southeastern Library Network) are combining efforts to provide assistance in libraries recovering from damage inflicted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The two organizations are providing credits to 28 libraries for OCLC charges for cataloging, interlibrary loan, FirstSearch, and system access and for SOLINET dues for the year. In addition, they are offering the OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis service free-of-charge to these libraries to help them assess their collections and needs. OCLC and SOLINET have also collected funds for distribution to libraries, provided free access to services, and made staff and their expertise available to help libraries in their efforts to rebuild and recover.
Consolidation of NCLIS into IMLS proposed
President Bush has recommended a consolidation of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) into the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) by fiscal year 2008. The administration has also proposed the merger of the current National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) programs for public and state library surveys into IMLS, the rationale being that consolidating grant making with data collection, along with NCLIS’s role in policy advice, will strengthen federal library and information policy efforts. NCLIS recently met to discuss the proposed changes and “affirmed its commitment to ensuring that the level of public service provided under the current system will not be diminished and that all benefits to the American people will be maximized.” Over the coming months, NCLIS will work with IMLS and NCES to evaluate models of consolidation.
Oxford journal ranked “hottest”
Oxford Journals’ Nucleic Acids Research (NAR), a fully open access journal, has been ranked the “hottest” single-discipline journal in the world and the fifth-hottest overall in Thomson Scientific’s “Red-Hot Research Papers” for 2005. Three articles in the top 40 were published in NAR. Two additional articles from Oxford Journals were also in the top 40.
CQ Press expands CQ Researcher product
CQ Press has released CQ Researcher Plus Archive, an enhanced and upgraded online edition of CQ Researcher, the company’s flagship resource. Additional content to the fully searchable database includes 3,000 in-depth reports covering U.S. and global issues from 1923 to the present. Added features include an issue tracker tool designed to allow users to easily research the development of hot topics and events. CQ Researcher Plus Archive is the culmination of a project to digitize the complete archive of Editorial Research Reports, the precursor to CQ Researcher, which was published from 1923 to 1990. Historical content from CQ Researcher Plus Archive is available to libraries as a one-time purchase with ownership rights.
Columbia Univ. Libraries relaunches John Jay Web site
Columbia University Libraries has relaunched the Web site “The Papers of John Jay,” with enhanced features and more content. Originally launched in 2002, the site, which is an online database of abstracts and images of documents written by or to John Jay, includes documents from more than 90 institutions (up from 50 originally) and includes an additional 1,500 documents and 12,000 page images since its first launch. Users can now perform more complex Boolean searches, in addition to standard searches by author, recipient, keywords, and the like. Keyword results are now displayed in context for easier browsing. John Jay was a founding father of the United States, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and an early graduate of King’s College. The site provides access to research materials collected by the John Jay publication project during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as newly identified materials from Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. “The Papers of John Jay” is available at www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/jay/.
Colby College to build institutional repository using Symposia
Colby College has selected Innovative Interface’s Symposia to build its institutional repository. Library staff at Colby will be incorporating a wide variety of digital content into the repository, beginning with materials from the Undergraduate Research Symposium, a program that recognizes outstanding work by the student body. Faculty papers and supporting research that reside with individuals will also be included. The library also plans to incorporate the school’s college and alumni publications, committee proceedings, and student newspaper, in addition to digitizing special collections. Symposia uses XML Qualified Dublin Core metadata and offers a Java-based library staff client that ensures clean metadata, advanced indexing, and easy access to materials.
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ACRL’s e-Learning opportunities are just a click away
ACRL is offering a number of its multiweek online seminars in the coming months. The
WebCT-based seminars allow participants to work through materials at their own pace each week.
Weekly real-time, live chats are scheduled for most courses, and threaded discussions and e-mail are available for asynchronous communication. ACRL and ALA members will receive a registration discount.
Visit www.acrl.org/e-learning for details.
Creating a Comprehensive Plan for Information Literacy, May 29–June 17
This online seminar will guide you through the process of developing a comprehensive plan for information literacy using worksheets developed by the presenter, participating in weekly online chats, and comparing examples of completed plans from a variety of institutions. Registration opens May 1.
Designing Web Sites for Academic Libraries, part 1, June 26–July 22
Participants in this seminar will learn how to plan, design, and develop content for Web sites in an academic setting. XHTML and CSS (external) will be introduced. At the end of the session, participants will have a completed Web site plan and design. Registration opens May 29.
Part 2 of this course will be offered July 31–August 26. Building from the work completed in part 1, participants will learn about advanced CSS design, accessible menus, and Javascript and will review multimedia (FLASH, etc.), Web-accessible database applications (PHP, MYSQL, ASP, etc.) and content management software options. Completion of part 1 or the consent of the instructor is a prerequisite. Registration opens June 26.
Electronic Collection Development for the Academic e-Library, June 29–July 22
In this hands-on, three-week course, participants will learn to create an academic e-library collection development plan for free and fee-based Web-accessible resources for a patron community of their choice. By the end of the session, they will complete a collection development plan for their selected e-library. Registration opens June 5.
All Users Are Local, July 17–August 5
In this three-week seminar, participants will learn how to design a plan for library support of distance education at their institutions. By the end of the seminar, participants will be able to complete an institutional self-assessment on current involvement and future plans for distant education. Registration will open June 19.
Current Copyright Issues, July 24–August 12
Participants will learn about the major copyright issues facing academic librarians today. Topics covered will include electronic reserves, interlibrary loan, using media in courseware, and campus copyright policies. Students will draft short papers and opinion pieces using real library situations as the backdrop. Registration opens June 26.
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